(RepublicanDaily.org) – North Dakota Senator Doug Larsen was killed, along with his wife and two children, after their single-engine Piper plane crashed near Moab, Utah.
Larsen, his wife Amy, and their two young children, were visiting relatives in Scottsdale, Arizona, and had landed in Canyonlands Regional Airport for a refueling stop. Authorities reported that shortly after lifting off, the plane crashed 15 miles north of Moab, killing all passengers on board. Senator Larsen was the one piloting the plane when the accident occurred.
Republican North Dakota Senate Majority Leader David Hogue sent out an email to his colleagues in the state legislature announcing the accident.
“I’m not sure where the bereavement starts with such a tragedy,” Hogue wrote, asking for prayers for Senator Larsen’s stepchild, as well as for the remaining relatives of the Larsen family.
The crash is being investigated by the National Transportation Safety Board, which is expected to release an initial report on the incident after a few weeks.
Larsen, a Republican, was first elected to the post in 2020. He and his wife Amy were business owners, with Larsen also serving with the North Dakota Army National Guard for almost three decades, and was mobilized twice, the first time in Iraq in 2009 to 2010. His second mobilization was in Washington, D.C. from 2013 to 2014. Larsen was also decorated, having been awarded the Bronze Service Star, Meritorious Service Medal, and the Army Aviator Badge.
Major General Alan Dohrmann, North Dakota National Guard adjutant general, called Larsen and his family’s deaths as a “tragic loss,” and described the former lieutenant colonel as a “true patriot” and a dedicated public servant. “I had the distinct pleasure to call him a Brother in Arms,” the general said.
Larsen’s term ends on November 2024, and District Republicans will have to appoint someone to take over the senator’s now vacant seat until that term ends.
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