(Photo : Alex Wong/Getty Images)
Indiana Republican Rep. Jackie Walorski lost her life in a fatal car crash that involved two of her staff members, Emma Thomson and Zachery Potts. The congresswoman is known to have previously worked as a television reporter before becoming involved in politics.
Republican Rep. Jackie Walorski of Indiana lost her life on Wednesday at the age of 58 after being involved in a car crash in Elkhart County on SR 19 of SR 119.
The official, who represented Indiana's 2nd Congressional district, was killed after a northbound passenger car traveled left of center and collided head-on with a southbound sports utility vehicle. All three occupants of the southbound vehicle died as a result of their injuries.
Jackie Walorski's Fatal Car Crash
These include Walorski, 27-year-old Zachery Potts, and 28-year-old Emma Thomson, while the sole occupant of the northbound vehicle, identified as 56-year-old Edith Schmucker, who was pronounced dead at the scene of the accident.
The investigation of the crash is now being conducted by the Elkhart County Coroner's Office and the Elkhart County Sheriff's Office. It was revealed that two of the others killed in the crash, Potts and Thomson, worked on Walorski's staff.
In a statement, Walorski's office said that Dean Swihart, the Republican's husband, was just informed by the Elkhart County Sheriff's office of his wife's death. The office asked the public to keep Walorski's family in their thoughts and prayers, as per Fox News.
On top of the devastating loss of Congresswoman Walorski, Potts and Thomson's deaths marked the loss of public servants who cared deeply about the work they performed on behalf of the constituents of Indiana's Second Congressional District. Republican House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy of California responded to the news on Twitter.
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"It is with a heavy heart that I am sharing this statement from the office of Congresswoman Jackie Walorski," McCarthy wrote, attaching the news release of Walorski's office about her death. Furthermore, fellow Indiana Republican Rep. Jim Banks called Walorski a "dear friend and one of the greatest public servants I've ever known."
According to Yahoo News, Walorski was first elected to her seat, which contains the cities of South Bend and Elkhart, in 2012 after spending time as a television reporter and state legislator. She was also the ranking member of the House Ethics Committee.
Who Was the Indiana Republican?
In a statement, Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg, whose term as mayor of South Bend overlapped with Walorski's tenure, expressed his condolences. He said that he was shocked and saddened when he heard the news and sent his thoughts and prayers to the other victims of the terrible crash.
Buttigieg noted that Walorski was always prepared to work together where there was common ground, always decent, and straightforward. He also noted that the Indiana Republican cared deeply about her work and her constituents.
On the other hand, Thomson was Walorski's communication director and Potts was previously the congresswoman's campaign manager and was currently a district director in Indiana for the House of Representatives.
According to Walorski's House biography, she and her husband "previously spent four years as missionaries in Romania, where they started and ran a foundation to provide food and medical supplies to impoverished children there. Furthermore, Walorski worked as a development director for colleges and universities in Indiana, ABC News reported.
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