“Like that Old Testament prophet, he stood against the corrupt leadership of King Ahab and Queen Jezebel,” Clinton said, to a roar of applause from the congregation. “And he looked out for the vulnerable among us. He lifted up the next generation of leaders. And he even worked a few miracles.”
Cummings, D-Md., who was serving his 13th term in the House of Representatives, died last week in Baltimore at 68. As chairman of the House Committee on Oversight and Reform, he was a powerful figure in Washington and earned the ire of Trump for his role in the impeachment inquiry. The president did not attend the funeral.
Even from his hospital bed, Cummings was said to be joining strategy discussions with colleagues. Clinton, the former secretary of state, alluded to that determination, even in his final days, in her remarks Friday.
“Toward the end of his life, he said, ‘I am begging the American people to pay attention to what is going on, because if you want to have a democracy intact for your children, and your children’s children, and generations yet unborn, we have got to guard this moment,’” she said. “‘This is our watch.’”
She added: “‘When we are dancing with the angels, the question will be asked,’ he said, ‘In 2019, what did we do to make sure we kept our democracy intact?’”
Cummings’ body lay in state in the U.S. Capitol on Thursday, where he was praised by lawmakers from both parties. He was the first African American lawmaker to receive such an honor.
“Elijah wrote his funeral program and decided who he wanted to do what,” Bishop Walter Scott Thomas, the pastor, said after Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., and Rep. Marcia Fudge, D-Ohio, read from the Bible. “Some of you may be wondering why you are not doing anything, so I wanted to give you clarity.”
The funeral was held at New Psalmist Baptist Church in Baltimore, where Cummings could usually be seen seated in the front row on Sundays. The church seats 4,000 people but was expected to draw far more for the funeral Friday.
Cummings was raised in Baltimore by parents who were former sharecroppers in South Carolina. He graduated from Howard University in Washington, earned a law degree at the University of Maryland and was first elected to Congress in 1996. After his first election, he never faced a serious primary or general election challenge.
Cummings was revered in his district, and widely respected on Capitol Hill, for his integrity and moral vision, which Clinton alluded to in her remarks. She called him “a fierce champion for truth, justice and kindness in every part of his life.”
“His integrity and character, his can-do spirit, made him a guiding light in the Congress,” she said. “He pushed back against the abuse of power. He was unwavering in his defense of our democracy. He had little tolerance for those who put party ahead of country or partisanship above truth.”
This article originally appeared in
.