Republican Rep. Jackie Walorski Was Killed In A Car Crash Along With Two Staffers

Rep. Jackie Walorski, a Republican member of Congress from Indiana, was killed in a car crash on Wednesday along with two members of her staff and a fourth individual.

Sheriff’s deputies in Elkhart County, in northern Indiana on the Michigan border, had said in a statement on Wednesday that they responded to a crash in which a vehicle with one occupant heading north traveled left of center and collided head on with a southbound SUV, which was carrying Walorski and two others.

However, on Thursday authorities said that eyewitness and video evidence shows that it was the SUV that crossed the centerline for unknown reasons.

“All occupants of both vehicles were confirmed to have been wearing seatbelts and airbags did deploy,” they said in a statement.

Walorski served on the House of Representatives’ powerful Ways and Means Committee and was the ranking member of the Subcommittee on Worker and Family Support, as well as the House Ethics Committee.

Before she was elected to Congress, Walorski served in the Indiana Statehouse and had been a TV news reporter in South Bend. She also did missionary work with her husband in Romania.

Both Thomson and Potts had worked for Walorski in Republican circles for several years, with Potts serving as manager for her 2017 reelection campaign.

In a statement, President Biden offered condolences to their families and also praised Walorski for her lifetime of service to her community.

“We may have represented different parties and disagreed on many issues, but she was respected by members of both parties for her work on the House Ways and Means Committee on which she served,” Biden said. “She also served as co-chair of the House Hunger Caucus, and my team and I appreciated her partnership as we plan for a historic White House Conference on Hunger, Nutrition, and Health this fall that will be marked by her deep care for the needs of rural America.”