Former Michigan Representative Paul Mitchell passed away over the weekend after a battle with cancer. Mitchell’s wife released a statement on his passing, he was 64.

According to reports from The Hill:

“I am immensely proud of him and never more so than when he was the lone voice in a sea of politicians who cared more about power than the true definition of the office. When he remained the lone voice and ignored the threats from those claiming to be his friends,” his wife wrote. “Paul stood up for what matters most, it had nothing to do with political ideology and everything to do with keeping our humanity. For everyone.”

The former representative shocked colleagues and constituents last year when he announced he was leaving the Republican Party after former President Trump refused to accept the results of the 2020 presidential election over claims of widespread voter fraud.

Mitchell, who served on the leadership team of House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.), did not seek a third term in the House in 2020, pointing to the partisan bickering and gridlock in Washington.

“It is unacceptable for political candidates to treat our election system as though we are a third-world nation and incite distrust of something so basic as the sanctity of our vote,” Mitchell said in his statement announcing he was defecting from the GOP. “Further, it is unacceptable for the president to attack the Supreme Court of the United States because its judges, both liberal and conservative, did not rule with his side or that ‘the Court failed him.’

“It was our Founding Fathers’ objective to insulate the Supreme Court from such blatant political motivations.”