Sheila Jackson Lee

Early life and education

Jackson Lee was born Sheila Jackson in Queens, New York. She graduated from Jamaica High School in Queens. She earned a B.A. in political science from Yale University in 1972, followed by a J.D. from the University of Virginia School of Law in 1975. She is a member of Alpha Kappa Alpha sorority.

Early political career

Jackson Lee made three unsuccessful attempts at local judgeships before becoming a municipal judge from 1987 to 1990. Jackson Lee, along with Sylvia Garcia, was appointed by then Mayor of Houston Kathy Whitmire. In 1989 she won the at-large position for a seat on the Houston City Council, serving until 1994. While on the city council, Jackson Lee helped pass a safety ordinance that required parents to keep their guns away from children. She also worked for expanded summer hours at city parks and recreation centers as a way to combat gang violence.

1994

In 1994, Jackson Lee challenged four-term incumbent U.S. Congressman Craig Washington in the Democratic primary. Washington had come under fire for opposing several projects that would have benefited the Houston area. Jackson Lee defeated Washington in a rout, taking 63% to Washington's 37%. The victory was tantamount to election in this heavily Democratic, black-majority district. In the general election, she defeated Republican nominee Jerry Burley 73%-24%.

1996-2008

During this time period, Jackson Lee was never challenged in the Democratic primary. She won re-election during this time with at least 76% of the vote.

2010

For the first time in her congressional career, Jackson Lee was challenged in the Democratic primary; her opponents were Houston City Councilmember Jarvis Johnson and Sean Roberts. She defeated them 67%-28%-5%.

It was reported that in October 2010 Jackson Lee was “asking the Department of Justice to investigate whether tea party groups are intimidating black and Hispanic voters in her district.” She requested that Attorney General Eric Holder send poll monitors to make sure that a local group wasn't stopping people from voting.

She won the general election with 70 percent of the vote, the lowest winning percent of her career.

2012

In 2012, Jackson Lee was not challenged in the Democratic primary and won the general election with 75 percent of the ballots cast.

2016

Four Republicans competed in the March 1 primary election for the right to challenge Jackson Lee in the November 8 general election. Lori Bartley, with 5,679 votes (33.7 percent), led the field and faces a runoff on April 24 with the second-placed contender, Reggie Gonzales, who drew 5,578 votes (33.1 percent). Two other contenders, the stronger of whom was Sharon Joy Fisher with 4,405 votes (26.1 percent), held the remainder of the ballots cast. Bartley then won the nomination over Gonzalez, 58 to 42 percent.

Tenure

Prior to the 110th Congress, Jackson Lee served on the House Science Committee and on the Subcommittee that oversees space policy and NASA. She is a member of the Congressional Black Caucus, and a CBC whip.

Staff turnover

In 2011 she was reported to have one of the highest staff turnovers in Congress and to be one of the worst bosses. The Huffington Post and Houston Chronicle reported that she had gone through 11 chiefs of staff in 11 years. In 2011 she was named as one of the "worst bosses in Washington" by The Daily Caller. The Huffington Post stated that "Jackson Lee regularly appears on Washingtonian magazine's list of the “Best and Worst of Congress” as the “meanest” member of House of Representatives." That reputation as the worst boss on Capitol Hill continued; in 2012 Washingtonian again listed her as the meanest member of the House, a report in 2013 concluded that "the veteran Texas Democrat had the highest turnover rate for all of Congress over the past decade."

Foreign policy

In 2000, she favored permanently normalizing trade status for China, arguing that it would aid both human rights and Houston's economy.

Jackson Lee traveled to the 2001 World Conference against Racism in South Africa, and has backed sanctions against Sudan. On April 28, 2006, Jackson Lee, along with four other members of Congress and six other activists, was arrested for disorderly conduct in front of Sudan's embassy in Washington. They were protesting the role of Sudan's government in ethnic cleansing in Darfur.

Jackson Lee has urged better relations between the U.S. and Venezuela, which she describes as a friendly nation. She said the U.S. should reconsider its ban on selling F-16 fighter jets and spare parts to that country. The U.S. State Department bans such sales due to "lack of support" for counter-terrorist operations and Venezuela's relations with Iran and Cuba.

In July 2010 Jackson Lee said: "Today, we have two Vietnams, side by side, North and South, exchanging and working. We may not agree with all that North Vietnam is doing, but they are living in peace. I would look for a better human rights record for North Vietnam, but they are living side by side." It was noted that Vietnam had not been split for four decades, and that the government of Vietnam does not consider South Vietnam to have ever been a sovereign nation.

Immigration

Jackson Lee is active on immigration issues. She has proposed increasing border security and increasing opportunities for legalization among those living in the United States. She has opposed a guest worker program, saying that the idea of guest: "connotate[s] 'invite, come,' and, at the same time, it misleads because you ask people to come for a temporary job of three to six years and they have to leave if they don't have another job and I would think that they would not."

Criticism of Tea Party

Speaking in July 2010 at the NAACP national convention, Jackson Lee compared the Tea Party to the KKK.

WikiLeaks

In an October 2016 interview on MSNBC, Jackson mistakenly denounced Wikipedia in place of WikiLeaks. The story was concerned with the Hillary Clinton email controversy, with Jackson's exact quotation being "You know that I'm going to first of all denounce the utilization of this intrusion by Wikipedia through the Russian intrusion," "This is what it's about. Espionage just like what was said over these last couple of days. We need to be concerned about the intrusion of Russia and Putin in these elections."

Health care

Jackson Lee said in January 2011 that repealing the health care law would be in violation of the Constitution. She argued that the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act is constitutional under the Commerce Clause, and that repealing it would violate both the Fifth and the Fourteenth Amendments.

Al-Qaeda

At a Homeland Security Committee hearing on radical Muslims in the US, held in March 2011, Jackson Lee said that Peter King's hearings were helping al-Qaeda and “going the same route as Arizona.” She complained that the hearings were scaring Muslim Americans and called them “an outrage.”

Legislation

On September 27, 2013, Jackson Lee introduced the Essential Transportation Worker Identification Credential Assessment Act (H.R. 3202; 113th Congress), a bill that would direct the United States Department of Homeland Security to assess the effectiveness of the Transportation Worker Identification Credential (TWIC) program. The bill would require an independent assessment of how well the TWIC program improves security and reduces risks at the facilities and vessels it is responsible for.

Committee assignments

Caucus memberships

Jackson Lee is or has been a member of a number of caucuses, including:

Space program

In 1997, while on a trip to the Mars Pathfinder operations center in California, Jackson Lee confused the planet Mars with Earth's own moon, asking whether the Pathfinder had succeeded in taking a picture of the flag planted on Mars by Neil Armstrong in 1969.

Hurricane naming

Jackson Lee complained in 2003 that storm names were too white. "All racial groups should be represented," she said, and asked officials to "try to be inclusive of African-American names."

Foreign travel

In May, 2015, The Washington Post reported Jackson Lee took a trip to Azerbaijan paid for by the government of that country.

Confederate flag issue

On Thursday, July 9, 2015, Jackson Lee and others who were engaged in a debate over the Confederate battle flag produced an erroneous reproduction of what they thought was the original flag. The original battle flag contained 13 stars representing each state of the Confederacy as of 1861. The flag that Jackson Lee presented to members of Congress contained 17 stars.

Personal life

Jackson Lee moved to Houston after her husband, Elwyn Lee, took a job at the University of Houston. Her husband now holds a dual position of Vice Chancellor and Vice President for Student Affairs of the University of Houston System and the University of Houston, respectively.