WASHINGTON — Orrin Hatch, the longest-serving Republican senator in U.S. history and a steadfast conservative who also crossed the aisle to work on legislation with liberal Democrats, has died. He was 88.
Hatch died on Saturday in Salt Lake City, the Hatch Foundation said in a statement. It didn’t provide a cause of death.
First elected to the Senate in 1976, Hatch was a hard-line backer of conservative causes such as tax cuts, gun rights, opposition to abortion, and a balanced-budget constitutional amendment. Over the years, he served as chairman of three Senate committees: Finance; Judiciary; and Health, Education, Labor and Pensions.
