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U.S. Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee of Texas dies after cancer battle

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4 months ago

July 21, 2024

Longtime U.S. Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee of Texas, who helped lead federal efforts to guard ladies from home violence and acknowledge Juneteenth as a nationwide vacation, has died. She was 74.

Lillie Conley, her chief of workers, confirmed that Jackson Lee, who had pancreatic most cancers, died in Houston Friday evening together with her household round her.

The Democrat had represented her Houston-based district and the nation’s fourth-largest metropolis since 1995. She had beforehand had breast most cancers and introduced the pancreatic most cancers prognosis on June 2.

“The street forward is not going to be straightforward, however I stand in religion that God will strengthen me,” Jackson Lee stated in a press release then.

Jackson Lee was “a towering determine in our politics,” President Joe Biden stated in a press release Saturday. “All the time fearless, she spoke reality to energy and represented the facility of the individuals of her district in Houston with dignity and beauty.”

Biden stated Jackson Lee’s spirit was unbreakable.

FILE – Mayoral candidate U.S. Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee speaks to supporters throughout an election watch occasion, Nov. 7, 2023, at Bayou Place in Houston. Longtime U.S. Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee, who helped lead federal efforts to guard ladies from home violence and acknowledge Juneteenth as a nationwide vacation, has died Friday, July 19, 2024, after battling pancreatic most cancers, in keeping with her chief of workers. (Jason Fochtman/Houston Chronicle by way of AP, File)

“I had the honour of working together with her throughout her practically 30 years in Congress,” Biden stated. “Irrespective of the difficulty — from delivering racial justice to constructing an economic system for working individuals — she was unrelenting in her management.”

Vice President Kamala Harris referred to as her an expensive buddy for a few years, in addition to a fellow member of the Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority and the Congressional Black Caucus.

“She was relentless—certainly one of our nation’s fiercest, smartest, and most strategic leaders in the way in which she considered methods to make progress occur. There was by no means a trite or trivial dialog with the Congresswoman. She was at all times combating for the individuals of Houston and the individuals of America,” her assertion stated.

FILE – U.S. Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee, heart, D-Texas, speaks throughout an immigration rally in Guadalupe Plaza in Houston, Texas, April 10, 2006. Longtime U.S. Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee, who helped lead federal efforts to guard ladies from home violence and acknowledge Juneteenth as a nationwide vacation, has died Friday, July 19, 2024, after battling pancreatic most cancers, in keeping with her chief of workers. (AP Photograph/Donna Carson, File)

Bishop James Dixon, a longtime buddy in Houston who visited Jackson Lee earlier this week, stated he’ll keep in mind her as a fighter.

“She was only a uncommon, uncommon jewel of an individual who relentlessly gave the whole lot she had to verify others had what they wanted. That was Sheila,” he stated.

Jackson Lee had simply been elected to the Houston district as soon as represented by Barbara Jordan, the primary Black lady elected to Congress from a Southern state since Reconstruction, when she was instantly positioned on the high-profile Home Judiciary Committee in 1995.

FILE – From left, Majority Whip James Clyburn, D-S.C., Rep. Al Inexperienced, D-Texas, Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee, D-Tex., Speaker of the Home Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., Rep. Joyce Beatty, D-Ohio, Rep. Maxine Waters, D-Calif., Rep. Barbara Lee, D-Calif., and members of the Congressional Black Caucus have a good time the passage of the Juneteenth Nationwide Independence Day Act, on the Capitol in Washington, June 17, 2021. Longtime U.S. Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee, who helped lead federal efforts to guard ladies from home violence and acknowledge Juneteenth as a nationwide vacation, has died Friday, July 19, 2024, after battling pancreatic most cancers, in keeping with her chief of workers. (AP Photograph/J. Scott Applewhite, File)

“They only noticed me, I suppose by my profile, by Barbara Jordan’s work,” Jackson Lee instructed the Houston Chronicle in 2022. “I believed it was an honor as a result of they assumed I used to be going to be the particular person they wanted.”

