After 18 years in the Legislature, Rep. Sue Chew, D-Boise, has not been at the Capitol for her last session so far this year as she battles pancreatic cancer from the hospital.
The 65-year-old announced she planned not to run again last year, almost two decades after she was first elected to represent the Boise Bench. She has since served nine consecutive terms. Her final two-year term ends at the end of this year.
Chew was diagnosed with cancer last year, Minority Leader Ilana Rubel, D-Boise, told the Idaho Statesman, and was admitted to intensive care this week. She has been receiving chemotherapy, Rubel said.
The longest-serving Democratic lawmaker, a pharmacist originally from Oakland, California, has advocated for reform on indigent health care, disability rights and the Add the Words campaign, which would add sexual orientation and gender identity as classes protected against discrimination in state law.
“She is the champion of the underdog,” said Rubel, who has worked with Chew since joining the Legislature in 2014. “Health care was really her signature item.”