Former Arizona Rep. Jim Kolbe (R) has passed away. The 11-term moderate Republican lawmaker entered Congress in 1984 and exited in 2007. He was 80 years old.
Kolbe represented a prominent district in Arizona — an area that included Tucson. As a southern state legislator, he advocated “liberalized immigration rules and free trade,” according to the Conservative Brief.
In a Saturday statement announcing Kolbe’s passing, Sharon Bronson, the Pima County Board of Supervisors chair, said: “Pima County and Southern Arizona could always count on Jim Kolbe. Whether when he was in the state Legislature or in Congress, the man from Patagonia always acted in the best interests of Southern Arizona.”
Bronson described Kolbe as an “old school Republican in the mold of Teddy Roosevelt and Dwight Eisenhower.” Bronson also said that Kolbe was “a friend of business and the environment,” noting that the congressman worked to protect the “beloved wild spaces and cultural treasures like Canoa Ranch and the Las Cienegas National Conservation Area.”
Arizona Gov. Doug Ducey (R) called Kolbe “a true elder statesman and political powerhouse:”
“Congressman Jim Kolbe never wavered in his responsibility to our state and nation,” Ducey said. “We are deeply saddened by his passing.”
USA Today noted:
“Kolbe entered Congress after the 1984 elections, when President Ronald Reagan’s sunny optimism was winning over some Democrats, and left in 2007 as partisanship deepened, making it more difficult for Republicans to compete in southern Arizona.
He departed Washington out of sync with the GOP in important ways: He was gay, supported abortion rights and a guest-worker program to help manage the growing restlessness about the nation’s immigration system.
Kolbe spent his career after Congress working for think tanks, consulting firms, and teaching. He remained a Republican but more often lent a bipartisan appearance to Democratic causes.”
Kolbe drifted from the Republican party in recent years. He announced a change in his party affiliation (from Republican to Independent) in 2018 and backed Joe Biden for president in 2020.
Kolbe told The Arizona Republic in 2020: “I’ve always been fairly independent in my thinking. It doesn’t change my values.”
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