US Rep. Bobby Rush won't seek another term
Bobby Rush, who made the transition from anti-establishment activist as co-founder of the Illinois Black Panther Party to the political mainstream as a Chicago alderman and then U.S. representative for the South Side and suburbs for more than a quarter century, will retire from Congress when his term ends in January 2023, sources said Monday.
Rush, 75, an Army veteran and ordained Baptist minister who has served in the U.S. House since 1993, has scheduled an announcement for Tuesday. The Chicago Democrat has dealt with various health issues over the years, notably a battle with salivary gland cancer in 2008, and last week tested positive for COVID-19.
Rush rose to prominence in the 1960s with the Black Power movement and helped found the Illinois Black Panther Party. In Congress, Rush has pushed for the release of FBI files and other documents dealing with the Dec. 4, 1969, slayings of Fred Hampton and Mark Clark at the Panthers’ West Side headquarters in a predawn raid by agents from the FBI, Chicago police and the Cook County state’s attorney’s office.
The story of the raid and law enforcement cover-up efforts was the subject of the recent film “Judas and the Black Messiah.”
https://www.chicagotribune.com/politics/ct-bobby-rush-stepping-down-from-congress-20220104-xxwyjrvh3zbsvg6fdpad4x6hoe-story.html
Barack Obama's first attempt at federal office was a race against Rush in 2000. Rush and the Daley machine easily beat him and that led him to his sucessful run for U.S. Senator in 2004.
