US Representative Eddie Bernice Johnson Announces Retirement

US Representative Eddie Bernice Johnson, age 85, announced on Saturday that she will not seek reelection during the 2022 election cycle, as she plans to retire at the end of her current term in January 2023. 

As quoted by the Texas Tribune, Johnson stated, “I have gone back and forth […] the whole time because of the pleading and the asking, but as of January […] the year after next, I will step down.”   

“There is a good reason I should stay: I am a personal friend to the president, I have gained some respect and influence,” said Johnson to AP news. 

Johnson represented Texas, as Dallas is her hometown. For approximately thirty years, she has served in Congress as a high-ranking Democrat. The Texas Tribune wrote that she was among the top of the list for the longest-serving member in Congress.     

The Washington Post shared that she worked “across party lines to get things done.”

“As much as we trash talk the names of some of the Republicans, they were some of the same ones that helped me be successful,” Johnson said during the announcement.  

Republican Rep. Frank D. Lucas worked with Johnson on the House Science, Space, and Technology Committee.

Lucas stated, “There is no one I would rather have as my counterpart across the aisle,” and added, “EBJ, as I affectionately call her, is a true public servant and she cares deeply about supporting American science. While we don’t always agree on the best way to do that, we are usually able to find common ground and work together to pass strong, bipartisan policies. She’s an old-school legislator who cares more about results than headlines, and I respect that deeply.”    

Before joining politics, Johnson worked at a VA hospital in Dallas as the first Black woman who became a chief psychiatric nurse. According to Ballotpedia, after her time at the VA, she became the regional director for the United States Department of Health, Education, and Welfare.    

In 1968, she was elected into the Texas Senate. Johnson was the “first Black woman to serve the city in the state Senate since Reconstruction,” AP News stated. In 1972, she was elected into the Texas House of Representatives, the first registered nurse to fill the spot.     

Johnson was elected into Congress in 1992 and became the “first Black woman to chair the House Committee on Science, Space, and Technology.” She has also served on the Transportation and Infrastructure Committee.   

Johnson has not yet endorsed a candidate for next year’s election, but she stated, “My goal is to look for a female that is qualified.”   

The Washington Post noted that she is the sixteenth House Democrat to indicate they will not run for reelection next year.