Elijah Cummings: 1951–2019

Unit­ed States Rep­re­sen­ta­tive Eli­jah Cum­mings, a long­time mem­ber of the House from Mary­land who ably served as Chair of the House Over­sight & Reform Com­mit­tee, has died, his office said in a state­ment. Cum­mings was sixty-eight.

“It is with great sad­ness and a heavy col­lec­tive heart that we announce the pass­ing of Chair­man Eli­jah Eugene Cum­mings,” his fam­i­ly said.

“He was a father, a hus­band, a son of Bal­ti­more, and a States­man who served Mary­land’s 7th Con­gres­sion­al Dis­trict for more than 20 years, and served 16 years pri­or to that as a Del­e­gate in the Mary­land Gen­er­al Assem­bly. Chair­man Cum­mings will always be remem­bered for ded­i­cat­ing his life’s work to improv­ing the lives of oth­ers, stand­ing up for his com­mu­ni­ty, and pro­tect­ing our Democracy.”

“Con­gress­man Cum­mings was an hon­or­able man who proud­ly served his dis­trict and the nation with dig­ni­ty, integri­ty, com­pas­sion and humility.”

“He worked until his last breath because he believed our democ­ra­cy was the high­est and best expres­sion of our col­lec­tive human­i­ty and that our nation’s diver­si­ty was our promise, not our prob­lem. It’s been an hon­or to walk by his side on this incred­i­ble jour­ney. I loved him deeply and will miss him dear­ly,” Mary­land Demo­c­ra­t­ic Par­ty Chair Dr. Maya Rock­ey­moore Cum­mings said.

Rock­ey­moore Cum­mings is Eli­jah Cum­mings’ spouse. Togeth­er, the cou­ple had three chil­dren, who are no doubt equal­ly heart­bro­ken over los­ing their father.

The wide­ly-respect­ed Demo­c­ra­t­ic lead­er’s pass­ing sent shock­waves through Capi­tol Hill. He was fond­ly remem­bered by many col­leagues as “a giant” who set a good exam­ple for oth­ers through his car­ing lead­er­ship and good works.

Cum­mings was a fierce advo­cate for open gov­ern­ment and vot­ing rights.

On social media, thou­sands shared a speech Cum­mings gave ear­li­er this year in which he repeat­ed what he said were the last words of his moth­er before she passed on: “Do not let them take the vote away from us.”

House Speak­er Nan­cy Pelosi said:

The peo­ple of Bal­ti­more, the U.S. Con­gress and Amer­i­ca have lost a voice of unsur­passed moral clar­i­ty and truth: our beloved Chair­man Eli­jah Cum­mings. I am per­son­al­ly dev­as­tat­ed by his passing.

In the House, Eli­jah was our North Star.

He was a leader of tow­er­ing char­ac­ter and integri­ty, whose stir­ring voice and stead­fast val­ues pushed the Con­gress and coun­try to rise always to a high­er pur­pose.  His prin­ci­pled lead­er­ship as Chair of the Com­mit­tee on Over­sight and Reform was the per­fect tes­ta­ment to his com­mit­ment to restor­ing hon­esty and hon­or to gov­ern­ment, and leaves a pow­er­ful lega­cy for years to come.

As a senior mem­ber of the Trans­porta­tion and Infra­struc­ture Com­mit­tee, he was always fight­ing for his dis­trict and for the state of Mary­land. He was a pow­er­ful voice for build­ing the infra­struc­ture of Amer­i­ca and cre­at­ing good-pay­ing jobs.

As a Mem­ber of the U.S. Naval Acad­e­my Board of Vis­i­tors, he took great pride in Maryland’s role in our nation­al security.

Chair­man Cum­mings’ sto­ry was the sto­ry of Amer­i­ca: a share­crop­pers’ son who ded­i­cat­ed his life to advanc­ing jus­tice, respect­ing human dig­ni­ty and end­ing discrimination.

He believed in the promise of Amer­i­ca because he had lived it, and he ded­i­cat­ed his life to advanc­ing the val­ues that safe­guard our repub­lic: jus­tice, equal­i­ty, lib­er­ty, fairness.

Ear­li­er this year, Chair­man Cum­mings asked us:

‘When we’re danc­ing with the angels, the ques­tion will be asked: in 2019, what did we do to make sure we kept our democ­ra­cy intact?’ May Chair­man Cum­mings’ strength guide us as we car­ry on his work to hon­or the oath and pro­tect our democracy.

In the Con­gress, we will miss his wis­dom, his warm friend­ship and his great human­i­ty. In Bal­ti­more, we will miss our champion.

May it be a com­fort to his wife Maya, his three chil­dren and Chair­man Cum­mings’ entire fam­i­ly that so many mourn their loss and are pray­ing for them at this sad time.

For­mer Pres­i­dent Barack Oba­ma said:

Michelle and I are heart­bro­ken over the pass­ing of our friend, Eli­jah Cum­mings. As Chair­man of the House Over­sight Com­mit­tee, he showed us all not only the impor­tance of checks and bal­ances with­in our democ­ra­cy, but also the neces­si­ty of good peo­ple stew­ard­ing it.

Steely yet com­pas­sion­ate, prin­ci­pled yet open to new per­spec­tives, Chair­man Cum­mings remained stead­fast in his pur­suit of truth, jus­tice, and reconciliation.

It’s a trib­ute to his native Bal­ti­more that one of its own brought such char­ac­ter, tact, and resolve into the halls of pow­er every day.