Jackson Lee shortly established herself as fierce advocate for ladies and minorities, and a frontrunner for Home Democrats on many social justice points, from policing reform to reparations for descendants of enslaved individuals. She led the primary rewrite of the Violence In opposition to Ladies Act in practically a decade, which included protections for Native American, transgender and immigrant ladies.

Jackson Lee was additionally among the many lead lawmakers behind the hassle in 2021 to have Juneteenth acknowledged as the primary new federal vacation since Martin Luther King, Jr. Day was established in 1986. The vacation marks the day in 1865 that the final enslaved African Individuals in Galveston, Texas, lastly discovered of their freedom.

A local of Queens, New York, Jackson Lee graduated from Yale and earned her regulation diploma on the College of Virginia. She was a choose in Houston earlier than she was elected to Houston Metropolis Council in 1989, then ran for Congress in 1994. She was an advocate for homosexual rights and an early opponent of the Iraq Conflict in 2003.

Prime congressional Democrats reacted shortly to the information Friday evening, praising her dedication and work ethic.

Rep. James Clyburn of South Carolina referred to as her “a tenacious advocate for civil rights and a tireless fighter, enhancing the lives of her constituents.”

FILE – Rep. Shelia Jackson Lee, D-Texas, speaks throughout a Home Judiciary Committee assembly, Dec. 13, 2019, on Capitol Hill in Washington. Longtime U.S. Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee, who helped lead federal efforts to guard ladies from home violence and acknowledge Juneteenth as a nationwide vacation, has died Friday, July 19, 2024, after battling pancreatic most cancers, in keeping with her chief of workers. (AP Photograph/Patrick Semansky, Pool, File)

Rep. Jamie Raskin of Maryland stated he had by no means identified a harder-working lawmaker than Jackson Lee, saying she “studied each invoice and each modification with exactitude after which instructed Texas and America precisely the place she stood.”

Former Home Speaker Nancy Pelosi of California cited Jackson Lee’s “relentless willpower” in getting Juneteenth declared a nationwide vacation.

“As a robust voice within the Congress for our Structure and human rights, she fought tirelessly to advance equity, fairness and justice for all,” Pelosi stated.

Republican Texas Gov. Greg Abbott stated he and his spouse Cecilia will at all times keep in mind Jackson Lee, calling her a “tireless advocate for the individuals of Houston.”

“Her legacy of public service and dedication to Texas will stay on,” he stated.

FILE – Supreme Court docket nominee Decide Ketanji Brown Jackson, proper, talks with Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee, D-Texas, throughout a break in Jackson’s affirmation listening to earlier than the Senate Judiciary Committee, March 21, 2022, on Capitol Hill in Washington. Longtime U.S. Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee, who helped lead federal efforts to guard ladies from home violence and acknowledge Juneteenth as a nationwide vacation, has died Friday, July 19, 2024, after battling pancreatic most cancers, in keeping with her chief of workers. (AP Photograph/Jacquelyn Martin, File)

Jackson Lee routinely received reelection to Congress with ease. The few occasions she confronted a challenger, she by no means carried lower than two-thirds of the vote. Jackson Lee thought-about leaving Congress in 2023 in a bid to turn out to be Houston’s first feminine Black mayor however was defeated in a runoff. She then simply received the Democratic nomination for the 2024 basic election.

In the course of the mayoral marketing campaign, Jackson Lee expressed remorse and stated “everybody deserves to be handled with dignity and respect” following the discharge of an unverified audio recording presupposed to be of the lawmaker berating workers members.

In 2019, Jackson Lee stepped down from two management positions on the Home Judiciary Committee and Congressional Black Caucus Basis, the fundraising of the Congressional Black Caucus, following a lawsuit from a former worker who stated her sexual assault grievance was mishandled.

In a press release, Jackson Lee’s household stated she had been a beloved spouse, sister, mom and grandmother referred to as Bebe.

“She might be dearly missed, however her legacy will proceed to encourage all who imagine in freedom, justice, and democracy,” the assertion stated. “God bless you Congresswoman and God bless the US of America.”

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Related Press author Lou Kesten contributed to this story from Washington.

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