Republican Rep. Jackie Walorski of Indiana was killed in a car crash Wednesday, the Elkhart County Sheriff’s Office said.
Sheriff Jeff Siegel said Walorski, 58, was in an SUV traveling southbound when it was hit head-on by another car just after 12:30 p.m. All three occupants in one of the cars — Walorski, her district director Zachery Potts, 27, and communications director Emma Thomson, 28 — died from their injuries.
According to Siegel, the sole passenger of the other car involved in the crash, which was traveling northbound, also was pronounced dead at the scene.
An investigation by the Elkhart County Coroner’s Office and sheriff’s office is underway.
Walorski was elected to represent Indiana’s 2nd Congressional District in 2012 after serving three terms in the statehouse. She was the top Republican on the House Ethics Committee and served on the Ways and Means Committee.
House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy confirmed Walorski’s death in a tweeted statement from her office, noting that her husband, Dean Swihart, was informed the congresswoman had been killed in the collision.
“She has returned home to be with her Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ,” McCarthy said. “Please keep her family in your thoughts and prayers.”
