Born in Queens, New York, Jackson Lee earned a scholarship for Black students at New York University before transferring to graduate with a Bachelor of Arts in political science from Yale University in 1972 and a Juris Doctor from the University of Virginia School of Law in 1975.[1][2] In 1987, after she had moved to Houston, she was appointed as a municipal judge for the city by Kathy Whitmire. In 1989, Jackson Lee was elected to the Houston City Council. She served in the office until 1994 when she began a campaign for a seat in the U.S. Congress. In the Democratic primary, she defeated incumbent Craig Washington and went on to easily win the general election.
Jackson Lee announced her candidacy for the 2023 Houston mayoral election in March of that year. In the first round, she placed second behind state senator John Whitmire. However, as no candidate crossed the 50% threshold to win outright, a runoff election occurred on December 9, 2023. Despite several key endorsements, Jackson Lee lost the election to Whitmire. On December 11, she filed to run for re-election to her congressional seat and won the Democratic primary on March 5, 2024. In July 2024, she died in office after being diagnosed with pancreatic cancer.[4]
Sheila Jackson was born in the New York City borough of Queens on January 12, 1950.[5] Her father, Ezra Clyde Jackson, who was born in Brooklyn, was a comic book artist and the son of Jamaican immigrants.[6] Her mother, Ivalita Bennett Jackson, was a nurse, and came to New York at an early age from her birthplace of St. Petersburg, Florida.[7]
In 1989, Jackson Lee won the at-large position for a seat on the Houston City Council, serving until 1994.[11] On the city council, she helped pass a safety ordinance that required parents to keep their guns away from children.[12] She also worked for expanded summer hours at city parks and recreation centers as a way to combat gang violence.[13]
U.S. House of Representatives
1994 run for office
In 1994, Jackson Lee challenged four-term incumbent U.S. Representative Craig Washington in the Democratic primary.[11] Washington had come under fire for opposing several projects that would have benefited the Houston area.[14] Jackson Lee defeated Washington, 63% to 37%.[15] The victory was tantamount to election in this heavily Democratic, black-majority district. In the general election, she defeated Republican nominee Jerry Burley, 73%–24%.[16]
In January 2019, The New York Times reported that Jackson Lee planned to resign as chair of the Congressional Black Caucus Foundation. The move came in the wake of a lawsuit filed by a former staffer earlier in January that claimed the staffer was fired in retaliation for her planned legal action related to an alleged rape by a supervisor in 2015. The resignation came the day after the National Alliance to End Sexual Violence announced it would not support making Jackson Lee the lead sponsor of a law to reauthorize the federal Violence Against Women Act.[22] She also stepped down from her chairmanship of the House Judiciary subcommittee.[23]
In 1998, The Houston Press reported that five of Jackson Lee's staffers had quit that spring. The paper quoted her former Capitol office executive assistant and events scheduler, Rhiannon Burruss, as saying that "the congresswoman's abrasive ways not only drove off staff members but irritated Continental Airlines staffers to the point where one suggested she fly on a competitor instead."[27][28][29]
In 2011, Jackson Lee was reported to have one of the highest staff turnover rates in Congress. The Huffington Post and the Houston Chronicle reported that she had gone through 11 chiefs of staff in the course of 11 years.[30][31] A 2013 report concluded that "the veteran Texas Democrat had the highest turnover rate for all of Congress over the [previous] decade."[32]Washingtonian magazine named Jackson Lee as the "meanest Democratic Congress member" in both 2014 and 2017.[33] In 2018, LegiStorm reported that Jackson Lee's annual turnover rate, at 62%, was the highest in Congress.[34]
In 2023, during her Houston mayoral run, an unverified[35] audio leaked of Jackson Lee berating her staffers with profanity. The recording was about a minute and half in length, where Jackson Lee allegedly tells a staffer she wants him to have a "fuckin' brain" and that "nobody knows a Goddamn thing in my office — nothing." She then describes a different staffer as a "fat-ass stupid idiot" and that both of them are "fuck-ups" and that they are "two Goddamn big-ass children, fuckin' idiots who serve no Goddamn purpose."[36][37] Her mayoral campaign refused to verify the authenticity of the recording and alleged that "these attacks have originated from extremely conservative blogs and political operatives backing John Whitmire."[a] Whitmire's campaign stated they had no involvement with the recording.[36] Jackson Lee responded to the release of the recording by saying, "I am regretful and hope you will judge me not by something trotted out by a political opponent ... but from what I've delivered to Houstonians over my years of public service" and said that "everyone deserves to be treated with dignity and respect, and that includes my own staff."[37][35]
On March 27, 2023, Jackson Lee announced her candidacy for the mayor of Houston in the 2023 election.[51] Jackson Lee garnered endorsements from notable political figures such as outgoing Houston mayor Sylvester Turner, former House speaker Nancy Pelosi, and former presidential candidate Hillary Clinton.[52] On November 7, 2023, Jackson Lee came in second place in the election, behind Democratic state senator John Whitmire. However, none of the 18 candidates who ran managed to surpass the required 50 percent threshold.[53]
