Cummings served as the chair of the Committee on Oversight and Reform from January 2019 until his death in October of the same year.
Early life, education, and career
Cummings was born on January 18, 1951, in Baltimore, son of Ruth Elma (née Cochran) and Robert Cummings.[2] His parents were sharecroppers.[3] He was the third child of seven. When he was 11 years old, Cummings and some friends worked to integrate a segregated swimming pool in South Baltimore.[4]
Cummings also served on several boards and commissions, both in and out of Baltimore. Those include SEED Schools of Maryland Board of Directors and the University of Maryland Law School Board of Advisors.[14] He served on numerous Maryland boards and commissions including the Board of Visitors to the United States Naval Academy and the Elijah Cummings Youth Program in Israel. He was an honorary member of the Baltimore Zoo Board of Trustees.[15]
In addition to his speaking engagements, he wrote a biweekly column for the Baltimore Afro-American newspaper.[16]
In December 2010, Edolphus Towns announced that he would not seek the position of ranking minority member of the Oversight Committee in the next Congress, even though his seniority and service as chair would typically result in his filling this post. Reportedly, Towns withdrew because of a lack of support from Nancy Pelosi who feared that he would not be a sufficiently aggressive leader of Democrats in an anticipated struggle with incoming committee chair Republican Darrell Issa.[19] Reportedly, the White House also wanted Towns to be replaced.[20] Cummings defeated Carolyn Maloney in a vote of the House Democratic Caucus.[19]
Cummings received praise following the congressional panel hearings on steroids in 2008. While investigating the use of steroids in sports, the panel called numerous baseball players to testify, including former single season home run record holder Mark McGwire. After McGwire answered many questions in a vague fashion, Cummings demanded to know if he was "taking the Fifth", referring to the Fifth Amendment. McGwire responded by saying, "I am here to talk about the future, not about the past." The exchange came to epitomize the entire inquiry.[31]
He supported the Smart Savings Act, a bill that would make the default investment in the Thrift Savings Plan (TSP) an age-appropriate target date asset allocation investment fund (L Fund) instead of the Government Securities Investment Fund (G Fund).[34] Cummings called the bill a "commonsense change" and argued that the bill "will enable workers to take full advantage of a diversified fund designed to yield higher returns".[35]
He introduced the All Circuit Review Extension Act, a bill that would extend for three years the authority for federal employees who appeal a judgment of the Merit Systems Protection Board (MSPB) to file their appeal at any U.S. circuit court of appeals, instead of only the U.S. Court of Appeals for the DC Circuit.[36] Cummings said that this program is important to extend because it "allows whistleblowers to file appeals where they live rather than being limited to the Federal Circuit Court of Appeals".[37] He also said that the Federal Circuit Court of Appeals has "an abysmal track record in whistleblower cases".[37]
In remarks at the 2016 Democratic National Convention, Cummings declared: "Our party does not just believe, but understands, that Black Lives Matter. But we also recognize that our community and our law enforcement work best when they work together."[38][39]
Tenure
Rep. Cummings was shown to be very passionate and dedicated in his beliefs, and could often be seen becoming emotional in public as a result.[40] Cummings was seemingly very agreeable as well. According to many, Cummings would often befriend members of the Republican Party, and was highly respected by both sides of the aisle.[41]
The five-term Congressman for Maryland's 7th congressional district, Kweisi Mfume, resigned in February 1996 to take the presidency of the NAACP. Cummings won a crowded twenty-seven-way Democratic primary—the real contest in this heavily Democratic, black-majority district—with 37.5% of the vote.[42] In the special election, he defeated Republican Kenneth Kondner with over 80 percent of the vote. He defeated Kondner again in November by a similar margin to win the seat in his own right.[43][failed verification]
He was reelected 11 more times in the contests which followed, never dropping below 69 percent of the vote. He ran unopposed in 2006.[43][failed verification]
Early in 2007, Cummings began campaigning for Barack Obama's presidential bid, attempting to solidify Obama's support in the African American community.[citation needed] Early in 2008, Obama remained relatively unknown and Congressional Black Caucus support was split with Hillary Clinton.[44] Cummings traveled extensively to campaign for Obama.[citation needed]
In June 2011, his nephew Christopher Cummings, son of his brother James, was murdered at his off-campus house near Old Dominion University in Norfolk, Virginia, where he was a student.[51] On August 12, 2021, Norfolk Police charged four men with the murder.[52]
Cummings underwent surgery to repair his aortic valve in May 2017 and was absent from Capitol Hill for two months. In July 2017, he developed a surgery-related infection but returned to work.[53] Cummings was later hospitalized for a knee infection.[54]
Cummings was diagnosed with a rare form of cancer called thymic carcinoma in 1994 while serving as a member of the Maryland House of Delegates. It was revealed in November 2019 that Cummings had lived with the cancer for 25 years, though it was not stated as the cause of death.[55]
Barack Obama speaking at the funeral of Elijah Cummings.
Elijah Cummings died on October 17, 2019, at Johns Hopkins Hospital at the age of 68 from "complications concerning longstanding health challenges", his spokeswoman stated.[54][56][57][58] Before his funeral service on October 25 at Baltimore's New Psalmist Baptist Church, where he was a member for 40 years, Cummings lay in state at the U.S. Capitol Building's Statuary Hall on October 24.[59][60][56]
Cummings is the first African American lawmaker to achieve the honor of lying in state at the nation's Capitol.[59] Prior to his death, the most recent people to lie in state were former Senator John McCain and former President George H. W. Bush. Following a state funeral which was attended by family and members of Congress,[61][62] thousands of public mourners were seen entering the U.S. Capitol to see his casket and received greetings from his widow, Maya Rockeymoore-Cummings.[63][61] His casket departed from the U.S. Capitol at around 8:35 p.m.[61]
Cummings believed that marijuana should be legalized and taxed at the same rate as alcohol.[67]
Honors and awards
Cummings was awarded many honors and awards in recognition of his political career. These include:
Honorary degrees
Cummings received 13 honorary doctoral degrees from universities across the United States, most recently an honorary doctorate of public service from the University of Maryland, College Park in 2017.[68][69]
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