Who Replaced Elijah Cummings in the House of Representatives

Former Rep. Kweisi Mfume won a special election in Maryland and will return to the congressional seat he final held in 1996. He is pictured hither after speaking during a service at a church in Windsor Mill in December. Will Newton/The Washington Post via Getty Images hide caption

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Will Newton/The Washington Postal service via Getty Images

One-time Rep. Kweisi Mfume won a special election in Maryland and will return to the congressional seat he final held in 1996. He is pictured here after speaking during a service at a church in Windsor Manufacturing plant in December.

Volition Newton/The Washington Post via Getty Images

Democrat Kweisi Mfume, the one-time president of the NAACP, cruised to victory in a special election for Maryland's vacant congressional seat, which was formerly held past the late Rep. Elijah Cummings.

Mfume, 71, will serve out the remainder of Cummings' term, which ends January. 3. He also wants a full two-year team and is on the election for the state'southward June primary.

Serving in Congress will non be a new experience for Mfume. He represented Maryland's 7th Congressional District for five terms beginning in 1987.

In a stunning bit of political symmetry, Mfume left office before his term ended in 1996 to head the Baltimore-based NAACP. Information technology was Cummings, a shut friend, who won a special election that year to succeed Mfume.

Cummings, a fierce champion of his majority black and heavily Democratic district, which includes a majority of inner-metropolis Baltimore and the surrounding suburbs, served in that seat until he died from longstanding health issues in October. He was 68.

Mfume spoke at Cummings' funeral, which was broadcast on C-SPAN. Other eulogies came from former Presidents Barack Obama and Bill Clinton, as well as Cummings' widow, Maya Rockeymoore Cummings — whom Mfume defeated in the Democratic primary for the special election.

Over Cummings' nearly quarter-century congressional career, he rose to go the chair of the powerful House Committee on Oversight and Reform. In that part, Cummings repeatedly sparred with the Trump administration over its defiance of the committee's subpoenas and documents requests.

Democrat Kweisi Mfume removes a face up mask before addressing reporters during an election night news conference after he won the 7th Congressional District special election, Tuesday. Julio Cortez/AP hibernate caption

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Julio Cortez/AP

Democrat Kweisi Mfume removes a face up mask earlier addressing reporters during an election nighttime news briefing later on he won the seventh Congressional District special election, Tuesday.

Julio Cortez/AP

Mfume received about 3-quarters of the vote Tuesday, according to preliminary vote totals, easily outpacing his Republican challenger, conservative commentator and activist Kimberly Klacik, every bit Baltimore member station WYPR reports.

This is Maryland'south first election since the coronavirus outbreak. And equally the The Baltimore Sun reports, Mfume won largely on the strength of a vote-past-mail service competition.

Mfume addressed families of COVID-19 victims after his victory, saying the virus has "all my focus," the newspaper reports.

"I want all of you to know that from Day 1, all of my attention, all of my energy, and all of my focus in the U.Due south. Congress will be about using science, data and common sense to get through this dark hr in our nation'southward history," Mfume said.

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Source: https://www.npr.org/2020/04/29/847886016/kweisi-mfume-wins-special-election-to-fill-elijah-cummings-seat-in-congress

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