By Zenitha Prince
Washington Bureau Chief
Ohio Rep. Stephanie Tubbs Jones (Courtesy Photo)
With the passing of Ohio Rep. Stephanie Tubbs Jones this week, the Democrats have lost an important player in the campaign for the White House this fall, political analysts and others say. “She was a forceful voice for Sen. Hillary Clinton and I think she would have played that same role for Barack Obama,” said Dr. Ronald Walters, distinguished leadership scholar and professor of government and politics at the University of Maryland, College Park.
Tubbs Jones died Aug. 20 in Cleveland after suffering brain hemorrhaging caused by an aneurysm.
A former prosecutor and judge in Cleveland, Tubbs Jones was a trailblazer: she was the first African-American woman elected to Congress from Ohio; the first to serve as chairwoman of the House Standards of Official Conduct Committee; and the first to serve on the powerful House Ways and Means Committee.
Obama campaign spokesman Corey Ealons said the Ohio congresswoman will be missed but felt confident Tubbs Jones’ team will rally behind the campaign in her name and for a shared cause.
“We will miss her presence on the trail in Ohio,” he said. “She was a powerful presence there, but we know her team will continue to do whatever it takes to get a Democrat elected this fall.”
Generally known as an effective and well-loved congresswoman—she was serving her fifth term in the House of Representatives—Tubbs Jones gained notoriety in this election cycle for being one of the more outspoken Clinton supporters within the Congressional Black Caucus.
Though many clamored for her to switch her allegiance to Sen. Obama as a reflection of her constituents’ wishes—Obama won 70 percent of the votes in her district in the primary—Tubbs Jones stood firm.
“Stephanie's friendship meant the world to us, a friendship that deepened through every trial and challenge,” former president Bill Clinton, the former first lady and their daughter Chelsea said in a statement on Sen. Clinton’s campaign website. “We could always count on her to be a shoulder on which to lean, an ear to bend, a voice to reassure. Over the course of many years, with many ups and many downs, Stephanie was right by our side --unwavering, indefatigable.”
She made a worthy adversary in that regard, said longtime friend and colleague, Washington, D.C. Rep. Eleanor Holmes Norton. “Stephanie’s innate competitiveness never forfeited her fairness in debate,” Norton said.
Many predicted that despite her involvement with the Clinton campaign, Tubbs Jones would likely be re-elected to her seat. That’s because none could question that she was “a champion for the underserved and a heroine to so many," said U.S. Rep. Kendrick B. Meek of Florida, the Congressional Black Caucus Foundation Board Chairman. “Stephanie Tubbs Jones didn't like people; she loved people," Meek said. "She didn't shake constituents' hands; she warmly hugged them. She didn't just enter a room, sitting silently as an observing onlooker; she was the life of the party, with a lightning bright smile and an infectious laugh.” Her death is a severe blow to the CBC, he added.
U.S. Rep. Elijah E. Cummings (D-Md.), a former chair of the CBC, said “Her life’s achievements are both an inspiration and a great symbol of the progress our nation has made in recognizing the equality of every human being, regardless of race, religion, gender, or any other factor.”
Rep. Tubbs Jones is the fifth current or former Caucus member to pass away this legislative session. Former Rep. Parren Mitchell of Maryland, former Rep. Augustus Hawkins and Rep. Juanita Millender-McDonald of California and Rep. Julia Carson of Indiana preceded her. “I have shed many tears remembering a woman who lived an extraordinary life and accomplished much in the short time she was with us,” Meek said.
Tubbs Jones standing among her colleagues, the result of her self-confidence, unfailing collegiality, character, judgment and her nimble mind, led Speaker Nancy Pelosi-D-Calif., to appoint her to the most difficult post in the Congress -- chair of the committee that judges her colleagues, the Ethics Committee, Norton added.
“I have lost a colleague whose second nature was to reach out to work with her colleagues…. “Her fearless self-confidence was mediated by generosity that knew no bounds,” Norton said. “Stephanie’s death leaves a hole in my heart and a vacuum in the Congress.”
Dorothy Rowley contributed to this report.