gillette retired sen mike enzi a wyoming republican known as a consensusbuilder in an increasingly polarized washington has died after he broke his neck in a bicycle accident he was 77enzi died peacefully monday surrounded by family and friends former spokesman max donofrio said he had been hospitalized with a broken neck and ribs for three days following a bicycle accident near gillette he was stabilized before being flown to a hospital in colorado but remained unconscious donofrio saidenzi fell near his home about 830 pm friday family friend john daly said around the same time gillette police received a report of a man lying unresponsive on a road near a bikepolice have seen no indication that anybody else was nearby or involved in the accident lt brent wasson told the gillette news recorda former shoe salesman first elected to the senate in 1996 enzi emphasized compromise over grandstanding and confrontation to get bills passedhis 8020 rule called on colleagues to focus on the 80 of an issue where legislators tended to agree and discard the 20 where they didntnothing gets done when were just telling each other how wrong we are enzi said in his farewell address to the senate in 2020 just ask yourself has anyone ever really changed your opinion by getting in your face and yelling at you or saying to you how wrong you are usually that doesnt change hearts or mindswyoming voters reelected enzi by wide margins three times before he announced in 2019 that he would not seek a fifth term enzi was succeeded in the senate in 2021 by republican cynthia lummis a former congresswoman and state treasurerhe was a giant and will be really missed by all of us republican rep liz cheney wyomings congresswoman said tuesday on abcs good morning americaenzis political career began at 30 when he was elected mayor of gillette a city at the heart of wyomings thenbooming coal mining industry he was elected to the wyoming house in 1986 and state senate in 1991the retirement of republican sen alan simpson opened the way for enzis election to the senate enzi beat john barrasso in a nineway republican primary and then democratic former wyoming secretary of state kathy karpan in the general election barrasso would be appointed to the senate in 2007 after the death of sen craig thomasenzi wielded quiet influence as the senate slipped into partisan gridlock over the second half of his career therehis more recent accomplishments included advancing legislation to enable sales taxes to be collected on internet sales crossing state lines he played a major role in reforming the no child left behind law that set performance standards for elementary middle and high school studentshe fought for wyoming as the top coalmining state to receive payments through the federal abandoned mine land program which taxes coal operations to help reclaim abandoned mining propertiesenzi sought to encourage business innovation by hosting an annual inventors conference he also backed bills involving the us mint