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Veteran GOP strategist and CNN political commentator Alice Stewart has died, her employer reported Saturday. Stewart, 58, was found dead early Saturday in the Belle View neighborhood of Fairfax County, Va. Police told The Washington Post they do not suspect foul play. Officials believe she experienced a medical emergency, CNN reported. "Alice was a very dear friend and colleague to all of us at CNN," CEO Mark Thompson wrote to staff in an email Saturday, CNN reported. "A political veteran and an Emmy Award-winning journalist who brought an incomparable spark to CNN's coverage, known across our bureaus not only for her political savvy, but for her unwavering kindness." Stewart began her career as a news reporter and anchor in Georgia and Arkansas before leaving journalism for politics. She served as Arkansas's deputy secretary of state and worked on several Republican campaigns, including as a spokeswoman for the 2016 presidential bid of Sen. Ted Cruz (Tex.). On Saturday, Cruz said Stewart's death was "heartbreaking." "Alice was wonderful and talented and a dear friend," he wrote on X. "And she loved America fiercely. She lived every day to the fullest, and she will be deeply missed." Stewart worked as communications director for the Republican presidential campaigns of former Arkansas governor Mike Huckabee, former senator Rick Santorum (Pa.) and then-Rep. Michele Bachmann (Minn.). She also contributed to communications strategy for the National Republican Senatorial Committee and the National Republican Congressional Committee, among other organizations. In fall 2020, Stewart worked as a fellow at Harvard University's Institute of Politics. Longtime CNN anchor Wolf Blitzer said on the network Saturday that Stewart "was really, really a very special woman" who appeared on his show the day before she died. "That's why we always invited her to come on my show," Blitzer said. "Because we knew we would be a little bit smarter at the end of that conversation than we were at the beginning of that conversation." Democratic strategist and CNN commentator Maria Cardona, who frequently debated Stewart on CNN, said she was "turned inside out" by Stewart's death. "As many know, Alice & I were like sisters from opposite ends of the political aisle," Cardona wrote on X. "We debated but w respect. I will miss her dearly but seems God needed some top-notch communications help."