Elijah Cummings
Elijah Cummings | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Maryland's 7th district | |
| Assumed office April 16, 1996 | |
| Preceded by | Kweisi Mfume |
| Personal details | |
| Political party | Democratic |
| Spouse | separated |
Elijah Eugene Cummings (born January 18 1951) is a Democratic member of the United States House of Representatives, representing the 7th district of the State of Maryland (map) since 1996.
Early life and career
Cummings was born in Baltimore and graduated with honors from the Baltimore City College in 1969. He later attended Howard University in Washington, DC, where he served in student government as sophomore class president, Student Government treasurer and later Student Government President. He became a member of the Phi Beta Kappa Society and graduated in 1973 with a Bachelor of Arts in Political Science.
Cummings attended law school at the University of Maryland, graduating in 1976 and entering the Maryland Bar in December 1976. He practiced law for 19 years before first being elected to the House in the 1996 elections.
For 16 years, Cummings served in the Maryland House of Delegates. In the Maryland General Assembly, he served as Chairman of the Legislative Black Caucus of Maryland and was the first African American in Maryland history to be named Speaker pro Tempore, the second highest position in the House of Delegates.
Congressional career
Cummings was elected to the United States House of Representatives in April 1996 in a special election for Maryland's 7th Congressional District following the resignation of Kweisi Mfume. On November 9, 2004, Congressman Cummings was re-elected with 74 percent of the vote. On November 7, 2006, Congressman Cummings was re-elected for a sixth term. He was running unopposed.
He received praise and a boost in notoriety following the congressional panel hearings on steroids in March of 2005. While investigating the use of steroids in sports, the panel called numerous baseball players to testify, including former legendary slugger Mark McGwire. After McGwire answered many previous questions in a vague fashion, Cummings demanded to know if he was "taking the fifth", referring to the fifth amendment. McGwire responded by timidly saying "I am here to talk about the future not about the past". The exchange came to epitomize the entire inquiry.
Cummings served as Chairman of the Congressional Black Caucus during the 108th United States Congress. He is a member of the Congressional Progressive Caucus, an organization of progressive members of Congress.
Cummings refused to support House Resolution 333 calling for the impeachment of Dick Cheney. The response given by email was: "Currently, the impeachment process is not being considered by the House of Representatives." After visiting his office on July 23rd 2007 and asking "what would it take for him consider supporting impeachment?", there were no conditions identified by his staff that would prompt him to take that stance. The first articles of impeachment against Dick Cheney were introduced in April 2007 (H. Res. 333 - & reintroduced on Nov. 6, 2007, as H Res 799). Resolution 799 is sponsored by the following Members of Congress: Jan Schakowsky, Maxine Waters, Hank Johnson, Keith Ellison, Lynn Woolsey, Barbara Lee, Albert Wynn, William Lacy Clay, Dennis Kucinich, Yvette Clarke, Jim McDermott, Jim Moran, Bob Filner, Sam Farr, Robert Brady, Tammy Baldwin, Donald Payne, Steve Cohen, Sheila Jackson Lee, Carolyn Kilpatrick, Ed Towns, Diane Watson, Danny Davis, Raul Grijalva, Gwen Moore. Robert Wexler, Tammy Baldwin, and Luis Gutierrez are urging the initiation of hearings and are joined in this by Anthony Weiner. Mike Michaud has written to Chairman Conyers calling for Cheney impeachment hearings.
Committee assignments
As of January 2007, Cummings serves on the following House committees:
- Member of the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee.
- Member of the United States House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform.
- Member of the U.S. House Committee on Armed Services
- Member of the Joint Economic Committee
Other contributions and service
Cummings also serves on numerous Maryland boards and commissions including the Board of Visitors (BOV) to the United States Naval Academy, the Baltimore Zoo Board of Trustees, the Baltimore Aquarium Board of Trustees, the Baltimore Area Council of the Boy Scouts of America Board of Directors and the Dunbar-Hopkins Health Partnership Executive Board.
In addition to his many speaking engagements, he writes a biweekly column for the Baltimore Afro-American newspaper. He currently lives in the Madison Park community in Baltimore, and is an active member of the New Psalmist Baptist Church. He was mentioned as a possible candidate in 2006 for the United States Senate seat of retiring Sen. Paul Sarbanes, but ended up endorsing Kweisi Mfume for the seat instead of running himself (see Maryland United States Senate election, 2006). He is also considered to be a possible candidate for Governor of Maryland in the future.
Election history
References
- United States Congress. "Elijah Cummings (id: C000984)". Biographical Directory of the United States Congress.
- Official Congressional biography for Representative Cummings.
- Congressional Quarterly Voting and Elections Collection.
External links
- U.S. Congressman Elijah E. Cummings, U.S. House site
- Biography at the Biographical Directory of the United States Congress
- Financial information (federal office) at the Federal Election Commission
- Profile at Vote Smart
- SourceWatch Congresspedia — Elijah Cummings profile
- 1951 births
- African Americans in the United States Congress
- Living people
- Members of the Maryland House of Delegates
- Members of the United States House of Representatives from Maryland
- University of Maryland, Baltimore alumni
- People from Baltimore, Maryland
- Howard University alumni
- Baltimore City College alumni