WASHINGTON — Former U.S. Rep. Jennifer Dunn, who became the most powerful Republican woman in Washington state history during six terms representing Seattle’s eastside suburbs, died Wednesday after developing a blood clot and collapsing in her Virginia apartment, said a statement from her family. She was 66.
Dunn, a favorite of both Bush White Houses, was the state’s ranking Republican in Congress when she retired in 2004, turning down a plea from President George W. Bush to run for Senate. She said at the time she was pursuing a new career as a policy adviser and planned to enjoy time with her new husband and baby granddaughter.
Her son, King County Councilman Reagan Dunn, called the death “a total shock” and added: “She gave her whole life giving to other people. She touched a lot of lives and did a lot for her country.”
Dunn’s political career was a series of firsts: first woman to chair the Washington State Republican Party; first freshman woman to win a place in the House Republican leadership team; and the highest ranking Republican woman in leadership as the vice chair of the conference.
Former U.S. Sen. Slade Gorton, R-Wash., said that besides breaking the glass ceiling for Republican women in the House, Dunn had a great personality “outgoing and friendly and concerned.”
“She was a major part of my life as she was a major part of the political life of the state of Washington,” he told KOMO radio in Seattle.
Known for her work to cut the inheritance tax, for promoting small and women-owned businesses, and for sponsoring the Amber Alert bill to locate missing children, Dunn was an influential senior member of the House Republican caucus. She served as a member of the Ways and Means Committee, vice chairwoman of the Homeland Security Committee and a member of the caucus campaign team. She was a frequent spokeswoman for the House, once giving the Republican response to a State of the Union Address by President Bill Clinton. She helped run three Republican national conventions.
“While I never took a pledge on term limits, I do believe that our nation is better served if from time to time we senior members step aside to allow individuals with fresh ideas to challenge the status quo in Congress,” she said when she retired.
Bush praised Dunn on her retirement, calling her “a superb legislator and a strong leader who has stood for the best of Washington state’s values and who has improved the lives of its people.”
Gov. Chris Gregoire said that in addition to being a political leader, Dunn “was a devoted wife and mother and always kept her family as her top priority.”
As the first woman to chair the state GOP, Dunn led the party to significant gains in the Legislature, then repeated that feat in Congress, said Rep. Doc Hastings, who succeeded her as the state’s most senior Republican.
When she was elected to the House in 1992, she was the only Republican in the nine-member delegation. Two years later, five more Republicans, including Hastings, joined her.
Dunn’s greatest accomplishment in Congress and a focus of years of effort was cutting the inheritance tax, or what Dunn and other opponents called the death tax.
“She was a tireless advocate of that,” Hastings said, adding that Dunn also should be remembered as a strong advocate of free trade.
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