Vice President Kamala Harris plans to attend the funeral of her “dear friend,” the late Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee (D-Texas), in Houston later this week.
A “celebration of life” will be held Thursday at the Fallbrook church, Jackson Lee’s office said.
Other elected officials from the U.S. and abroad are also scheduled to attend the ceremony. Fox 26.
Jackson Lee died on July 19 at the age of 74 after a battle with pancreatic cancer. She is survived by her husband, Elwin Lee, and her two children, Jason and Erica.
Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee dies after battle with pancreatic cancer
Sheila Jackson Lee attends the UNCF A Mind Is…Gala at Hilton Americas Houston on November 18, 2023 in Houston, Texas. (Marcus Ingram/Getty Images)
She was diagnosed with breast cancer in 2011 and battled it until the following year when she announced she was cancer-free.
The congressman represented Texas’ 18th congressional district for 30 years. Prior to joining the House of Representatives, Jackson Lee served as a judge and was elected to the Houston City Council in 1989.
She ran for mayor of Houston last year in a landslide defeat to then-state Sen. John Whitmire, a fellow Democrat, after which she announced she would seek reelection to Congress.
Following her death, Vice President Harris said Lee “was a tenacious advocate for justice and fought tirelessly for the people of Houston and the American people. She also remembered her as a “longtime close friend and fellow member of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority.”
Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee announces she’s been diagnosed with pancreatic cancer
Vice President Kamala Harris was tasked with addressing the root causes of mass migration from Latin America from the start of the Biden administration. (REUTERS/Kevin Mohat/Pool)
“As a member of the Congressional Black Caucus, I had the opportunity to work closely with her on many issues and observe her leadership firsthand. She was relentless and one of the most passionate, smartest and most strategic leaders in our country in her thinking about how to achieve progress,” Harris said in a statement on July 20. “My conversations with the Congresswoman were never mundane or boring. She was always fighting for the people of Houston and the American people.”
Harris’ statement said Jackson Lee was “a leader dedicated to serving the people of the city he loved first and foremost.”
“Rep. Jackson Lee was also a national leader,” Harris’ statement added. “As a champion for women’s rights, she played a key role in reauthorizing the Violence Against Women Act, a landmark law that improved the lives of millions of women and girls across the country. She also authored the legislation to recognize Juneteenth as a national holiday, and I am proud to co-sponsor this legislation as a U.S. Senator. She believed a more equal, more just, and more free nation was possible, and she dedicated her life to making that vision a reality.”
Congresswoman Sheila Jackson Lee attends the premiere of “The Big Payback” during the 2022 TriBeCa Festival at Village East Cinema on June 11, 2022 in New York City. (John Lamparsky/Getty Images for TriBeCa Festival)
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This is the vice president’s third visit to Texas in the last month and his second since becoming the Democratic presidential nominee, including a visit to Houston last week.
Harris visited the Houston Emergency Operations Center on Wednesday to be briefed on recovery efforts in the wake of Hurricane Beryl. The next day, she spoke at the American Federation of Teachers’ 88th National Convention.
Earlier this month, she was in Dallas to speak at Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority Inc.’s convention.
