Mia Love
Ludmya Bourdeau “Mia” Love was an American politician and in 2015 became a United States Representative for the fourth congressional district in Utah. Prior to her election, she was mayor of Saratoga Springs, Utah, from 2010 to 2014. In 2012, she narrowly lost her bid for the seat, losing to incumbent Democratic Representative Jim Matheson. In 2018, she was defeated by Ben McAdams in a close race that ended after she called for a recount after all late-arriving by-mail ballots were counted. She conceded on November 24, 2018. In the final months of her term, she was outspoken about her Republican party reaching out to and connecting with women and racial minorities. She was at that time the only black Republican woman in Congress. She was, in fact, the first Black Republican woman in the U.S. House of Representatives.
Love was born on December 6, 1975, in Brooklyn, New York. Her parents came to the United States in 1973 on a tourist visa, leaving their two older children behind in Haiti. They became naturalized citizens later. The family moved to Norwalk, Connecticut, when Love was five years old. She earned a bachelor’s degree in the performing arts from the University of Hartford. She pursued several different interests, including working as a flight attendant for Continental Airlines. She ventured into community service when a neighborhood infestation of flies led her to working with city officials and developers to take care of the problem. Her skill in getting things done eventually led her to being elected a member of the city council in 2003.
She is the first Haitian American in Congress, as well as the first black person to be elected to Congress from Utah. She gained national attention when she spoke at the 2012 Republican National Convention. She was the opening speaker at the 2013 Western Conservative Summit.
She married Jason Love in 1998 and they are the parents of three children. They met in Connecticut where he was serving a full-time mission for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. He knew the missionary who had taught her the gospel and baptized her. She moved to Utah later, and that missionary asked Jason to help her move in.
The Love family continues to live in Saratoga Springs. In 2019, she was hired by CNN as a political commentator. In Fall 2020, Love was appointed a fellow of the institute of politics and public service at the McCourt School of Public Policy at Georgetown University. In August 2021, she was named as one of the guest hosts of ABC television's "The View."[1]
Mia Love spoke at an August 2023 YSA Conference in Salt Lake City sharing publicly for the first time that she was diagnosed with glioblastoma multiforme, a Grade 4, fast-growing brain tumor about sixteen months previous. Ninety-five percent of the tumor was surgically removed. She also said that she has lived past her first prognosis, and hoped her prayers for a miracle and her participation in a immunotherapy clinical trial would give her many more months of life.[2] As of May 2024, she was still finding success with the clinical trial.[3]
However, the Deseret News posted a plea from Love's family in early March 2025 saying the family seeks cherished memories as former congresswoman faces her terminal diagnosis. Her daughter, Abigale, posted on social media that sadly, “her cancer is no longer responding to treatment and the cancer is progressing. We have a shifted our focus from treatment to enjoying our remaining time with her. I am building an archive of special memories with Mia.[4]
She died at home on March 23, 2025, surrounded by her family.[5]
