The U.S. Capitol in Washington, D.C., is pictured on Thursday, March 14, 2024. (Jennifer Shutt/States Newsroom)
Steve Symms, a Republican who represented Idaho for four terms in the U.S. House of Representatives and two terms in the U.S. Senate, died Thursday. He was 86.
Idaho Gov. Brad Little has ordered all U.S. and state of Idaho flags to be lowered until sunrise on Aug. 12 to honor his service to the state. Symms served in the U.S. House from 1973 to 1981 and in the U.S. Senate from from 1981-1993. Symms unseated four-term Democratic Sen. Frank Church in the 1980 election.
Born on April 23, 1938, in Canyon County, Symms attended public schools and graduated from Caldwell High School before going on to graduate from the University of Idaho in 1960, according to the Biographical Directory of the U.S. Congress. He served in the United States Marine Corps from 1960-1963 and worked as a private pilot and fruit rancher.