DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — Former U.S. Rep. Jim Leach, who served as an Eastern Iowa politician for 30 years and later led the National Endowment for the Humanities, died Wednesday. He was 82.
Leach, whose death was confirmed at an Iowa City funeral home, represented Iowa as a moderate Republican until 2006, when he was defeated by Democrat Dave Loebsack in a midterm cycle that gave Democrats control of the U.S. House.
He chaired the banking and foreign relations committees, and in 2002 he was one of six Republicans, then the House majority, who voted against a resolution authorizing the use of force in Iraq. The measure paved the way for the 2003 US invasion of Iraq, which Leach also opposed.
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After leaving Congress, Leach supported then-Illinois Senator Barack Obama, the Democratic nominee, for president in 2008 over his party’s nominee, Arizona Senator John McCain, in part because of Obama’s opposition to the 2003 invasion – a decision that according to him it was not so. simple.
“Part of it is that political parties are a distant analogy to families and you really hate to step outside of a family environment,” Leach told The Associated Press in an interview at the time.
Earlier this year, Leach co-wrote a Jan. 6 op-ed in The Des Moines Register with Loebsack, a year after former President Donald Trump’s supporters stormed the Capitol in an attempt to stop Congress from certifying President Joe Biden’s victory.
“This anniversary of the violent insurrection at our nation’s Capitol is a solemn reminder of how fragile the foundations of democracy are when extremists like Donald Trump are willing to undermine millions of voters and encourage a deadly mob, all in the name of exercising power,” said Leach. and Loebsack wrote.
Loebsack told The Associated Press on Wednesday that he even voted for Leach before running against him, despite their difference in political party.
“Jim served our district and state honorably for thirty years. He was a man of principle, integrity and honor,” Loebsack said. ‘We will miss him. There is no doubt.”
Leach worked as a professor at Princeton, his alma mater, and Harvard’s John F. Kennedy School of Government before Obama appointed him in 2009 to lead the National Endowment for the Humanities. In 2013, he resigned from the National Endowment for the Humanities. he joined the faculty of the University of Iowa.
University Vice President Peter Matthes said in a statement Wednesday that Leach was a “relentless advocate” for Iowa. The university’s statement also said Leach donated his public and private papers to their libraries.
“He lived a life of service that we should all aspire to,” Matthes said.
Republican Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds offered her condolences Wednesday.
“As a member of the United States Congress for 30 years, Jim dedicated his life to serving his country and the state of Iowa,” Reynolds said on the social platform X.
Leach is survived by his wife, two children and two grandchildren, according to his obituary.
