| 8 weeks 9 hours 26 min ago Jesse Helms dead at age 86
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(NECN/ABC) - Former Republican Senator Jesse Helms, who served 30 years in Congress, has died at the age of 86 -- according to the Jesse Helms Research Center.
The center, based at Wingate University, said he died at 1:15 a.m. Friday.
Jimmy Broughton, Helms' former chief of staff, says the former senator died of natural causes in Raleigh.
Helms was a nemesis to liberals. He crusaded for what he considered "traditional family and religious values." He was dubbed "Senator No" by his colleagues. He opposed abortion and supported segregation.
Helms had been in poor health before and after he left Congress in 2003. He was slowed in later age by a variety of illnesses, including a bone disorder, prostate cancer and heart problems.
He served in the Navy in WWII. He was first elected to the Senate in 1972.
Helms went on to become one of the nation's most powerful conservative voices.
ABC's Andrea Canning has more.
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