WASHINGTON — Representative Jackie Walorski, Republican of Indiana, was killed in a car accident in her district on Wednesday, according to her office. She was 58.
Ms. Walorski’s husband, Dean Swihart, was informed of her death by the Elkhart County Sheriff’s Office, her office said in a statement. “She has returned home to be with her de ella Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ,” the statement said ella. “Please keep her family in your thoughts and prayers.”
Ms. Walorski was traveling with two aides who were also killed in the crash, when a passenger car and a sport utility vehicle collided head on: Zachery Potts, 27, her district director, and Emma Thomson, 28, her communications director, according to the Elkhart County sheriff.
The House is in its summer recess, a period when lawmakers often return to their district to meet with constituents.
“Jackie was an instrumental member of our conference, serving as a member of my deputy whip team for several years,” Representative Steve Scalise, Republican of Louisiana, said in a statement. “Jackie and her staffers died serving her constituents. They will be missed, and our nation will miss their service.”
First elected to Congress in 2012, Ms. Walorski served on the House Ways and Means Committee and as the top Republican on the House Ethics Committee.
Before she was elected to Congress, she served three terms in the Indiana State House, spent four years as a missionary in Romania and worked as a television reporter in South Bend, Ind.