U.S. Rep. John Conyers, D-Mich., already the longest-serving active member of Congress and the longest-serving African-American congressman in U.S. history, will run for a 27th two-year term next year, looking to extend a legislative tenure stretching back to the Civil Rights era.
“I like what I’m doing, that’s the first reason I want to run again. Second, there’s plenty left undone,” Conyers told the Detroit Free Press in an exclusive interview. “I can’t imagine anything more uninteresting than being a person that’s retired, sitting in a rocking chair.”
With the announcement, Conyers, 86, made clear that he has no immediate intention to cede a seat he has held with few serious challenges since 1965, despite some recent opposition.
An uphill battle for challenger
In 2014, he faced the Rev. Horace Sheffield for the Democratic nomination in the predominately Democratic district, beating him handily. For 2016, Detroit City Clerk Janice Winfrey has already indicated she will test the political waters against Conyers, though defeating him could be an uphill battle given his stature in progressive circles and enormous name recognition.
“Winfield, Sheffield, Joe Blow — anybody who wants to get into this should. That’s what keeps the system and the process viable,” said Conyers, a liberal legend fresh off leading the fight on the House floor against a bill to suspend Syrian refugees entering the U.S. “I welcome them one and all.”
“I’m confident I can put my record of accomplishment up against anybody,” he added.
Conyers will make the announcement public at two events on Monday: at 11 a.m. at the Jaycees Hall in Redford and again at 2 p.m. at the UAW Local 22 hall on Michigan Avenue in Detroit.
His campaign also told the Free Press that he already has Detroit Mayor Mike Duggan’s endorsement in hand.
50 years of achievements
Over the last 50 years, Conyers has compiled an unquestioned list of achievements, helping to found the Congressional Black Caucus, leading the effort to recognize a federal holiday in honor of Martin Luther King Jr. and voting on the Articles of Impeachment against President Richard Nixon. He helped write seminal hate crime legislation, among numerous other statutes; and has been a consistent advocate for labor unions, voting rights and against discriminatory practices. In recent years, he has even worked with some Republicans on reining in government surveillance.
He remains a part of Democratic leadership in the House, an ally of minority leaderNancy Pelosi and the top-ranking Democrat on the House Judiciary Committee, which he formerly chaired.
Just last week, the committee passed legislation written by Conyers and committee Chairman Bob Goodlatte, R-Va., which would reform sentencing laws, reducing several mandatory minimum sentences for drug offenses — a change Conyers has been pressing for years, but has only recently won Republican adherents in Congress as well.
There will be criticism
There have been criticisms of Conyers over the years as well, however. In 2003, theFree Press reported on accusations made by some unnamed Conyers aides that staff were assigned to work on political campaigns and run personal errands, accusations Conyers’ denied. He later agreed in a deal with the House Ethics Committee to ensure staffers knew they were not to do such work.
Conyers also has maintained a low profile regarding his wife, Monica, a former Detroit city councilwoman, who spent three years in a federal prison on bribery charges. As the Free Press reported last month, Monica Conyers recently filed for divorce from her husband, but Conyers — who seldom discusses his wife or any personal matters — acknowledged they are looking at a reconciliation.
“I think we’re going to be able to get past this filing that occurred,” he said. “And I’m very hopeful that we can. In the meantime, our personal relationship is good.” The Conyers have two children.
Questions about his age
If John Conyers faces any threat in the next election, however, it may be from questions occasionally raised — usually anonymously — about his advancing years and their effect, if any, on his abilities. While no one questions the strength of his name recognition or his ability to raise money for a campaign, some have suggested in recent years that the congressman isn’t as mentally sharp as he once was.
It’s a suggestion Conyers rejects, though he acknowledges he’s not as physically robust.
“We’re all getting older, but getting older doesn’t mean you’re getting slower,” he said, also rejecting suggestions that his staff does much of his work for him. “I do not jog or run as fast as I used to — I don’t jog any more, period — but my ability to use my experience to enhance my legislative abilities and objectives has grown, in my judgment.”
He also said his health is good.
In a wide-ranging interview, Conyers at times rambled — like many members of Congress, he will often launch into an answer that strays from the original question but repeats a point he hopes to make — and his often-slow, deliberate manner of speaking can be halting. At one point he confused one former House speaker from Massachusetts — Tip O’Neill — with another, John McCormack; though he caught the discrepancy himself.
But he also put up a cogent defense of legislation he has been criticized by progressive allies for supporting that would deal with a thorny legal issue involving intent regarding some federal statutes, and he continued to press for ways to reach a “full employment society,” long a priority of his, with ways to provide more training and jobs for Detroiters and others in urban areas across the U.S.
A ‘little blip’ in last election
In his last election, Conyers was nearly kept off the Democratic primary ballot after using circulators gathering petition signatures who were either not registered to vote or did not live in the district. But courts overturned that decision. Talking to the Free Press, Conyers called it a “little blip” and, given the force with which his campaign reversed course, it’s unlikely to happen again.
With his re-election last year and the retirement of former congressman John Dingell, D-Mich., who he once worked for, Conyers became the “dean” of the U.S. House, its longest-serving active member. He is the first African-American to hold such an honor and he says he’s not looking to give it up soon. If anything, he said, it’s the complexity of the issues and the chance to deal with a diverse range of topics that keeps him interested.
“I love this work,” he said. “I love my job.”
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