US Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee of Texas to lie in state at Houston city hall

HOUSTON (AP) — A number of days of occasions honoring the lifetime of longtime U.S. Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee of Texas have been set to start Monday with the lawmaker mendacity in state in Houston’s metropolis corridor.

President Joe Biden additionally was scheduled to come back to Houston Monday night to pay his respects to Jackson Lee, in line with the White Home.

“Irrespective of the difficulty — from delivering racial justice to constructing an financial system for working individuals — she was unrelenting in her management,” Biden mentioned in a press release after Jackson Lee’s dying.

The congresswoman, who helped lead federal efforts to guard ladies from home violence and acknowledge Juneteenth as a nationwide vacation, was 74 when she died on July 19 after battling pancreatic most cancers.

Her physique will lie in state in Houston’s metropolis corridor rotunda for 10 hours on Monday.

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

Mayor John Whitmire, together with members of Jackson Lee’s household and spiritual leaders, are anticipated to participate in a prayer service Monday morning on the steps of metropolis corridor earlier than the rotunda is opened to the general public.

“For many years, Congresswoman Jackson Lee was a devoted fighter for Houstonians. I invite everybody to go to metropolis corridor to pay tribute to this true public servant and honor her unwavering dedication to our group,” Whitmire mentioned.

Earlier than being elected to Congress, Jackson Lee served on Houston’s metropolis council from 1990 to 1994.

She is ready to be solely the second particular person to be granted the glory of mendacity in state in Houston’s metropolis corridor rotunda. The opposite was famend cardiovascular surgeon Dr. Michael DeBakey, who died in 2008.

Jackson Lee additionally is ready to be remembered at viewings and companies on Tuesday and Wednesday earlier than her funeral Thursday.

Vice President Kamala Harris was scheduled to attend the funeral service in Houston.

After first being elected, Jackson Lee rapidly established herself as fierce advocate for ladies and minorities and a pacesetter 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 routinely received reelection to Congress with ease. She unsuccessfully ran to be Houston’s mayor final 12 months.

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Observe Juan A. Lozano on X: