Harris to eulogize longtime US Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee of Texas at funeral service
HOUSTON — Vice President Kamala Harris will deliver a eulogy for the US Congresswoman. Sheila Jackson Lee in a North Houston church as days of commemorations for the Democratic lawmaker draw to a close.
Harris is set to become the first Black woman to be a major party’s presidential nominee, and Jackson Lee became one of the most prominent Black women in Congress during nearly three decades representing her Texas district. She helped lead federal efforts to protect women from domestic violence and establish Juneteenth as a national holiday.
Jackson Lee was 74 when she died on July 19 after being treated for pancreatic cancer. Harris, a former California senator, said in a statement after her death that she was “one of our country’s fiercest, smartest, most strategic leaders in the way she thought about how to move forward.”
Services for Jackson Lee Began on Monday when hundreds of people paid their respects to Jackson Lee as her body lay in state in a flag-draped casket at Houston City Hall. President Joe Biden was among the visitors, who laid a bouquet of flowers at her casket and visited with Jackson Lee’s family.
On Tuesday and Wednesday, Jackson Lee was remembered during commemorations in two different churches.
The Democrat has represented her district in Houston and the nation’s fourth-largest city since 1995. She previously had breast cancer and announced the diagnosis of pancreatic cancer on June 2nd.
Before being elected to Congress, Jackson Lee served on the Houston City Council from 1990 to 1994.
After her first election, Jackson Lee quickly established herself as a fierce advocate for women and minorities and a leader for House Democrats on many social justice issues, from police reform to reparations for descendants of enslaved people. She led the first rewrite of the Violence Against Women Act in nearly a decade, including protections for Native American, transgender, and immigrant women.
Jackson Lee routinely won re-election to Congress with ease. She walked without success to become mayor of Houston last year.
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