Mia Love, the first US black Republican congresswoman, has died aged 49 in Utah, her family has announced.

Love’s death was announced by her family on Sunday, March 23, in a post on X. Love, the first Black Republican woman elected to Congress, was diagnosed with glioblastoma, a malignant brain tumor, in 2022.

“With grateful hearts filled to overflowing for the profound influence of Mia on our lives, we want you to know that she passed away peacefully today,” the post began.

“She was in her home surrounded by family. In the midst of a celebration of her life and an avalanche of happy memories, Mia quietly slipped the bands of mortality and, as her words and vision always did, soared heavenward.”

“We are thankful for the many good wishes, prayers and condolences. We are taking some time as a family and will provide information about funeral services and a public celebration of her life in the days to come,” the post concluded.

The news comes after Love confirmed on March 11, 2025, that her cancer had stopped responding to treatment, writing an open letter published by Deseret News.

“My dear friends, fellow Americans and Utahns,” Love wrote. “I am taking up my pen, not to say goodbye but to say thank you and express my living wish for you and the America I know.”

Love shared that she and her family had “shifted our focus from treatments, to enjoying every moment and making memories with the time we have.”

She thanked her teams of medical professionals, as well as family, friends and followers who had lifted her up in prayer, for extending her life.

“We are not certain how long this season of my battle will be and I do want to share, and reshare, some things with the world that I passionately believe,” she noted. “I write all of this as my ‘living wish’ and hopefully ‘enduring wish’ for you.”

“As a mayor, member of Congress and media commentator I have seen the worst of petty politics, divisive rhetoric and disappointing lapses of moral character by some,” Love continued.

“These same roles also provided me a front row seat and backstage pass to be blessed and inspired by the courage, vision and hope of America’s finest daughters, sons and citizens.”

Born in Brooklyn, New York, to Haitian immigrants who did not speak English upon their arrival in America, Love’s life story was undeniably a version of the American Dream.

She attended school in Connecticut on a partial scholarship, graduating from the University of Hartford Hartt School with a degree in musical theatre.

After moving to Utah in 1998, she joined the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and married LDS missionary Jason Love. She also became active in local politics, winning a seat on the Saratoga Springs City Council in 2003, before being elected mayor in 2009.

She then turned her attention to Congress, narrowly losing a House seat to Democratic incumbent Jim Matheson in 2012. But Love wasn’t deterred. She ran again in 2014, and this time won the election to become Utah’s first Black representative on Capitol Hill.

Love served two terms in the House of Representatives and notably worked on bills focused on banking regulation, pyramid schemes and immigration. She was appointed to the House Financial Services Committee and joined the Congressional Black Caucus.

After she was narrowly defeated for reelection in 2018, Love became a contributor at CNN and an occasional conservative guest host on The View. She also voted as an elector for Utah in the 2020 presidential election.

Though she was diagnosed in 2022, Love publicly revealed her cancer journey in a May 2024 interview with CNN host Jake Tapper. She shared at the time that she was seeing positive results from a clinical immunotherapy trial.

“Every scan I go through, it’s either not growing, or it has reduced a little bit,” she said of her tumor.

However, the prognosis took a different turn in early 2025, when her daughter Abigale posted from her social media accounts.

“Many of you are aware that Mom has been fighting GBM brain cancer,” Abigale shared on March 1. “Sadly her cancer is no longer responding to treatment and the cancer is progressing.”

In the open letter that Love published about her declining health days later, she shared her dreams for a future she wouldn’t have the chance to see.

“In the end, I hope that my life will have mattered and made a difference for the nation I love and the family and friends I adore,” she wrote.

“I hope you will see the America I know in the years ahead, that you will hear my words in the whisper of the wind of freedom and feel my presence in the flame of the enduring principles of liberty.”

“My living wish and fervent prayer for you and for this nation is that the America I have known, is the America you fight to preserve and that each citizen, and every leader, will do their part to ensure that the America we know will be the America our grandchildren and great grandchildren will inherit,” she concluded.