House Democrat committee chair Elijah Cummings dies at 68

The following is an excerpt from Blaze Media’s daily Capitol Hill Brief email newsletter:

House Democratic committee chairman Elijah Cummings passed away this morning at the age of 68. According to the Baltimore Sun, Cummings died at Gilchrist Hospice Care, an affiliate of Johns Hopkins Hospital, at around 2:45 this morning from “complications concerning longstanding health challenges.” The Congressman underwent an unspecified medical procedure in September and had been away from Congress as a result. He hadn’t participated in a House roll call vote since September 11.

“He worked until his last breath because he believed our Democracy was the highest and best expression of our collective humanity,” a statement from Cummings’ widow says. “I loved him deeply and will miss him deeply.”

The Baltimore-area representative — first elected to Congress in 1996 — was a key figure in the House’s ongoing impeachment probe against President Donald Trump due to his position as chairman of the House Oversight Committee, which is one of the three panels leading the effort.

#mc_embed_signup{background:#fff; clear:left; font:14px}

/* Add your own MailChimp form style overrides in your site stylesheet or in this style block.

We recommend moving this block and the preceding CSS link to the HEAD of your HTML file. */