A native of Queens, New York, Ms Jackson Lee graduated from Yale and earned her law degree at the University of Virginia.
She was a judge in Houston before she was elected to Houston City Council in 1989, then ran for Congress in 1994.
She was active throughout her career in promoting legislation aimed at addressing social justice, economic inequality and public health concerns.
Ms Jackson Lee was also among the lead lawmakers behind the effort in 2021 to make “Juneteenth” a federal holiday, commemorating the end of the legal enslavement of Black Americans.
The holiday marks the day in 1865 when a Union general informed a group of enslaved people in Texas that they had been made free two years earlier by Abraham Lincoln’s Emancipation Proclamation during the Civil War.
Ms Jackson Lee routinely won re-election to Congress with ease. The few times she faced a challenger, she never carried less than two-thirds of the vote.
She considered leaving Congress in 2023 in a bid to become Houston’s first female black mayor, but was defeated in a run-off. She then easily won the Democratic nomination for the 2024 election.
Ms Jackson Lee served on several House committees, including judiciary, homeland security and budget.
