36 Facts About Elijah Cummings

Elijah Eugene Cummings was an American politician and civil rights advocate who served in the United States House of Representatives for from 1996 until his death in 2019, when he was succeeded by his predecessor Kweisi Mfume.

Elijah Cummings served as the chair of the Committee on Oversight and Reform from January 2019 until his death in October of the same year.

Elijah Cummings was born on January 18,1951, in Baltimore, son of Ruth Elma and Robert Elijah Cummings.

Elijah Cummings graduated with honors from Baltimore City College high school in 1969.

Elijah Cummings then attended Howard University in Washington, DC, where he served in the student government as sophomore class president, student government treasurer, and later student government president.

Elijah Cummings became a member of the Phi Beta Kappa Society and graduated in 1973 with a Bachelor's degree in Political Science.

Elijah Cummings graduated from law school at the University of Maryland School of Law, receiving his Juris Doctor in 1976, and was admitted to the bar in Maryland later that year.

Elijah Cummings practiced law for 19 years before first being elected to the United States House of Representatives in the 1996 election.

For 14 years, Elijah Cummings served in the Maryland House of Delegates.

Elijah Cummings served on several boards and commissions, both in and out of Baltimore.

Elijah Cummings 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.

Elijah Cummings was an honorary member of the Baltimore Zoo Board of Trustees.

Congressman Elijah Cummings was a member of Phi Beta Sigma fraternity and a Prince Hall Mason.

Elijah Cummings defeated Carolyn Maloney in a vote of the House Democratic Caucus.

Elijah Cummings served as chairman of the Congressional Black Caucus during the 108th United States Congress.

Elijah Cummings received praise following the congressional panel hearings on steroids in 2008.

Elijah Cummings introduced the Presidential and Federal Records Act Amendments of 2014, a bipartisan bill signed into law by then-President Barack Obama in December 2014.

Elijah Cummings supported the Smart Savings Act, a bill that would make the default investment in the Thrift Savings Plan an age-appropriate target date asset allocation investment fund instead of the Government Securities Investment Fund.

Elijah 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".

Elijah Cummings 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 to file their appeal at any US circuit court of appeals, instead of only the US Court of Appeals for the DC Circuit.

Elijah 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".

Elijah Cummings said that the Federal Circuit Court of Appeals has "an abysmal track record in whistleblower cases".

Elijah Cummings was shown to be very passionate and dedicated in his beliefs, and could often be seen becoming emotional in public as a result.

Elijah Cummings was reelected 11 more times in the contests which followed, never dropping below 69 percent of the vote.

Elijah Cummings lived in the Madison Park community in Baltimore and was an active member of the New Psalmist Baptist Church.

Elijah Cummings married Joyce Matthews, with whom he had a daughter, Jennifer J Cummings.

Elijah Cummings had a son and a daughter, Adia Cummings, from other relationships.

Elijah Cummings married Maya Rockeymoore Cummings in 2009, who was elected chairwoman of the Maryland Democratic Party in December 2018.

In June 2011, his nephew Christopher Elijah 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.

Elijah Cummings underwent surgery to repair his aortic valve in May 2017 and was absent from Capitol Hill for two months.

Elijah 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.

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.

Elijah Cummings is the first African American lawmaker to achieve the honor of lying in state at the nation's Capitol.

On October 25,2019, the official funeral for Elijah Cummings was held at the New Psalmist Baptist Church in Baltimore.

Elijah Cummings believed that marijuana should be legalized and taxed at the same rate as alcohol.

Elijah Cummings was awarded many honors and awards in recognition of his political career.