SAN ANTONIO – A Texas mainstay in the U.S. House of Representatives has died.
The family of Houston-area Democratic congresswoman Sheila Jackson Lee, who has been an elected public servant for 35 years, announced her death Friday evening. She was 74.
— Sheila Jackson Lee (@JacksonLeeTX18)
“Today, with incredible grief for our loss yet deep gratitude for the life she shared with us, we announce the passing of United States Representative Sheila Jackson Lee of the 18th Congressional District of Texas,” Jackson Lee’s family shared on her Twitter account.
Jackson Lee’s political career began in 1989 when she was elected to the Houston City Council. Five years later, Jackson Lee was elected as a congresswoman representing Texas’ 18th Congressional District, a position she held for nearly three decades.
Her family counted her political victories to include Juneteenth becoming a national holiday and the reauthorization of the Violence Against Women Act.
The district, located within Greater Houston, includes voters near George Bush Intercontinental Airport on the city’s North Side, downtown Houston, Third Ward and East Houston.
Republican U.S. Rep. Wesley Hunt, who represents Texas’ 38th Congressional District comprised of Houston-area West Side and Northwest Side suburbs, released a statement shortly after Jackson Lee’s death was announced.
“It is with profound sadness that I acknowledge the passing of Congresswoman Sheila Jackson Lee, a devoted leader, a proud fellow Houstonian, and someone who I was proud to call a friend,” Hunt said in a statement. “Although we had our political disagreements, there were many moments with her, both public and private, that showed me that bipartisanship and service to country first can still bring members of Congress together.”
Leadership at the Texas chapter of the American Federation of Labor and Congress of Industrial Organizations also expressed their condolences on Saturday morning.
“On matters of worker rights, civil rights and human rights, the Texas AFL-CIO could not have had a better friend,” the organization said in a statement. “Sheila was integral to progress for working people and first to the fights. Her combination of unwavering friendship and readiness to stand on the front lines of legislative battles made all Texas workers stronger.”
In March 2023, Jackson Lee announced her candidacy for mayor of Houston. Nine months later, she lost to then-state Sen. John Whitmire in a runoff election in Dec. 2023.
Last month, Jackson Lee said that she had been diagnosed with pancreatic cancer but was receiving treatment.
Funeral arrangements have yet to be announced.