(NewsNation) — Rep. Gerry Connolly, D-Va., “passed away peacefully at his home” on Wednesday at 75, his family confirmed on social media.
Connolly announced in April he would step down from his position as the top Democrat on the House Oversight Committee, as his esophageal cancer had returned.
“With no rancor and a full heart, I move into this final chapter full of pride in what we’ve accomplished together over 30 years,” Connolly had said in a statement addressing his constituents. “My loving family and staff sustain me. My extended family — you all have been a joy to serve.”
Rep Gerry Connolly ‘lived his life to give back to others’: Family
In a statement on social media Wednesday, the Connolly family shared the news of his death and commended “his joy, his purpose, and his passion” in both work and personal matters.
Rep. Gerry Connolly, D-Va., speaks to reporters following a vote on ranking member for House Oversight and Accountability Committee during a House Democratic Caucus meeting on Dec. 17, 2024. 
Rep. Gerry Connolly, D-Va., speaks on Capitol Hill in Washington on Sept. 24, 2024. (AP Photo/Rod Lamkey, Jr.) 
Rep. Gerry Connolly, D-Va. speaks on Capitol Hill in Washington on May 17, 2016, during the committee’s business meeting to consider the DC Home Rule Act of 2016. (AP Photo/Susan Walsh) 
Rep. Gerry Connolly, D-Va., listens at an event Oct. 22, 2020, in Fairfax, Va. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin, File) 
Rep. Gerry Connolly, D-Va., speaks at a House Oversight and Accountability Committee organizational meeting Jan. 31, 2023.
The statement read:
“Gerry lived his life to give back to others and make our community better. He looked out for the disadvantaged and voiceless. He always stood up for what is right and just. He was a skilled statesman on the international stage, an accomplished legislator in Congress, a visionary executive on the Fairfax County Board of Supervisors, a fierce defender of democracy, and environmental champion, and a mentor to so many.”
Rep. Gerry Connolly’s life and accomplishments
Connolly started his career as a Senate Foreign Relations Committee staffer, according to the Washington Post. He was elected to the Fairfax County Board of Supervisors in 1995 and served as chairman from 2004 to 2008.
When Connolly was county supervisor, he was one of the earliest proponents of extending the Silver Line on the Metrorail from the suburbs to the Washington Dulles International Airport. Connolly was elected to Congress in 2008 and secured additional funding for a 23.2-mile expansion of the Silver Line.
This expansion helped redevelop Tyson’s Corner in Virginia. In 2014, when the first expansion opened, Connolly told the Washington Post, “I know this is going to sound corny, but I look out at that now, and my heart sours.”
Rep. Gerry Connolly lost twice before becoming ranking Democrat
Before becoming the top-ranking Democrat on the House Oversight Committee, Connolly lost to Rep. Carolyn B. Maloney, D-N.Y., in 2019 and to Rep. Jamie Raskin, D-Md., in 2022. He stayed on as chairman of the panel’s subcommittee on government operations.
He stepped up the subcommittee’s oversight of the White House and, in a CNN interview, threatened jail time for Trump officials who resisted subpoenas, saying he would “go to the max” to enforce the Oversight Committee’s power via court orders.
Reactions to the death of Rep. Gerry Connolly
Rep. Virginia Foxx, R-N.C., addressed Connolly’s death during Wednesday morning’s marathon hearing on President Donald Trump’s tax-cut bill.
“Many people in here have just heard that our colleague Gerry Connolly has just passed. So, I want to ask us all to stop and say a prayer for his family. Please take some time,” Foxx said.
Rep. Jamie Raskin, D-M.D., offered condolences online, writing, “Crushingly sad to learn of the passing of Gerry Connolly, my friend, colleague and fierce champion of federal workers, public integrity and the people of Virginia (though he never surrendered his hearty south Boston accent). May his memory be a blessing to us all.”
House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., also posted on social media, saying, in part, “My prayers, and those of the entire House Democratic Caucus, are with Congressman Connolly’s loved ones and the devoted staff who he considered to be his family.”
Connolly is the third House Democrat to die this year, preceded by Texas’ Sylvester Turner and Arizona’s Raul Grijalva.