Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee, a 15-term Democrat from Houston who whose record includes being the chief House sponsor of the 2021 resolution making Juneteenth a federal holiday, died on Friday at the age of 74. A survivor of breast cancer, she revealed in June she had pancreatic cancer.
“A fierce champion of the people, she was affectionately and simply known as ‘Congresswoman’ by her constituents in recognition of her near-ubiquitous presence and service to their daily lives for more than 30 years,” Jackson Lee’s family said in a statement released from her office.
A statement from the Congressional Black Caucus, in which she had served as whip and chair of the foundation, called her a “titan and stalwart member of Congress.” House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., called Jackson Lee “an inimitable force for change.”
“Congresswoman Jackson Lee was a fierce advocate for social and economic justice, national and homeland security, energy independence, and children and working families,” Jeffries said. “She will be deeply missed by all who knew her.”
House Homeland Security ranking member Bennie Thompson, D-Miss., said Jackson Lee fought for resources for first responders, disaster relief and improvements to aviation security, immigration and border security as a member of the committee.
“Congresswoman Jackson Lee was relentless, and every cause she took on was better because of it,” Thompson said.
She was also a member of the Budget and Judiciary panels, serving as top Democrat on Judiciary’s crime subcommittee.
Jackson Lee was also known as a demanding boss who churned through staff. She swatted away criticisms of her workplace environment as fueled by “sexism and even racism,” according to a report by the Texas Tribune in 2017.
“I’m a tough lady, and I have been in the skin of a woman and an African-American, and I understand the injustices we have to live through,” she told the Tribune. “I just take it with a smile because I love the institution, I love the people I get to serve and I have wonderful colleagues that I get the chance to serve with.”
Shaped by King assassination
Jackson Lee was raised in the Jamaica section of Queens in New York City. She was 18 when Martin Luther King Jr. was assassinated, and once told the Houston Chronicle that it changed her life.
She cast aside plans for business college and, using a scholarship bestowed in King’s memory, went to New York University. She transferred to Yale as soon as it admitted women undergraduates, and after getting her degree in 1972 did summer work for the Southern Christian Leadership Conference.
After completing law school at the University of Virginia in 1975, she worked for a time on the House Select Committee on Assassinations. When her husband landed a teaching job in Houston, the couple relocated there and Jackson Lee worked at a series of law firms.
She tried to start a political career by seeking local judgeships. After two failed attempts, she was appointed to the municipal bench in 1987; she then lost a bid for Texas District Court judge.
She finally broke through by winning an at-large seat on the city council. Five years later, she got to Congress by handily winning the Democratic primary against an incumbent, Craig Washington, who was plagued by personal and financial problems. She beat him by 27 percentage points.
Jackson Lee ran for mayor of Houston last year, but lost a runoff in December and pivoted back to seek reelection even though a city council member had already raised more than $1 million for the race to succeed her in Congress. Jackson Lee won the March primary with 60 percent of the vote.
Heavily Democratic seat
Her district is heavily Democratic — Joe Biden beat Donald Trump by 38 percentage points in 2020, according to Inside Elections. It’s not clear, however, how long Jackson Lee’s seat will remain vacant. It could be a while.
Texas law requires a special election to fill a U.S. House seat to take place on the next “uniform election date” in the state — in this case, Nov. 5, just like for every other House seat. But the catch may be the vote would take place “on or after the 36th day” from when the election “is ordered.”
The statute says nothing on when the governor must “order” the election. In addition, assuming some sort of primary process to determine the Democratic nominee, the general election to fill the vacancy could potentially slip to the next uniform election date in May 2025 — depending on when Texas Gov. Greg Abbott, a Republican, first “orders” the special election.
Alternatively, the statute allows the governor to call an “emergency” election, which can be held on a non-uniform election date on a Tuesday or Saturday between 36 and 64 days after the election is ordered. But again that’s at the discretion of Abbott, whose term isn’t up until January 2027, and he hasn’t commented except to mourn Jackson Lee’s passing.
“She was a proud Texan and a tireless advocate for the people of Houston,” Abbott said in a statement. “Her legacy of public service and dedication to Texas will live on.”
Republicans held a 220-213 edge in the House before Jackson Lee’s death, with vacancies set to be filled in November in the heavily Democratic 10th District in New Jersey and the heavily Republican 8th District in Wisconsin.
The Juneteenth holiday recognizes June 19, 1865, as the day Union troops under the command of Maj. Gen. Gordon Granger arrived in Galveston, Texas, to find Black men, women and children still in bondage months after the Confederacy’s surrender and more than two years after President Abraham Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation.
In the years since, Juneteenth grew from a folk jubilee celebrating the de facto end of slavery into a holiday recognized in 47 states and the District of Columbia. But without federal recognition, few Americans got off from work to observe it.
Jackson Lee said in 2021 called the holiday “a wonderful story” about “who we are as a nation.” The law making it a federal holiday was the first enacted since Martin Luther King Jr. Day was added in 1983.
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