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WASHINGTON — Sheila Jackson Lee, a Houston Democrat who was one of many longest serving members of Texas’ Congressional delegation and a longtime advocate for progressive causes, died on Friday amid her battle with pancreatic most cancers. She was 74.
Jackson Lee started her congressional profession as an underdog, defeating four-term U.S. Rep. Craig Washington within the 1994 Democratic major, earlier than establishing herself as a fixture in Congress and Houston with ties to the very best reaches of the Democratic Social gathering.
Jackson Lee was a progressive fixture on Capitol Hill for many years. She was an early opponent of the Iraq Warfare and advocate for homosexual rights. In 2021, Jackson Lee was arrested for partaking in civil disobedience over a federal voting rights invoice. By the point of her loss of life, she was a senior member of the Home Judiciary, Homeland Safety and Price range committees. She by no means shied from talking on the Home flooring or earlier than the cameras on causes she cared about.
She was additionally a family identify within the 18th Congressional District, which incorporates Downtown Houston. She was recognized for her frequent visibility at constituent graduations, funerals and child showers.
She typically used her trademark chutzpah to struggle for federal funds to be despatched to Houston. In 2009, she secured $1 billion for town’s gentle system after cornering then-Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood forward of then-President Barack Obama’s first joint deal with to Congress. She may reliably be discovered within the aisle forward of the State of the Union deal with, among the many few members to straight meet with the president on his method to the dais.
“Sheila is … an actual combative advocate, for my part,” mentioned U.S. Rep. Frank Pallone, a New Jersey Democrat, in 2017. “When she believes in a problem or in an individual she goes to bat.”
However that persistence waned this yr as her sickness saved her more and more at residence, lacking each vote in June and nearly all of Could, in line with the Home Clerk.
Jackson Lee was working in full gear solely months earlier than. The veteran congresswoman made a pivot final yr when she introduced a run for Houston mayor.
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“I hope I’ve been a humble servant for you for 28 years,” she mentioned at Metropolis Cathedral Church, the place she introduced her bid. “Sheila Jackson Lee needs to return residence to be your Mayor, for the Metropolis of Houston.”
The transfer was rumored for months however ended up turning into a messy debacle after a leaked tape final yr revealed her berating workers with a string of profanities. Her workplace was lengthy recognized for a excessive turnover charge amongst workers. Regardless of an endorsement from outgoing-Mayor Sylvester Turner and Home Minority Chief Hakeem Jeffries, Jackson Lee misplaced the race to former-state Sen. John Whitmire, a fellow Democrat.
Jackson Lee then confronted her first aggressive major in a long time, a race towards Amanda Edwards, who years in the past served as an intern in her workplace. Jackson Lee was capable of faucet into a long time of robust relationships all through her occasion, securing the endorsement of the Democratic institution going all the best way as much as President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris. Home Democratic management and former Presidents Invoice Clinton and Barack Obama additionally endorsed her within the race. She gained the first by over 22 proportion factors.
A local of Queens, New York, Jackson Lee graduated from Yale College in 1972, a part of one of many first lessons of girls to graduate from the college, and from the College of Virginia Regulation Faculty in 1975. She moved to Houston after her husband, fellow Yale alumnus and Houston native Elwyn Lee, obtained a job with the College of Houston.
She served on the Houston metropolis council earlier than launching her 1994 marketing campaign for Congress. She and Austin Democratic Rep. Lloyd Doggett had been the longest-serving Texans in Congress on the time of her loss of life.
As soon as in Congress, Jackson Lee constructed robust ties together with her occasion’s management and all through her caucus. She has campaigned for her mates in remote districts and within the Capitol for management positions. She performed a significant function in Pallone’s bid to be the highest Democrat on the influential Vitality and Commerce committee and advocated for Home Speaker Nancy Pelosi to once more take the gavel in 2018 amid a left-wing revolt towards her management. Jackson Lee additionally served as one among 10 deputies to Home Minority Whip Katherine Clark.
There are advantages to her robust relationships. She was the primary feminine Rating Member of the Judiciary Subcommittee for Crime and Federal Authorities Surveillance and chaired the subcommittee within the 117th Congress from 2020 to 2022. She was additionally tapped to talk on the 2016 Democratic Nationwide Conference, heralded by the workers of Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton as a uniquely efficient surrogate.
Notable mates and allies issued tributes late Friday. “Via crises and disasters – in addition to triumphs – Sheila’s ceaseless and unwavering dedication to these she represented served as an inspiration and supply of power to me in my profession,” mentioned Rodney Ellis, a longtime state senator from Houston who’s now a Harris County commissioner. “She exhibited this dedication daily via her deeds, actions, and accomplishments.”
Turner, the previous mayor, praised her as an advocate for the folks of Houston, saying: “Her work on the bottom, in a number of the poorest and under-resourced communities; the channeling of billions of federal {dollars} again to her district; her presence at somebody’s bedside, giving phrases of consolation to households who misplaced family members; her appearances at locations of worship and occasions showcasing the worldwide range of our Metropolis; and her uncanny potential to be in every single place, working daily for many who wanted a champion, made her really distinctive.”
Jackson Lee stepped into the sneakers of the trailblazers who held the 18th Congressional District seat earlier than her – together with Barbara Jordan, the primary Black lady from a southern state to be elected to the USA Home of Consultant, and Mickey Leland, a former At-Massive Majority Whip.
Jackson Lee was not immune from criticism, significantly over her avid starvation for the highlight and her excessive workers turnover. Washingtonian Journal dubbed her among the many “meanest” members of Congress for her therapy of her workers.
Jackson Lee expressed regret after the audio of her verbally abusing workers leaked final yr, saying in an announcement on the time that “in my zeal to do every little thing doable to ship for my constituents I’ve previously fallen in need of my very own requirements and there’s no excuse for that.”
However she has additionally famous that her white, male colleagues typically escape the criticisms relating to how they deal with workers which have adopted her via her profession.
“I am a lady of a sure period,” she advised the Tribune in 2017. “I believe I have been a sufferer of discrimination, sexism and even racism, frankly, as a result of I’m positive there’s a complete array of tales to be advised, and I do not go round looking for out about them … I do not fear about it. I do the work on this workplace. I do it quietly and persistently, and I examine off the packing containers of who’s being helped and who’s in want.”
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