Longtime U.S. Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee of Texas, who helped lead federal efforts to protect women from domestic violence and recognize Juneteenth as a national holiday, has died. She was 74.
Lillie Conley, her chief of staff, confirmed Friday night that Jackson Lee, who had pancreatic cancer, had died.
The Democrat had represented her Houston-based district and the nation’s fourth-largest city since 1995. She had previously had breast cancer and announced the 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 then.
Helen Giddings, who represented DeSoto in the Texas House, remembered Jackson Lee as a dedicated and tireless advocate for the people of the 18th Congressional District of Texas.
“Those she represented were welcome to call her at any hour of the day or night,” Giddings said in a statement emailed to The Dallas Morning News. “She was unparalleled in the energy and time spent in assisting in things that mattered in their everyday lives and particularly senior citizens.”
Jackson Lee was “a towering figure in our politics,” President Joe Biden said in a statement Saturday. “Always fearless, she spoke truth to power and represented the power of the people of her district in Houston with dignity and grace.”
Biden said Jackson Lee’s spirit was unbreakable.
“I had the honor of working with her during her nearly 30 years in Congress,” Biden said. “No matter the issue — from delivering racial justice to building an economy for working people — she was unrelenting in her leadership.”
Vice President Kamala Harris called her a dear friend for many years, as well as a fellow member of the Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority and the Congressional Black Caucus.
“She was relentless — one of our nation’s fiercest, smartest, and most strategic leaders in the way she thought about how to make progress happen. There was never a trite or trivial conversation with the Congresswoman. She was always fighting for the people of Houston and the people of America,” her statement said.
Bishop James Dixon, a longtime friend in Houston who visited Jackson Lee earlier this week, said he will remember her as a fighter.
“She was just a rare, rare jewel of a person who relentlessly gave everything she had to make sure others had what they needed. That was Sheila,” he said.
In her statement to The News, Giddings pointed out Jackson Lee’s commitment to tackling injustice. She was consistently present for her constituents.
“She was there to mourn with her constituents at funerals and celebrate with them at weddings and community events,” Giddings said. “All of her constituents were important to her. She was as comfortable with people who worked with their hands as those who worked with their heads.”
Jackson Lee “stood for human dignity for all and never shied away from calling out injustice,” Giddings said. “She fought fiercely and unapologetically for civil rights and the rights of women. She spent 30 years leaning on her faith while working to make life better for all and especially for those who were marginalized. She did all of this as a mother, wife and grandmother. Sheila Jackson Lee’s life helped to make a better world.”
Jackson Lee had just been elected to the Houston district once represented by Barbara Jordan, the first Black woman elected to Congress from a Southern state since Reconstruction, when she was immediately placed on the high-profile 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 fierce advocate for women and minorities, and a leader for House Democrats on many social justice issues, from policing reform to reparations for descendants of enslaved people. She led the first rewrite of the Violence Against Women Act in nearly a decade, which included protections for Native American, transgender and immigrant women.
Jackson Lee was also among the lead lawmakers behind the effort in 2021 to have Juneteenth recognized as the first new federal holiday since Martin Luther King, Jr. Day was established in 1986. The holiday marks the day in 1865 that the last enslaved African Americans in Galveston, Texas, finally learned of their freedom.
A native of Queens, New York, Jackson Lee graduated from Yale and earned her law degree at the University of Virginia. She was a judge in Houston before she was elected to Houston City Council in 1989, then ran for Congress in 1994. She was an advocate for gay rights and an early opponent of the Iraq War in 2003.
Top congressional Democrats reacted quickly to the news Friday night, praising her commitment and work ethic.
Rep. James Clyburn of South Carolina called her “a tenacious advocate for civil rights and a tireless fighter, improving the lives of her constituents.”
Rep. Jamie Raskin of Maryland said he had never known a harder-working lawmaker than Jackson Lee, saying she “studied every bill and every amendment with exactitude and then told Texas and America exactly where she stood.”
Former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi of California cited Jackson Lee’s “relentless determination” in getting Juneteenth declared 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 said.
Republican Texas Gov. Greg Abbott said he and his wife Cecilia will always remember Jackson Lee, calling her a “tireless advocate for the people of Houston.”
“Her legacy of public service and dedication to Texas will live on,” he said.
Jackson Lee routinely won reelection to Congress with ease. The few times she faced a challenger, she never carried less than two-thirds of the vote. Jackson Lee considered leaving Congress in 2023 in a bid to become Houston’s first female Black mayor but was defeated in a runoff. She then easily won the Democratic nomination for the 2024 general election.
During the mayoral campaign, Jackson Lee expressed regret and said “everyone deserves to be treated with dignity and respect” following the release of an unverified audio recording purported to be of the lawmaker berating staff members.
In 2019, Jackson Lee stepped down from two leadership positions on the House Judiciary Committee and Congressional Black Caucus Foundation, the fundraising of the Congressional Black Caucus, following a lawsuit from a former employee who said her sexual assault complaint was mishandled.
In a statement, Jackson Lee’s family said she had been a beloved wife, sister, mother and grandmother known as Bebe.
“She will be dearly missed, but her legacy will continue to inspire all who believe in freedom, justice, and democracy,” the statement said. “God bless you Congresswoman and God bless the United States of America.”