Sue Wagner, the first woman to be elected lieutenant governor of Nevada and a Republican champion of abortion rights at a time when her party took the opposite tack, died on Tuesday morning in Reno. She was 86.

Wagner built her political career as a moderate Republican, serving in both chambers of the state Legislature before becoming lieutenant governor. Although she survived a 1990 plane crash and served out her term as lieutenant governor, her injuries from the accident effectively ended her political career. She later served on the Nevada Gaming Commission for 12 years. 

"There's just no question in our mind that she was going to be the first female governor," said Stephanie Tyler, a former aide and close friend of Wagner's who survived the plane crash alongside her. 

The crash transformed Wagner's life, Tyler said, and left her with chronic pain.

"The legacy that she would have created, given her tenacity and her vision for what she felt Nevada could and should be, — it would have reshaped the future of the state."

Born in Portland, Maine, in 1940, Wagner moved with her family to Arizona when she was 10 and stayed out West for the rest of her life. Her father had served as chairman of Maine's Republican Party, which Wagner credited with her own early interest in politics.

Another source of inspiration for her as a child was strong female political leadership. In a 2017 interview with the Nevada Women's History Project, she named the pioneering Sen. Margaret Chase Smith (R-ME) as one of her early role models. 

Before venturing into politics, she worked as a reporter and as a schoolteacher after her graduation from the University of Arizona. Friends and colleagues say both experiences made her more aware of the importance of questioning dominant narratives and seeking out the truth.

Wagner was elected to the state Assembly to represent a Reno-area district in 1974 while raising her two young children, a decision that she said drew ire from critics who did not see a place for mothers in politics. 

"Most of the people were concerned about the age of my children, who was going to take care of them," Wagner said in 2017. "I was told the kids would grow up to be juvenile delinquents, that my husband was probably going to divorce me."

Her successful campaign for state Senate followed in 1980. Months before her election, her husband, Peter, died in a plane crash during a research trip for the environmental science-focused Desert Research Institute (DRI), where he was an atmospheric physicist. 

After his death, Wagner joined the staff of DRI and spent nearly a decade at the Nevada-based institution, advocating for greater investment in environmental studies. She also endowed multiple awards at DRI in Peter's name, including one dedicated to female atmospheric scientists.

Friends and colleagues say Wagner was a talented and committed dealmaker who cared deeply about making the government more effective and protecting Nevada women's rights. 

In the Senate, she introduced a bill to direct funds from marriage license fees toward domestic violence prevention, a policy that helped to quadruple the number of prevention programs in the state. Marlene Lockard, a lobbyist and board member of the Reno-based Domestic Violence Resource Center, said the move exemplified Wagner's commitment to her principles. 

That commitment had to be especially strong as one of the few female politicians in the Legislature and hailing from a party that was often in direct opposition to her proposed policies.

"Sue was wicked smart," Lockard said, emphasizing Wagner worked across the political aisle with Democrats to get her bills through. "She was really, really smart and very effective … It drove her Republican colleagues crazy, but she did not waver."

Wagner was also instrumental in the success of a 1990 referendum that helped codify abortion rights in state law. Tyler was active in that effort as well and said the "Campaign for Choice" reflected Wagner's uncanny ability to strategize for the long term.

"We came together and realized we're going to fight this fight every single year," said Tyler. "We realized, we have got to affirm this.

"The notion of blinking just was not in her vocabulary," Tyler added.

Plane crash ended political career, but not her interest in politics

During her 1990 campaign for lieutenant governor, Wagner was flying back to Carson City from a Labor Day parade in Fallon when the plane crashed shortly after takeoff, leaving her with debilitating injuries to her back and neck. Also injured in the crash was Tyler, future Republican state treasurer Bob Seale and his campaign manager Brian Krolicki; the latter would eventually become lieutenant governor himself. Seale's wife, Judy, died. 

"There was life before and life after the crash," said Krolicki. 

That was especially true for Wagner, he said, who, with a broken neck and spine, was more severely injured than some of the other passengers.

Wagner triumphed in the general election two months later, although she had to wear a neck brace for the remainder of the campaign. Her injuries prevented her from seeking elected office in the future: She opted against running for re-election in 1994 and repeatedly refused later calls to seek out Nevada's governorship or a U.S. Senate seat. 

"It stopped my life in politics and my entire life thereafter," she said in 2024. 

Lockard said "she wasn't self-pitying" about the crash's effects. "It was a fact of her life, this was how she had to live. And she did it. She was fully on top of it."

Wagner never again ran for public office but remained in public service, spending 12 years on the state's gaming commission beginning in 1997. Her continued participation in civic life was plentiful and diverse, including overseeing the Legislature's internship program that is operated through UNR.

Friends say she was a hardworking, vibrant person who excelled in all of the many projects she took up. For the two decades before her death she hosted an annual celebration of women in Nevada, "Girls' Night Out." 

She also helped plan meetings for a monthly book club that she and Lockard participated in. When it was Wagner's turn to choose that month's book, Lockard said Wagner's first choice was The Handmaid's Tale, another reminder of her passion about feminist causes.

She struggled with health issues in recent years but remained political until the end. She changed her party registration from Republican to nonpartisan in 2014, saying the Republican Party had become too extreme. 

Lockard spent an afternoon last week by her old friend's bedside, and said Wagner eagerly discussed updates from the 2026 candidate filing period.

"Politics was her favorite sport," said Tyler. 

This story was updated at 5:50 p.m. on 3/17/26 to clarify that Sue Wagner's neck injuries from a 1990 plane crash did not result in paralysis; to correct that Brian Krolicki was working for Bob Seale when the 1990 plane crash took place; and to correct that Stephanie Tyler worked on Arnold Schwarzenegger's 2006 re-election campaign.

Tabitha Mueller contributed reporting to this story.