Rep. Bobby Rush, the former Black Panther who became a member of Congress, says he won’t seek re-election after 15 terms in the House, the Chicago Sun-Times reported Monday.
Rush planned to make a formal announcement on Tuesday.
Rush, 75, won each primary and general election in the 1st C.D. on Chicago’s South Side and southern suburbs since his first election to Congress in 992 when he defeated the incumbent Democratic congressman.
That included the 2000 Democratic primary in which he defeated a young Illinois state senator, Barack Obama, by a margin of more than 2-to-1. It was Obama’s only election loss. But Rush was an early supporter of Obama in the 2008 Democratic presidential primary campaign.
In the 1960s, Rush was active in the civil rights movement in the South. In 1968, he co-founded the Illinois chapter of the Black Panther Party with Fred Hampton and served as its defense minister.
After Hampton and another Black Panther leader Mark Clark were assassinated in a raid by law enforcement officers in December 1969. Rush became the Illinois chapter’s acting chairman and was active in such non-violent projects as a health clinic. Rush was portrayed by Darrell Britt-Gibson in the Oscar-winning 2021 film “Judas and the Black Messiah” about the Hampton assassination.
With the Panthers in decline, Rush left the party in 1974, and became involved in Democratic politics. He was elected to the City Council in 1983, the same year Harold Washington became Chicago’s first black mayor.
In Congress, Rush was a strong advocate for civil rights and racial justice. In March 2012, in violation of the House dress code, he wore a hoodie on the House floor following the shooting death of Trayvon Martin in Florida.
Rush is also the pastor of the Beloved Community Christian Church of God in Christ on Chicago’s South Side. He received a master’s degree in theology in 1998 from the McCormick Theological Seminary.
Last week, Rush tested positive with a breakthrough case of COVID-19. He was fully vaccinated with a booster and did not report any symptoms.
Rush told the Sun-Times that he intends to stay active in his ministry and find ways to use his remarkable life story to inspire younger generations. He told the newspaper that his decision not to seek another term came after a conversation with a grandson, Jonathan, 19, who said he wanted to hear more about his grandfather.