Senator Who Was Part of the 'Stupid Party' Dies at 93

Former US Sen. Alan Simpson, a political legend whose quick wit bridged partisan gaps in the years before today's political acrimony, has died at 93. Simpson died Friday after suffering a broken hip in December, per a statement from his family and the Buffalo Bill Center of the West, a group of museums where he was a board member for 56 years. Along with former Vice President Dick Cheney, Simpson was a towering Republican figure from Wyoming. Unlike Cheney, however, Simpson was famous for his humor, per the AP. "We have two political parties in this country: the Stupid Party and the Evil Party. I belong to the Stupid Party," was among Simpson's many well-known quips.

• GOP cred: A political moderate by current standards, Simpson's three terms as senator from 1979 to 1997 covered the GOP's rejuvenation under President Reagan. Simpson played a key role rallying GOP senators around the party's legislative agenda as a top Senate leader. He was better known, though, for holding his own views, with sometimes caustic certainty.

• Bipartisan ties: A deficit hawk with sharp descriptions of people who relied on government assistance, Simpson also supported abortion rights—an example of moderation that contributed to his fade in the GOP. His Democratic friends included Robert Reich, labor secretary under President Clinton, and Norman Mineta, transportation secretary under President George W. Bush. He was "gifted in crossing party lines and building bipartisan consensus," Colin Simpson, one of his three children and a former Wyoming House speaker, said in the family statement.
• Big shoes (not just a metaphor): At 6-foot-7, Simpson was literally a towering figure—tallest on record in the Senate until Alabama Sen. Luther Strange, who's 6-foot-9, took office in 2017. Simpson also had big shoes to fill politically. His father, Milward Simpson, was a governor, US senator, and state legislator; his mother, Lorna Kooi Simpson, was president of the Red Cross in Cody and on the local planning commission.
• Praise: In 2022, President Biden awarded Simpson the Presidential Medal of Freedom. "He was an uncommonly generous man," brother Pete Simpson said. "And I mean generous in an absolutely unconditional way. Giving of his time, giving of his energy—and he did it in politics and he did it in the family, forever." Simpson is survived by his wife, Ann; his brother; sons Colin and William Simpson; and daughter Susan Simpson Gallagher. More here.

(More Alan Simpson stories.)