Cummings, who died early Thursday morning at 68, was also a singularly effective public messenger for Democrats at high-profile hearings, using his booming voice and morally tethered rhetoric to focus public attention in what were often circuslike circumstances.
“There is no question in my mind that his death leaves a void,” House Majority Whip James E. Clyburn (D-S.C.) said Thursday morning, leaving a somber meeting of Democratic lawmakers. “We’re all going to mourn for a while. But the country must go forward. He would have us do it that way.”
In one of his last high-profile hearings, featuring former Trump lawyer Michael Cohen in February, Cummings defused a potentially explosive situation when members of his committee traded accusations of racism. He later closed the hearing with a powerful statement saying the country has “got to get back to normal.”
“When we’re dancing with the angels, the question will be asked: In 2019, what did we do to make sure we kept our democracy intact?” he said. “Did we stand on the sidelines and say nothing?”
Democratic lawmakers and aides said Cummings’s death will have little immediate bearing on the impeachment probe. House Intelligence Committee Chairman Adam B. Schiff (D-Calif.) has taken the unquestioned lead in that investigation, with the Oversight and Foreign Affairs committees playing secondary roles.
Cummings, who had battled health problems for months, had not attended House votes or other business since the summer, though he continued to keep in touch with staff, sign letters and document requests and otherwise follow the committee’s business, according to aides.
Now, pursuant to House rules, Rep. Carolyn B. Maloney (D-N.Y.) will assume the Oversight chairmanship on an acting basis because of her seniority on the committee, according to a senior Democratic aide, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to describe private deliberations. Maloney, 73, is serving her 14th term representing a district that includes the east side of Manhattan.
A permanent chairman will be chosen by the Democratic caucus at a later date, the aide said. Besides Maloney, other contenders for the post could include Rep. Stephen F. Lynch (D-Mass.), who leads the national security subcommittee; Del. Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-D.C.), a committee veteran; and Rep. Gerald E. Connolly (D-Va.), who leads the government operations subcommittee.
Few lawmakers and aides were eager to discuss the succession process in the hours after Cummings’s death, but several vowed to keep investigating the Trump administration as a tribute to his legacy.
“We can never forget the role that he’s played in searching for the truth,” said Rep. John Lewis (D-Ga.). “I think there will be members who will be inspired by what he said and what he did, and we’ll continue to search for the truth.”
“Elijah Cummings’s wisdom and his strength and his dignity inspired us while he walked amongst us, and his legacy will inspire us to do the job, defend the Constitution, fight on behalf of everyday Americans in death,” said Rep. Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.), chairman of the House Democratic Caucus.
Inside the caucus meeting Thursday morning, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) told colleagues that “Elijah’s going to be our inspiration” as Democrats press forward with their investigations, according to a lawmaker present who spoke on the condition of anonymity to describe a private meeting.
Later, at a news conference, Pelosi announced an initial honor for Cummings — naming for him the House Democrats’ pending legislation to lower prescription drug prices known as H.R. 3. Cummings made lowering drug prices his top private-sector oversight priority, scheduling a hearing on that subject as his first act as chairman earlier this year.
Inside the meeting, others took the time to discuss personal memories of Cummings. Clyburn, for instance, recalled Cummings’s roots in his own South Carolina district as the son of sharecroppers and recalled the role his family had played in the litigation that ultimately resulted in the Brown v. Board of Education Supreme Court decision desegregating public schools.
Rep. Daniel Kildee (D-Mich.) said Cummings was among the first prominent members of Congress to visit Flint, Mich., to bring attention to the tainted water crisis there, culminating in a 2016 hearing featuring then-Gov. Rick Snyder (R).
“He’s a bit of a hero back home,” Kildee said Thursday. “People think of him as, you know, a real leader in Congress because he did something for them.”
He added that Cummings set a model for congressional oversight that other lawmakers would do well to emulate: “He was tough and unrelenting but always dignified. And I think if we can keep that straight, we’ll be okay.”
