Legislation introduced in the U.S House would name a Baltimore post office after Rep. Elijah Cummings, the former House committee chairman and civil rights advocate who died five years ago.
The bill would designate the post office at 340 South Loudon Avenue as the “United States Representative Elijah E. Cummings Post Office Building.”
It was introduced this week by Democratic Rep. Kweisi Mfume, a longtime friend of Cummings who delivered a eulogy at his October 2019 funeral — along with former presidents Barack Obama and Bill Clinton — and succeeded Cummings as the representative of the 7th Congressional District.
Cummings, who had a rare form of cancer, was known for his civil rights work, advocacy for Baltimore and his chairmanship of the House Oversight Committee, whose investigations included some of the activities of Republican former President Donald Trump and his administration. Months before the congressman’s death, Trump tweeted that Cummings’ district was “a disgusting, rat and rodent infested mess.”
Cummings was a mentor of Gov. Wes Moore, who was elected in November 2022.
In 2020, Courthouse East — a historic structure on North Calvert Street that is part of the Circuit Court system — was named for Cummings.
The U.S. Capitol hearing room where Cummings presided as a committee chairman is also named for him.