Elijah Eugene Cummings

Congressman Elijah Cummings was a representative for Maryland’s 7th Congressional District in the U.S. House of Representatives from 1996 until his death in 2019 (104th-116th Congresses). Cummings previously served in the Maryland House of Delegates from 1983 to 1996 and as chairman of the Legislative Black Caucus of Maryland. He was the first African American in Maryland history named speaker pro tempore, the second-highest position in the House of Delegates. Early in his tenure in Congress, Cummings served on the Government Reform and Oversight Committee and the Transportation and Infrastructure Committee. He remained on both panels for his entire career. Cummings also served on the Committee on Armed Services, the Joint Economic Committee, and was the chair of Transportation and Infrastructure’s Subcommittee on Coast Guard and Maritime Transportation. From 2014 to 2016, he served as the ranking member on the Select Committee on the Events Surrounding the 2012 Attack in Benghazi. Cummings also served as the chair of the Committee on Oversight and Reform from January 2019 until his death in October of the same year. Cummings graduated from Howard University in 1973 with a bachelor’s degree in Political Science and graduated from the University of Maryland School of Law with a Juris Doctor.