Ex-GOP Rep. Paul Mitchell (Mich.) who left the Republican Party last year after Donald Trump refused to accept the results of the presidential election, has died.
Mitchell died on Sunday at the age of 64 after battling renal cancer.
“I am immensely proud of him and never more so than when he was the lone voice in a sea of politicians who cared more about power than the true definition of the office. When he remained the lone voice and ignored the threats from those claiming to be his friends,” his wife wrote in a statement, according to The Hill. “Paul stood up for what matters most, it had nothing to do with political ideology and everything to do with keeping our humanity. For everyone.”
Mitchell did not seek re-election for a third term in Congress, voicing his frustration that “rhetoric overwhelms policy” in Washington, The Washington Post reported at the time.
After the election in November, he told CNN that his disappointment with Donald Trump’s efforts to overturn the results of the election have led him to change his party affiliation to “independent.”
“It is unacceptable for political candidates to treat our election system as though we are a third-world nation and incite distrust of something so basic as the sanctity of our vote,” Mitchell wrote in a letter addressed to RNC Chairwoman Ronna McDaniel and House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy. “Further, it is unacceptable for the president to attack the Supreme Court of the United States because its judges, both liberal and conservative, did not rule with his side or that ‘the Court failed him.’ It was our Founding Fathers’ objective to insulate the Supreme Court from such blatant political motivations.”
Mitchell was a former businessman who was elected to Congress in 2016. He is survived by his wife, six children and six grandchildren.