President Joe Biden speaks with Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee, D-Texas, after the State of the Union address to a joint session of Congress at the Capitol, on February 7, 2023. Poolside photo by Jacquelyn Martin/UPI
Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee, D-Texas, raises her hand in celebration during a news conference with the Congressional Black Caucus outside the Senate chamber after Ketanji Brown Jackson was confirmed as the next U.S. Supreme Court Justice at the U.S. Capitol in Washington, D.C. on April 7, 2022. Poolside photo by Bonnie Cash/UPI.
Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee, D-Texas, speaks with other representatives during a press conference at the U.S. Capitol calling for the release of Trevor Reed, a former U.S. Marine who has been held in a Russian prison since 2019 and sentenced to nine years, and Paul Whelan, who has been held in Russia since 2018 and whose reasons for incarceration are unknown, in Washington, D.C., on July 29, 2021.
July 20 (UPI) — Sheila Jackson Lee, a member of the U.S. House of Representatives who served in Houston for nearly 30 years, has died, her family announced Friday. She was 74.
In June, the Democrat announced that she had been diagnosed with pancreatic cancer.
To advertise
“Today, it is with incredible sadness at our loss, but also with deep gratitude for the life she shared with us, that we announce the passing of U.S. Representative Sheila Jackson Lee (R-18, Texas),” her family said in a statement.
“As a local, national and international humanitarian aid organization, she has been recognized worldwide for her courageous fight for racial justice, criminal justice and human rights, with a special focus on women and children,” the statement said.
Her family described her as “a local, national and international humanitarian aid organization. She was recognized worldwide for her courageous fight for racial justice, criminal justice and human rights, with a special focus on women and children.
“Her legislative victories impacted millions of people, from establishing the federal holiday of Juneteenth to reauthorizing the Violence Against Women Act.”
She won the Democratic primary for the district in March after losing in her bid to become mayor of Houston in December.
Her seat in the House of Representatives represented much of Houston’s inner city and surrounding areas, and she easily won 15 votes in the November election.
“We will not stop until the nation realizes that Black lives matter and until reparations are passed as the most important civil rights legislation of the 21st century,” Jackson Lee said during a march in Washington DC in 2020.
Before serving in the House of Representatives, Jackson Lee served as a municipal judge in Houston from 1987 to 1990 and as a city councilwoman from 1989 to 1994. In November 1994, she was elected to her congressional seat, defeating incumbent Democrat Craig Washington in the primary.
Jackson Lee served on the House Science Committee and on the Subcommittee that oversees space policy and NASA. The Johnson Space Center is located in the Houston area.
In the House, she served as chief deputy whip for House Democrats and vice chair of the Congressional Progressive Caucus. She previously served as whip of the Congressional Black Caucus.
House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries said in a statement: “Sheila Jackson Lee was a gifted legislator, passionate public servant, loving mentor, and wonderful friend to so many of us in the Congressional Black Caucus and the House Democratic Caucus family. I am grateful for her fearless advocacy, fierce determination, formidable service, and legacy of leadership.
“Rep. Jackson Lee will be deeply missed by many in her district and across the nation. Our prayers are with her family and loved ones during this difficult time. May she rest in power forever.
Congressional Black Caucus Chairman Steven Horsford and members of the Congressional Black Caucus said in a statement: “Congressman Jackson Lee was a patriot and a fighter to the end. “Words cannot express the great loss our Caucus feels for our beloved friend. She will be deeply missed by all who knew her.”
In 2019, she resigned as chair of the nonprofit Congressional Black Caucus Foundation and stepped down as chair of a House subcommittee following a lawsuit alleging she fired an employee who reported sexual abuse by a supervisor at the foundation. A lawsuit was dismissed by a federal judge in February 2020.
The U.S. House of Representatives consists of 220 Republicans and 212 Democrats, with three vacancies.
Jackson Lee was born on January 12, 1950, in Queens, New York. She received a Bachelor of Arts degree from Yale University in 1972 and a Juris Doctor from the University of Virginia School of Law in 1975.
She married Elwynn Lee in 1973 and had two children. Her family moved to Houston in 1987.
