How did Jim Kolbe die? Longtime Arizona GOP Rep. cause of death Explained

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How did Jim Kolbe die? Longtime Arizona GOP Rep. cause of death Explained

Jim Kolbe, who served Arizona in Congress for over 20 years, has passed away. Let’s learn more about how did Jim Kolbe die? and what was his cause of death?.

How did Jim Kolbe die?

Jim Kolbe, a Republican congressman who supported gay rights and served for more than two decades as a representative of a predominantly Democratic area of Arizona, has passed away. He was 80.

Gov-Elect Katie Hobbs confirmed the passing of Jim Kolbe on her twitter account. she mentioned Congressman Kolbe will always be remembered for a legacy in bipartisanship and also send her prayers to his famil and friends. the message reads,

Deeply saddened to hear of Rep. Jim Kolbe’s passing. Congressman Kolbe will always be remembered for a legacy in bipartisanship, as a strong voice on the international stage, and as a champion for Arizonans. Sending thoughts and prayers to his family.

Gov-Elect Katie Hobbs

Matt Gress shared his condolences about Jim death. the statement says,

Jim Kolbe cause of death

At the age of 80, Kolbe passed away from a stroke on December 3, 2022.. More information about Jim’s death will be released soon, till then we need to wait.

Once we get the enough details about Jim Kolbe’s cause of death, we will update this page.

Kolbe died on Saturday, according to a statement from Arizona Governor Doug Ducey. Ducey gave the order to lower the flags until Sunday night.

Who was Jim Kolbe?

James Thomas Kolbe, a Republican member of the US House of Representatives, was an American businessman and politician who lived from June 28, 1942, to December 3, 2022.

He served as the 5th and 8th congressional districts of Arizona, respectively, from 1985 to 2003 and 2003 to 2007. He came out as gay in 1996 after supporting the Defense of Marriage Act, making him the second openly gay Republican elected to Congress. He is a moderate Republican who supports abortion rights.

Kolbe worked for Democratic President Barack Obama on the Advisory Committee for Trade Policy and Negotiations after leaving Congress. Following the election of Donald Trump in 2018, Kolbe defected from the Republican party and declared himself an independent. He supported Joe Biden for president in the 2020 election.

Biography

Kolbe was born in the Chicago suburb of Evanston, Illinois, but his family relocated to a ranch in remote Santa Cruz County, Arizona, when he was five years old. He went to Patagonia Elementary School and Patagonia Union High School, but after three years working as Barry Goldwater’s United States Senate Page, he graduated from the United States Capitol Page School in 1960.

He finished his undergraduate studies at Stanford University in Palo Alto, California, and Northwestern University in Evanston, where he was a member of the fraternity Acacia. He served in the US Navy, spending a year in the riverine “Swift Boat” group in Vietnam. He served as Richard B. Ogilvie, a Republican governor of Illinois, as a special assistant.

Political career as Arizona Senate

In a seat near Tucson, Kolbe ran for the Arizona Senate in 1976, defeating a Democrat who had served one term after being elected during the national Democratic wave of 1974. He held the position for three times and served as majority whip from 1979 to 1982. In 1992, he and his wife were divorced. [3] His church of affiliation was Catalina United Methodist.

Kolbe left the state Senate in the middle of 1982 to run for the newly established 5th congressional district. Jim McNulty, a Democrat and member of the Arizona Board of Regents, defeated him by 1% of the vote. Kolbe, though, requested a rematch in 1984. Kolbe won, becoming the first—and, until the 2014 elections, the only—Republican to represent the Arizona-Mexico border region in the House, helped by Ronald Reagan’s big national landslide that year (Reagan carried the 5th with 60% of the vote).

Ten times he was re-elected with only one significant challenge. Tom Volgy, a former mayor of Tucson, restricted Kolbe to only 51 percent of the vote in 1998. Following the 2000 Census, the district was given a new number: the 8th district.

Kolbe presided over the House Appropriations Committee’s Subcommittee on Foreign Operations, Export Financing, and Related Programs.