Jackson Lee and Whitmire advanced to a runoff election on December 9, 2023. Jackson Lee was ultimately defeated by Whitmire, who won with nearly 65 percent of the vote.[54][53] Following her loss, Jackson Lee filed for re-election to her U.S. House seat on December 11, 2023.[55][56]
Political views and statements
Foreign policy
In 2000, Jackson Lee favored permanently normalizing trade status for the People's Republic of China and argued that it would aid both human rights and Houston's economy.[57]
Jackson Lee was active on immigration issues.[69] She had proposed increasing border security and increasing opportunities for legalization among those living in the U.S. She opposed a guest worker program, saying that the idea "connotate[s] 'invite, come,' and, at the same time, it misleads because you ask people to come for a temporary job of three to six years and they have to leave if they don't have another job and I would think that they would not."[70]
At a March 2011 Homeland Security Committee hearing on radical Muslims in the U.S., Jackson Lee said that Peter King's hearings were helping al-Qaeda and "going the same route as Arizona." She complained that the hearings were scaring Muslim Americans and called them "an outrage".[72]
In 2003, Jackson Lee suggested changing the naming practices for tropical cyclones and hurricanes, saying that "all racial groups should be represented" and that meteorological organizations should "try to be inclusive of African American names."[82][83]
Speaking at the July 2010 NAACP national convention, Jackson Lee compared the Tea Party movement to the Ku Klux Klan, saying that "all those who wore sheets a long time ago have now lifted them off". Jackson Lee's remarks were criticized by conservatives, including Tea Party Caucus founder Michele Bachmann (R-MN).[84][85]
In December 2017, Jackson Lee was accused of having been given preferential treatment by United Airlines by a passenger who claimed a first class seat ticket she had purchased had been given to the congresswoman. United Airlines had claimed that the woman who purchased the first class seat had cancelled her ticket and later apologized for the incident. Jackson Lee claimed she was accused because she was "an African American woman".[86][87]
Jackson Lee was one of the leading lawmakers behind the effort to have Juneteenth recognized as an American federal holiday. Recognition was achieved in 2021.[88]
Presidential election objections
In 2001, Jackson Lee and other House members objected to counting Florida's electoral votes, which George W. Bush narrowly won after a contentious recount in the 2000 presidential election. Because no senator joined the objection, it was dismissed by Senate President Al Gore.[89]
During the COVID-19 pandemic in Texas, Jackson Lee appealed to city officials in Houston for free and reduced-price parking at the George Bush Intercontinental Airport. This reduced the number of bus riders by about 1000 employees per day and increased social distancing. Jackson Lee also supported airline workers at United Airlines that were targeted for furloughs after the airline had accepted billions of dollars in taxpayer funds through the CARES Act and the Paycheck Protection Program.[94]
The Hill reported that during a 1997 visit to the Mars Pathfinder operations center, Jackson Lee asked whether the Pathfinder rover had taken a picture of the U.S. flag planted by Neil Armstrong; the flag had been planted on the Moon, not Mars. Jackson Lee was at the time a member of the Subcommittee on Space and Aeronautics of the House Science Committee.[102][103] In response, Jackson Lee's deputy chief of staff accused the newspaper of racial bias without disputing the story's accuracy. The Hill denied the allegations and stood by its reporting.[103][104]
In July 2014, Jackson Lee said that "we did not seek an impeachment" of President George W. Bush. Jackson Lee was one of 11 co-sponsors of the 2008 U.S. House bill H. Res. 1258, which sought to impeach Bush for "deceiving Congress with fabricated threats of Iraq WMDs". Jackson Lee's spokesperson later said that she "misspoke".[105][106]
A campaign advertisement for Jackson Lee in the 2023 Houston mayoral election instructed viewers to vote on the wrong date. Jackson Lee's spokesperson attributed the error to an external advertising agency.[107]
Jackson Lee previously had breast cancer, but was declared cancer-free in 2012.[113]
On June 2, 2024, Jackson Lee announced that she had been diagnosed with pancreatic cancer,[114] and was receiving treatments.[115] She died at a hospital in Houston on July 19, 2024, at the age of 74.[5][1]
^Iqbal, Anwar (July 21, 2024). "Pakistan loses dedicated friend in US Congress". DAWN. As the founder and co-chair of the Pakistan Caucus, she championed Pakistan's role as a crucial ally in the global war on terror.
^"Caucus Members". Congressional Progressive Caucus. n.d. Archived from the original on April 27, 2019. Retrieved January 30, 2018.
^"Members". House Baltic Caucus. n.d. Archived from the original on February 21, 2018. Retrieved February 21, 2018.
^"Membership". Congressional Arts Caucus. n.d. Archived from the original on June 12, 2018. Retrieved March 13, 2018.
^"Members". Afterschool Alliance. n.d. Archived from the original on April 27, 2019. Retrieved March 23, 2018.
^"Members". Congressional NextGen 9-1-1 Caucus. n.d. Archived from the original on June 12, 2018. Retrieved June 11, 2018.
^"Our Members". U.S. House of Representatives International Conservation Caucus. n.d. Archived from the original on August 1, 2018. Retrieved August 2, 2018.
^"Members". U.S. – Japan Caucus. n.d. Archived from the original on December 21, 2018. Retrieved December 11, 2018.
^Magagnini, Stephen (January 1, 2008). "Pride and comfort; National black sorority 'gathers for the specific purpose of being selfless'". Beaumont Enterprise. Beaumont, Tex. p. B.1.