Long-time U.S. Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee from Texas passed away at the age of 74.
Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee from Texas, who is a D-Rep., led national efforts to safeguard victims of domestic abuse and to declare the day of Juneteenth as a national holiday. She revealed she had an illness called pancreatic cancer back in June.
Jul 20, 2024 01:48 AM
Rep. Shelia Jackson Lee of Texas speaks at an House Judiciary Committee meeting on the 13th of December. 13th, 2019, on Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C. Patrick Semansky/AP Pool conceal caption
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Patrick Semansky/AP Pool
Long-time U.S. Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee from Texas Sheila Jackson Lee, who led national efforts to safeguard female victims of domestic abuse, and who helped establish the day of Juneteenth as a national holiday was dead. She was 74.
Lillie Conley her Chief of Staff, has confirmed her chief of staff, Lillie Conley. She confirmed that Jackson Lee, who had pancreatic cancer, passed away within Houston Friday night, with her family and friends around her.
The Democrat was the Houston-based representative for her district and was the fourth-largest metropolitan area since. She was previously diagnosed with breast cancer. She announced her pancreatic cancer diagnosis on June 2.
“The road ahead will not be easy, but I stand in faith that God will strengthen me,” Jackson Lee said in a statement at the time.
Bishop James Dixon, a longtime acquaintance from Houston who travelled to Jackson Lee earlier this week and said he’ll always be able to remember her for her fight.
“She was a very rare precious jewel of a woman who tirelessly offered everything she could to make sure that everyone were provided with what they required. This is Sheila,” he said.
Jackson Lee had just been elected to the Houston district, which was previously was represented by Barbara Jordan, the first Black woman elected to Congress from the Southern State since Reconstruction and was appointed immediately to the highly-publicized House Judiciary Committee in 1995.
“They just saw me, I guess through my profile, through Barbara Jordan’s work,” Jackson Lee told the Houston Chronicle in 2022. “I thought it was an honor because they assumed I was going to be the person they needed.”
Jackson Lee quickly established herself as a fervent advocate for minorities and women and was a leader for House Democrats on a variety of questions of justice for all, ranging from reforming the police force to redress for the descendants of slaves. She was the leader of the first revision of the Violence Against Women Act in over a decade. This also included provisions specifically for Native American, transgender and immigrants women.
Jackson Lee was also among the lawmakers who led the 2021 effort to make Juneteenth a recognized holiday the first national holidays ever since Martin Luther King, Jr. Day was established in 1986. This holiday is the date in 1865 when the last of the enslaved African Americans in Galveston, Texas discovered their rights to freedom.
An ancestor from Queens, New York, Jackson Lee graduated from Yale and also earned her law degree from the University of Virginia. She served as an attorney in Houston prior to being elected to the Houston City Council at the end of 1989. She then ran to Congress at the time of 1994. She was a vocal proponent of the gay right, and an early critic to in the Iraq War in 2003.
Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee, D-Texas is speaking out to support Democratic laws to curb guns known as”the Protecting Our Kids Act, in the wake of mass shootings that occurred across Texas in Texas and New York, at the Capitol in Washington on June 2nd 2022. J. Scott Applewhite/AP hide caption
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J. Scott Applewhite/AP
The top congressional Democrats responded quickly to the news on Friday evening, praising her dedication and hard work.
Rep. James Clyburn of South Carolina described her as “a tenacious advocate for civil rights and a tireless fighter, improving the lives of her constituents.”
Rep. Jamie Raskin of Maryland said that he’s never met an elected official who was more dedicated to their work as Jackson Lee, saying she “studied every bill and every amendment with exactitude and then told Texas and America exactly where she stood.”
The former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi of California cited Jackson Lee’s “relentless determination” in getting the Juneteenth holiday declared as a national holiday.
“As a powerful voice in the Congress for our Constitution and human rights, she fought tirelessly to advance fairness, equity and justice for all,” Pelosi stated.
Republican Texas Gov. Greg Abbott said he and his wife Cecilia will always be in memory of Jackson Lee, calling her an “tireless advocate for the people of Houston.”
“Her legacy of public service and dedication to Texas will live on,” said the governor stated.
Jackson Lee routinely won reelection to Congress easily. When she did have to face an opponent, she never got less than two-thirds of the votes. Jackson Lee considered leaving Congress in 2023 as a way for Houston’s very first Black mayor, but she was defeated in the runoff. Then she easily won the Democratic nomination in the 2024 general election.
During the mayoral election, Jackson Lee expressed regret and stated that “everyone deserves to be treated with dignity and respect” after the release of a phony audio recording believed to be that of the lawmaker, who is reportedly berating staff members.
In the year 2019, Jackson Lee stepped down from two leadership posts within the House Judiciary Committee and Congressional Black Caucus Foundation which is the foundation that raises money for the Congressional Black Caucus, following a lawsuit filed by an employee who claimed that her complaint of sexual assault was not handled properly.
In an announcement the family of Jackson Lee said she was an adored wife mother, sister, and grandmother, dubbed Bebe.
“She will be dearly missed, but her legacy will continue to inspire all who believe in freedom, justice, and democracy,” the statement reads. “God bless you Congresswoman and God bless the United States of America.”