Moderate Republican

A moderate Republican, Kolbe was. This worked in his favour because, despite the fact that his district includes the majority of Tucson’s Republican-leaning suburbs, Republican politics in Southeast Arizona have typically been moderate and independent-minded. He supported abortion, much like Goldwater, his mentor. He generally favoured environmental legislation more than the majority of Republicans, particularly those from the West. He belonged to a number of moderate Republican organizations, including It’s My Party Too, the Republican Majority for Choice, the Republican Main Street Partnership, the Log Cabin Republicans, Republicans for Choice, and Republicans for Environmental Protection.

The Legal Tender Modernization Act, sponsored by Kolbe in 2001, would have stopped the production of the US one-cent coin (penny). The Currency Overhaul for an Industrious Nation (COIN) Act, which Kolbe sponsored in July 2006, would round cash transactions to the next five cents. The penny would no longer be in use as a result of this action. The penny, according to Kolbe, is essentially worthless due to inflation, and the United States should discontinue using them now because the costs of producing them outweigh their value. As one of the leading advocates of phasing out the penny from circulation, Kolbe has garnered some media attention.

Randy Graf, the majority leader in the State House, ran against Kolbe for the Republican nomination in 2004. Since his first bid for the seat in 1982, it was Kolbe’s first significant main challenge. Graf was known for his tough stance on illegal immigration but also ran well on Kolbe’s right. Kolbe, on the other hand, was a staunch advocate for immigrant guest worker programmes.

In the 8th, which makes up nearly half of Arizona’s portion of the Mexican border, immigration is a contentious topic. Kolbe was able to repel Graf. In November, he handily secured a 12th term. Kolbe voted against the Federal Marriage Proposal, a constitutional amendment that was meant to outlaw gay marriage, along with 27 other Republicans in 2004.

Kolbe declared on November 23, 2005, that he would not run for a 12th term in office in 2006. It had been anticipated that if Kolbe ever retired, it would be fiercely competitive even though he typically coasted to reelection. (Bill Clinton had just barely won the district in 1996, and George W. Bush just barely defeated both John Kerry and Al Gore in his campaigns for the presidency.) On September 12, 2006, Graf won the primary among five opponents. Graf, a Republican who lost the election in November 2006 to Democrat Gabby Giffords, was not supported by Kolbe.

Kolbe backed Tim Bee, the president of the state senate, in his effort to defeat Giffords in 2008. He did, however, withdraw his support in July 2008.

Kolbe supported Joe Biden

After serving in political office, Kolbe worked as a consultant for Kissinger McLarty Associates as a fellow at the German Marshall Fund. When he was in Congress, he concentrated on the trade, aid, and migration problems that were most important to him. He lectured on trade and globalisation at the University of Arizona James E. Rogers College of Law in Tucson during the fall semesters from 2007 to 2009. He was on the International Republican Institute’s board of directors. In the 2010 election, he defected from the GOP to support Democrat Andrei Cherny’s bid for state treasurer. He also belonged to the Inter-American Dialogue, a think tank with its headquarters in Washington, D.C.

Kolbe was appointed to the Advisory Committee on Trade Policy and Negotiations by President Barack Obama in September 2010. Kolbe sat on the International Relief and Development Inc. board of advisors. He served as the coalition for dollar coins’ co-chairman. Kolbe was a member of the Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget’s board of directors.

Kolbe left the Republican Party in 2018. He supported Joe Biden, a Democrat, for president in the 2020 election.

Kolbe was a member of TuSimple, an autonomous trucking company,’s executive advisory board.

He co-authored a 2021 opinion editorial with nine other former members of Congress that called for changes to Congress.

Personal life

From 1977 through 1992, Kolbe was wed to Sarah Dinham, a University of Arizona professor of educational psychology.

Kolbe came out as gay in August 1996 after some gay rights activists tried to out him as a result of his vote in favour of the Defense of Marriage Act. In that year, he was elected again. He made history in 2000 by being the first openly gay speaker at the Republican National Convention, albeit he avoided discussing gay rights in his remarks. After Steve Gunderson of Wisconsin, he was the second openly homosexual Republican to hold office.

In 2013, Kolbe wed Hector Alfonso, his partner. In the Hollingsworth v. Perry case that year, Kolbe was a signatory to an amicus curiae brief that was submitted to the U.S. Supreme Court in support of same-sex marriage.

Responses on social media for Kolbe’s death

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