One of the longest-serving House Democrats, Louise Slaughter, has passed away at age 88.
One of the longest serving Democratic members of the U. S. House, Louise Slaughter, has passed away at age 88. She had been hospitalized at George Washington University Hospital in Washington, D. C after falling at her home last week in D. C. and sustaining a concussion, and she died while surrounded by family. Her chief of staff, Liam FItzsimmons, made the sad announcement on Friday morning. In doing so, he hailed her as “a force of nature” and a “relentless advocate” for the area of Western New York, including Rochester, which she served from 1987 to 2018.
Slaughter began her political career by serving in New York’s State Assembly for two terms. Throughout her tenure in Congress, Slaughter was best known as one of the original authors of 1994’s Violence Against Women Act. Two decades later in 2014, Slaughter declared that this was “one of the most important” accomplishments of her career, but she lamented that millions of Americans per year still experienced physical or sexual assault from their partner. And she vowed, “I won’t stop fighting until that number is zero.”
As the first woman to chair the House Rules Committee, Slaughter earned the respect of her colleagues on both sides of the aisle. As a testament to that fact, Rep. Pete Sessions (R-TX) professed his heartbroken reaction upon hearing the news. He continued with a statement:
Likewise, many of Slaughter’s other colleagues — including House Speaker Paul Ryan, who described the Democratic congresswoman as “tough” and “unfailingly gracious” — paid tribute to her on Twitter.
(Via USA Today, NBC News & Louise. House. Gov)
