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Beth, a trusty tan Hoover vacuum cleaner with a burgundy cloth dust bag that for years tended to the floors of the Iowa farmhouse of Senator Chuck Grassley, earning admirers in both parties, has died. She was believed to be 49.

The cause was apparently an electrical problem, said Mr. Grassley, a Republican who often admiringly posted images of his cleaning companion on social media around Christmas, Thanksgiving, Easter and family reunions.

“U willl see Beth no more,” Mr. Grassley, 92 and the oldest senator, wrote on social media on Saturday, attaching an image that showed Beth’s electrical cord connector scarred by sparks. “See black that’s from electrical sparks. It’s not safe to use anymore. GOOD BYE BETH.”

He declared it a “sad day at Grassley household” and recalled that Beth had worked “dependably” for 34 years at his home, and for 15 years before that at his mother-in-law’s house. He wrote of Beth, “U hv been a real workhorse,” adding, “I will miss u.”

Within hours of Mr. Grassley’s announcement, others in politics had begun to take note, and to offer condolences.

“Sorry for your loss, Senator,” Josh Turek, a Democratic state representative in Iowa running for the state’s other Senate seat, wrote Saturday evening on social media. “Sounds like Beth had a heck of a run.”

Year after year, around the holidays and during other occasions when cleaning was in order, Mr. Grassley would fire up Beth. The vacuum, he said, allowed him to make a contribution to the festivities as others in the family prepared food.

At roughly 49, Beth had been at work since before Mr. Grassley, a corn and soybean farmer, reached the Senate in 1981. The vacuum was also older than several U.S. senators.

https://xcancel.com/ChuckGrassley/status/2086178745191133662