50 Facts About Bobby Rush

Bobby Lee Rush was born on November 23,1946 and is an American politician, activist and pastor who served as the US representative for for three decades.

On January 3,2022, Bobby Rush announced that he was retiring from Congress.

Bobby Rush was born on November 23,1946, in Albany, Georgia.

In 1963, Bobby Rush dropped out of high school before graduating and joined the US Army.

Bobby Rush later finished his Army service, receiving an honorable discharge.

Bobby Rush worked on several nonviolent projects that built support for the Black Panthers in African-American communities, such as coordinating a medical clinic which offered sickle-cell anemia testing on an unprecedented scale.

Bobby Rush was imprisoned for six months in 1972 on a weapons charge after carrying a pistol into a police station.

Bobby Rush earned his Bachelor of General Studies with honors from Roosevelt University in 1973, and a Master's degree in political science from University of Illinois at Chicago in 1974.

Bobby Rush completed a degree in theological studies at McCormick Theological Seminary in 1998.

On May 13,2017, Bobby Rush received a Doctorate of Humanities, honoris causa, from the Illinois Institute of Technology for his outstanding contributions to Chicago.

Bobby Rush infuriated Harold Washington Party leaders by spurning their candidates for local offices and sometimes backing white Democrats instead.

Bobby Rush worked with the Democrats and was rewarded with the deputy chairmanship of the state party.

Bobby Rush defeated incumbent US Representative Charles Hayes and six other candidates in the Democratic primary election.

Bobby Rush claimed Obama was insufficiently rooted in Chicago's black neighborhoods to represent constituents' concerns.

Obama said Bobby Rush was a part of "a politics that is rooted in the past" and said he could build bridges with whites to get things done.

In 1999, Rush ran for mayor of Chicago, but lost to incumbent Richard M Daley, an ethnic Irish American whose father had long controlled the city as mayor.

Also in 2013, Alex Clifford was forced to resign as CEO of Metra commuter rail agency, but soon after he left, a memo was released indirectly accusing Bobby Rush of using his political power to steer a $50,000 contract to a Washington-based business group.

On December 30,2008, Governor Rod Blagojevich announced his appointment of Roland Burris, the former Attorney General of Illinois; Bobby Rush was present at the press conference and spoke in support of Burris.

Bobby Rush endorsed Kamala Harris in the 2020 Democratic presidential primary.

Bobby Rush endorsed incumbent Lori Lightfoot in the 2023 Chicago mayoral election.

Bobby Rush was a member of the Congressional Black Caucus and the House Baltic Caucus.

Bobby Rush initiated the Chicago Partnership for the Earned Income Tax Credit, an ongoing program designed to help low-income working Chicago residents receive the Earned Income Tax Credit, a federal income tax credit.

Bobby Rush sponsored the Nursing Relief for Disadvantaged Areas Act passed in 1999.

Bobby Rush sponsored the Melanie Blocker-Stokes Postpartum Depression Research and Care Act, named for a Chicago native who jumped to her death from a 12th-story window due to postpartum depression.

Bobby Rush was very outspoken against the GOP's No More Solyndras Bill, which would override a loan guarantee by the Energy Department to encourage research and development.

Bobby Rush said the No More Solyndras Bill would be better named the No More Innovation Bill.

Bobby Rush introduced Blair Holt's Firearm Licensing and Record of Sale Act of 2009 on January 6,2009.

On July 15,2004, Bobby Rush became the second sitting member of Congress, after Charles Rangel and before Joe Hoeffel, to be arrested for trespassing while protesting the genocide in Darfur and other violations of human rights in Sudan in front of the Sudanese Embassy.

On February 13,2007, Rush opposed President George W Bush's proposed 20,000-serviceman troop surge in Iraq.

Bobby Rush said the troops' presence in Iraq was the greatest catalyst of violence there and advocated a political resolution of the situation.

Bobby Rush said the troop surge would serve only to make the Iraqi situation more volatile.

On March 28,2012, Bobby Rush addressed the House while wearing a hoodie in honor of Trayvon Martin, a teenager who was shot in Florida by a local resident.

Bobby Rush twice introduced the Emmett Till Antilynching Act to make lynching a federal crime.

Bobby Rush had the distinction of missing more votes than any other member of the House between 2007 and 2015: of 6,906 votes, Rush missed 1,549.

Bobby Rush has paid family members for years in questionable practices.

Bobby Rush had a family member who for years worked for his church but was paid by a campaign supporter and friend.

Bobby Rush had personally been named in a ComEd lawsuit over the church's previous unpaid bills.

At the time, the telecom giant was seeking support for legislation in a House committee of which Bobby Rush was a key member.

Bobby Rush attracted more charitable corporate giving than any other Illinois congressman by a large margin, according to a Sunlight Foundation study of expenditures from 2009 to 2011.

Bobby Rush is pastor of the Beloved Community Christian Church in Chicago's Englewood neighborhood.

In 2013, Bobby Rush and his wife, the Beloved Community Christian Church of which Bobby Rush is pastor, and another nonprofit organization operating out of the church had tax delinquencies totaling $195,000, and the pattern of tax delinquency was a decade old.

In 1994, Bobby Rush owed the IRS $55,000 in federal income taxes, according to Cook County records.

Bobby Rush was married to community organizer, precinct captain, and political strategist Carolyn Thomas from 1980 or 1981 until her death from congestive heart failure on March 13,2017.

On June 30,2018, Bobby Rush married minister and author Paulette Holloway.

Bobby Rush was named after Black Panther co-founder Huey P Newton.

Bobby Rush died in the hospital four days later from extensive blood loss.

The murder prompted Bobby Rush to prioritize efforts to reduce gun violence.

In 2008, Bobby Rush had a rare type of malignant tumor removed from his salivary gland.

Bobby Rush is a member of Iota Phi Theta fraternity.

Bobby Rush's heroes include Abraham Lincoln, Kit Carson, and Huey P Newton.