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Elijah Eugene Cummings (born January 18 1951) is an American politician from the U.S. state of Maryland. Cummings, a Democrat, has representing Maryland's seventh congressional district in the U.S. House of Representatives since 1996. He is currently the chairman of the Congressional Black Caucus.
Personal information
Cummings was born in Baltimore. He graduated with honors from Baltimore City College High School in 1969. and later attended Howard University in Washington, DC, where he served in student government as sophomore class president, Student Government treasurer and later Student Government President. He became a member of the Phi Beta Kappa Society and graduated in 1973 with a Bachelor of Arts in Political Science.
Cummings attended law school at the University of Maryland, graduating in 1976 and entering the Maryland Bar in December 1976. He practiced law for 19 years before first being elected to the House in the 1996 elections.
Cummings serves on numerous Maryland boards and commissions including the Morgan State University Board of Regents, the Baltimore Zoo Board of Trustees, the Baltimore Aquarium Board of Trustees, the Baltimore Area Council of the Boy Scouts of America Board of Directors and the Dunbar-Hopkins Health Partnership Executive Board.
In addition to his many speaking engagements, he writes a bi-weekly column for the Baltimore Afro-American newspaper.
An active member of New Psalmist Baptist Church, Congressman Cummings lives in the Madison Park community in Baltimore.
Political career
Rep. Cummings served in the Maryland House of Delegates for 16 years. In the Maryland General Assembly, he served as Chairman of the Legislative Black Caucus and was the first African American in Maryland history to be named Speaker Pro Tem, the second highest position in the House of Delegates.
Rep. Cummings was elected to the United States House of Representatives in April 1996 in a special election for Maryland's 7th Congressional District following the resignation of Kweisi Mfume. On November 12, 2002, Congressman Cummings was re-elected with 73 percent of the vote.
Rep. Cummings currently serves on the following U.S. House committes:
- Chairman of the Congressional Black Caucus.
- Member of the House Government Reform Committee.
- Ranking Member of the Criminal Justice, Drug Policy and Human Resources Subcommittee.
- Member of the Wellness and Human Rights Subcommittee.
- Member of the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee.
- Member of the Subcommittee on Highways & Transit.
- Member of the Subcommittee on Railroads.
- Co-chairman of the House AIDS Working Group.
- Member of the House Task Force on Health Care Reform.
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