Official: Republican Pa. Rep. Mike Reese dies following apparent brain aneurysm, after testing positive for COVID-19

HARRISBURG — A state lawmaker who was elected to serve as the Pennsylvania House Republican Caucus chairman in the 2020-21 session has died, the House GOP leader said Saturday.

Rep. Mike Reese, 42, who represented Westmoreland and Somerset Counties, “died peacefully with his family by his side Saturday afternoon at Excela Health Westmoreland Hospital in Greensburg following an apparent brain aneurysm,” Rep. Kerry Benninghoff, the majority leader, said in a statement also posted on Reese’s official House website and his Facebook page.

Reese said Dec. 7 he had recently learned that he had tested positive for COVID-19 and had been quarantining for the previous week after learning of his exposure to the virus. It was unclear Sunday whether that diagnosis had any connection to the aneurysm that reportedly killed him.

First elected to the state House in 2008, Reese served as the House GOP caucus secretary in the 2019-20 session.

“More than a friend to all of us, and one of our caucus leaders, Mike was a devoted husband and father," Benninghoff said, calling Reese “a model legislator who thoughtfully put his constituents first."

He is survived by his wife, Angela, and three children.