And true to the giants of progress he fol­lowed into pub­lic ser­vice, Chair­man Cum­mings stood tallest and most res­olute when our coun­try need­ed him the most.

May his exam­ple inspire more Amer­i­cans to pick up the baton and car­ry it for­ward in a man­ner wor­thy of his service.

Our deep­est sym­pa­thies and abid­ing love go to his wife, Maya, his three chil­dren, and all those whose lives he touched.

Demo­c­ra­t­ic Nation­al Com­mit­tee Chair Tom Perez said:

Amer­i­ca has lost a hero, and I have lost a dear friend. Eli­jah Cum­mings was the con­science of Congress.

His North Star was help­ing peo­ple, espe­cial­ly those in the shad­ows. And his lega­cy runs deep – from the neigh­bor­hoods of Bal­ti­more to the halls of the House.

Con­gress­man Cum­mings taught me so much over the years, and I feel deeply hon­ored to have worked with him on so many issues that mat­tered to Mary­land fam­i­lies. My heart is bro­ken today, but I will con­tin­ue fight­ing day and night to car­ry on his lega­cy of ser­vice. I’m keep­ing his fam­i­ly and Mary­land in my prayers.

Civ­il rights icon and col­league John Lewis said:

The Amer­i­can peo­ple have lost a great leader at a time of cri­sis in our democ­ra­cy. Chair­man Eli­jah Cum­mings gave all he had. He ded­i­cat­ed his entire life to serv­ing the pub­lic good. When this nation need­ed him most, he became a moral voice “cry­ing in the wilder­ness,” and his words and actions called a reluc­tant nation to conscience.

He was a defin­ing and com­mand­ing chair­man of the House Over­sight and Reform Com­mit­tee who was not afraid to use the pow­er vest­ed in him to inquire, inves­ti­gate, and demand the answers the Amer­i­can peo­ple deserve. He led us to the place where we, as a nation, final­ly under­stood gov­ern­ment reform was urgent­ly required.

His pas­sion, his vig­or, and his exam­ple were a mas­ter class in lead­er­ship demon­strat­ing how we must all dig in to defend and pre­serve our democ­ra­cy. His pass­ing is a tremen­dous blow to the strug­gle to build a fair and just soci­ety in America.

Though his voice will be sore­ly missed on the nation­al stage and in this Con­gress, the peo­ple of Bal­ti­more have suf­fered the great­est loss. As a rep­re­sen­ta­tive of the 7th con­gres­sion­al dis­trict of Mary­land, he nev­er, ever for­got his roots. He was an ardent and beloved advo­cate for the peo­ple of his dis­trict. Even dur­ing a time of tur­moil when mourn­ers spilled into the streets dur­ing the trag­ic death of Fred­die Gray, Rep. Cum­mings dove into the sea of human­i­ty, joined the peo­ple of his dis­trict, and became a calm­ing force at a tur­bu­lent time.

There was no greater friend to the poor, to the lost, to the left out and left behind than Rep­re­sen­ta­tive Cummings.

His fear­less advo­ca­cy and his abil­i­ty to be a true rep­re­sen­ta­tive on their behalf helped them stand a lit­tle bit taller and a lit­tle bit straighter, even while forces work to erase their contribution.

My heart goes out to the peo­ple of the 7th dis­trict of Mary­land, the Mary­land del­e­ga­tion, to his wife and fam­i­ly, and to all my col­leagues in the Con­gress who mourn his death today.

Rep­re­sen­ta­tive Eli­jah Cum­mings was one of a kind, he will remain in our hearts always, and he will be deeply missed.

“The Unit­ed States has lost a great Con­gress­man and Bal­ti­more has lost one of its most faith­ful sons,” agreed for­mer Mary­land Gov­er­nor Mar­tin O’Malley. 

“Eli­jah Cum­mings — fear­less in the bat­tle for jus­tice, kind and gen­tle toward every per­son he served. Well done, my friend.”

“A dev­as­tat­ing loss for our coun­try,” tweet­ed Alexan­dria Oca­sio-Cortez. “Chair­man Cum­mings was a giant: a uni­ver­sal­ly respect­ed leader who brought pro­found insight, com­mit­ment, and moral for­ti­tude to Con­gress. His guid­ance and vision was an enor­mous gift. I will for­ev­er cher­ish his exam­ple. May he rest in power.”

Eli­jah Cum­mings was every­thing these touch­ing trib­utes have said he was… and more. Cum­mings believed in lead­ing oth­ers to new positions.

Cum­mings took his oath of office very seri­ous­ly, unlike the cur­rent nar­cis­sis­tic occu­pant of the Oval Office, who tried and failed to make him a punch­ing bag ear­li­er this year and now has the chutz­pah to pre­tend to offer condolences.

North Star… giant… con­science of Con­gress. It says so much about who Cum­mings was that he is being described over and over again in these terms.

This coun­try has lost a noble and decent man who was ded­i­cat­ed to serv­ing it well and teach­ing oth­ers how to serve it well. We hope he will be appro­pri­ate­ly hon­ored for his life of good works. Cum­mings ought to receive a state funer­al if his fam­i­ly wish­es it, and he ought to receive a per­ma­nent memo­r­i­al in Congress.

Rest in pow­er, Chair­man. We’ll miss you. But we’ll always remem­ber you, and try to live up to the good exam­ple that you set for us.