October 30, 2022 12:15 PM UTC

House Minority Leader Hugh McKean Dies Suddenly

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• by: Colorado Pols

Very sad news this Sunday from the Denver Post’s Seth Klamann, Colorado House Minority Leader Hugh McKean passed away unexpectedly early this morning after complaining of symptoms consistent with a heart attack:

McKean, who first was elected in 2016 and was chosen to lead the caucus in 2020, was found at his home in Loveland on Sunday morning, officials said. In a statement, the Colorado House Republicans described his death as sudden.

Roger Hudson, McKean’s deputy of staff, told The Denver Post that McKean had been complaining of pain on the left side of his body, but that he had chalked it up to an injury related to work on the new home McKean was building. The pain had worsened overnight into Sunday morning, Hudson and Rep. Colin Larson said, and McKean had called his longtime partner. When she arrived at his home, an ambulance already was there, Larson said.

“He was a dear friend, and I’m going to miss him,” an emotional Larson said Sunday morning. “I can’t believe he’s gone. And my heart just breaks for Amy (Parks, his longtime partner) and his son and daughter and Amy’s kids. He was just such a loving dad, and he talked about his kids all the time. I hope that they know that.”

As readers know, Hugh McKean spent his tenure as House Minority Leader balancing his responsibilities in an era of increasing partisan division while fending off pointless and frequently self-injurious obstruction attempts from far-right members of his House caucus–respect for the institution that caused controversy of its own, leading to an unsuccessful attempt to remove McKean from his leadership position. McKean’s struggle with the extremes in his own caucus highlighted the party’s shift away from “old school” Republican lawmakers who could see past ideology far enough to perform their most basic responsibilities from later Trump-era Republicans aspiring to be as destructive in their role as Lauren Boebert.

McKean was a better man, and better public servant than either side gave him credit for.