Known as the dean of the Congressional Black Caucus, which he helped found, former U.S. Rep. John Conyers passed away Sunday at the age of 90.
Conyers became one of only six black House members when he won his first election by just 108 votes in 1964. The race was the beginning of more than 50 years of election dominance: Conyers regularly won elections with more than 80% of the vote, according to Breitbart.
His wife, a Detroit city councilwoman, pled guilty to bribery in 2009. Three years earlier, the House ethics committee ended an investigation into allegations that Conyers’ staff worked on political campaigns, baby-sat his children, and ran his personal errands.
An ethics committee later investigated a former staffer’s allegation that she was fired for rejecting his sexual advances; others said they’d witnessed inappropriate behavior as well. Conyers denied the allegations but when fellow Democrats, including Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, called for his resignation, he stepped down in December, 2017.