Doug Larsen, a Republican state senator from North Dakota, was killed alongside his wife and their two children when the plane they were traveling in crashed in Utah Sunday evening, according to a Monday email from the state’s GOP majority leader obtained by the Associated Press.
The plane crashed just north of Moab, Utah, shortly after it took off from a nearby airfield, according to the Grand County Sheriff’s Office.
Deputies from the Grand County Sheriff’s Office said they received word of the Piper PA-28-140 plane hitting the ground around 8:30 p.m on Sunday evening. A search helicopter located the aircraft, and the Moab Fire Department and emergency medical staff later arrived on the scene.
The National Transportation Safety Board stated that the crash is under investigation.
The family was reportedly visiting relatives in the Scottsdale area prior to the crash.
“Senator Doug Larsen, his wife Amy, and their two young children died in a plane crash last evening in Utah,” state Sen. David Hogue wrote in his email. “They were visiting family in Scottsdale and returning home. They stopped to refuel in Utah.”
“I’m not sure where the bereavement starts with such a tragedy, but I think it starts with prayers for the grandparents, surviving stepchild of Senator Larsen, and extended family of Doug and Amy,” Hogue wrote. “Hold your family close today.”
State Sen. Scott Meyer of District 18 paid tribute to Larsen, mentioning his “dry sense of humor” and role as “a fair Chairman” of the Senate Industry, Business, and Labor Committees.
North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum also released a statement, saying, “Sen. Larsen was a father, husband, coach, entrepreneur, businessman, state senator and lieutenant colonel in the North Dakota National Guard who committed himself fully to each of those roles with an unwavering sense of honor and duty.”
“As a legislator, he was a tenacious advocate for individual rights and the freedoms he defended through his military service,” he continued. “We extend our deepest sympathies and prayers to his family and friends and join his legislative colleagues, National Guard brothers and sisters and the Mandan community in mourning the tragic passing of Sen. Larsen and his family.”
Larsen had been in office since 2021, serving District 34, which contains Mandan, a neighboring city to the capital of Bismarck.
As a lawmaker, he sponsored bills to prohibit vaccine requirements, expand allowances for firearm possession at places such as liquor establishments, prevent legislatures from levying property taxes to contribute to public primary and secondary schools.
In February, he debated a bill to ban mRNA vaccines in his state, asserting that his friend received a COVID-19 vaccination and may have experienced momentary cardiac death as a result.