Bre Payton, staff writer for conservative news site The Federalist and frequent TV commentator, died Friday, one day after was found unconscious and hospitalized with the flu. She was 26.

Federalist publisher Ben Domenech confirmed Payton’s death. “Bre has passed. We are devastated,” Domenech wrote on Twitter Friday. “Last we saw her, she was her funny, smart, vivacious self. Now lost to us so suddenly.”

Payton was admitted to a San Diego hospital Thursday after a friend found her unconscious and barely breathing in her apartment. After a series of tests, Payton was diagnosed with the H1N1 virus, commonly known as swine flu, and possible meningitis, according to a CaringBridge fundraising page set up for her.

Payton, who was based in Washington, was in California this week guest-hosting a show on the One America News Network, according to Fox News Channel, on which she was a frequent guest. On Wednesday, Payton told her Twitter followers to tune in that night to see her on television. But, according to the CaringBridge post, a friend found her “unresponsive and barely breathing” in her room the next morning.

Payton had recently appeared as a guest on Fox News’ Your World with Neil Cavuto and Trish Regan Primetime on Fox Business. She has also been on Fox & Friends and Fox News @ Night.

According to her biography at The Federalist, Payton wrote stories on “subjects ranging from Kanye West to Supreme Court rulings, to 2016 and breaking news.” In addition to Fox News and Fox Business, she has appeared on MSNBC, CNN, NPR, BBC World News, among others, and her work has been featured in The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times, Daily Signal, and WORLD Magazine. She previously worked as a reporter for Watchdog.org and received her degree in Political Journalism from Patrick Henry College.

https://deadline.com/2018/12/bre-payton-dies-political-journalist-the-federalist-staff-writer-1202527004/