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Texas Rep. Ron Wright, a 67-year-old Republican from Arlington, died Sunday from COVID-19, according to a statement from his congressional office. He is the first sitting member of Congress to die of the virus. Wright and his wife, Susan, had been admitted to Baylor Hospital in Dallas two weeks ago after testing positive. (Wallace, 2/8)

He said in December 2019 on the House floor he was being treated with “an immunotherapy wonder-drug called Keytruda,” which was approved for his regimen in May 2017. He used the success of the drug to argue against government forcing pharmaceutical companies to offer cancer drugs at lower costs, saying it could kill the innovation required to make the drug. He told Star-Telegram columnist Bud Kennedy in a Jan. 25 text message from Baylor Hospital that he was also facing pneumonia that came with the COVID infection. He said in the text that he was “on the mend.” “We need to package this stuff and send it back to China,” Wright jested in the text. (Hartley, 2/8)

As insurmountable as our current challenges seem, the history of American ingenuity and perseverance leave me confident that these trying times will soon be behind us. After all, Americans have been tested time and time again in ways we never thought possible, and we have always come out on the other side a stronger nation. (Ron Wright, 8/19)