Brenda B. Jones (born October 24, 1959) is an American politician who served as a member of the

Detroit City Council The Detroit City Council is the legislative body of Detroit, Michigan, United States. The full-time council is required to meet every business day for at least 10 months of the year, with at least eight of these meetings occurring at a location ...

from 2006 to 2022, and as the president of the City Council from 2014 to 2022. A member of the

Democratic Party Democratic Party most often refers to: *Democratic Party (United States) Democratic Party and similar terms may also refer to: Active parties Africa *Botswana Democratic Party *Democratic Party of Equatorial Guinea *Gabonese Democratic Party *Demo ...

, Jones also briefly served as the

U.S. representative The United States House of Representatives, often referred to as the House of Representatives, the U.S. House, or simply the House, is the lower chamber of the United States Congress, with the Senate being the upper chamber. Together they c ...

for from November 29, 2018 to January 3, 2019. She won the 2018 special election to succeed

John Conyers John James Conyers Jr. (May 16, 1929October 27, 2019) was an American politician of the Democratic Party who served as a U.S. representative from Michigan from 1965 to 2017. The districts he represented always included part of western Detroit. ...

following his resignation in December 2017, and was succeeded by

Rashida Tlaib Rashida Harbi Tlaib (, ; born July 24, 1976) is an American politician and lawyer serving as the U.S. representative for since 2019. The district includes the western half of Detroit, along with several of its western suburbs and much of the D ...

. She ran for the seat again in

2020 2020 was heavily defined by the COVID-19 pandemic, which led to global Social impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, social and Economic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, economic disruption, mass cancellations and postponements of events, COVID- ...

, losing the Democratic primary to Tlaib by a wide margin.

Early life

Brenda B. Jones was born on October 24, 1959, in Birmingham, Alabama, and her family moved to Detroit, Michigan, during the Great Migration. She attended public schools in Detroit, where she graduated from

Cass Technical High School Cass Technical High School (simply referred to as Cass Tech) is a public high school in Midtown Detroit, Michigan, United States.

and later received a

Bachelor of Arts Bachelor of arts (BA or AB; from the Latin ', ', or ') is a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate program in the arts, or, in some cases, other disciplines. A Bachelor of Arts degree course is generally completed in three or four years ...

in psychology from

Wayne State University Wayne State University (WSU) is a public research university in Detroit, Michigan. It is Michigan's third-largest university. Founded in 1868, Wayne State consists of 13 schools and colleges offering approximately 350 programs to nearly 25,000 ...

. She also earned a

Graduate certificate A graduate certificate is an educational credential representing completion of specialized training at the college or university level. A graduate certificate can be awarded by universities upon completion of certain coursework indicating masteri ...

from Wayne State University. Jones worked for

Michigan Bell Michigan Bell is the subsidiary of AT&T serving the state of Michigan. Following the Bell System divestiture on January 8, 1984, the company became a subsidiary of Ameritech, the Regional Bell operating company that served the midwestern United St ...

and was later elected as a union president of the

Communications Workers of America The Communications Workers of America (CWA) is the largest communications and media labor union in the United States, representing about 700,000 members in both the private and public sectors (also in Canada and Puerto Rico). The union has 27 loc ...

Local 4004 in Detroit. She was appointed as an executive on the boards of the Detroit Economic Growth Corporation and the Detroit Transportation Commission.

Politics

Detroit City Council

In 2005, Jones was elected to the Detroit City Council after placing ninth in the general election where nine seats were available and was reelected in 2009, 2013, and 2017. In 2015, the council voted for her to serve as the President of the Detroit City Council with five voting in favor of her and four voting in favor of incumbent President Saunteel Jenkins. Jones has said that she will not be seeking reelection in 2021.

U.S. House of Representatives

Elections

2018–2019

On December 5, 2017, Representative

resigned after sexual harassment allegations were made against him and that he had secretly used taxpayer money to settle a harassment claim. A special election was called to replace Conyers and Jones narrowly won the Democratic primary for the special election–the real contest in this heavily Democratic, black-majority district. No

Republican Republican can refer to: Political ideology * An advocate of a republic, a type of government that is not a monarchy or dictatorship, and is usually associated with the rule of law. ** Republicanism, the ideology in support of republics or agains ...

qualified to run, though any Republican challenger would have faced nearly impossible odds. Conyers had held the seat since 1965 (it had been numbered as the 1st from 1965 to 1993 and as the 14th from 1993 to 2013), and his lowest winning percentage was 77 percent. However, in the Democratic primary for the general election, Jones was defeated by former state representative

. Prior to the general election, Jones filed to run as an independent write-in candidate, prompting criticism. During the course of the election campaign, questions arose as to whether Jones could serve in her Detroit City Council post concurrently with serving in Congress, an unprecedented situation up to that point. An opinion by the Detroit Corporation Counsel, written in August 2018, stated that it was likely possible for Jones to legally serve in both capacities based on state law. The Counsel advised that the

United States House Committee on Ethics The Committee on Ethics, often known simply as the Ethics Committee, is one of the committees of the United States House of Representatives. Prior to the 112th Congress it was known as the Committee on Standards of Official Conduct. The House ...

be consulted to clarify federal and House rules. In the November 6 special election, Jones won with 86.8 percent of the vote, facing only a

Taxpayers Party The Constitution Party, formerly the U.S. Taxpayers' Party until 1999, is a political party in the United States that promotes a religious conservative view of the principles and intents of the United States Constitution. The party platfor ...

candidate as opposition. On the same day, she received 633 votes in the regular election for a full two-year term.

Speaker Speaker may refer to: Society and politics * Speaker (politics), the presiding officer in a legislative assembly * Public speaker, one who gives a speech or lecture * A person producing speech: the producer of a given utterance, especially: ** In ...

Paul Ryan Paul Davis Ryan (born January 29, 1970) is an American former politician who served as the List of Speakers of the United States House of Representatives, 54th speaker of the United States House of Representatives from 2015 to 2019. A member o ...

delayed swearing Jones in until November 29, after receiving guidance from the

House Ethics Committee The Committee on Ethics, often known simply as the Ethics Committee, is one of the committees of the United States House of Representatives. Prior to the 112th Congress it was known as the Committee on Standards of Official Conduct. The House E ...

on how Jones could minimize conflicts of interest. She introduced two bills and cast 77 votes during her five-week tenure in the House of Representatives.

2020

On March 25, 2020, Jones filed to run again in the Democratic primary for Michigan's 13th congressional district against Tlaib. Tlaib was considered possibly vulnerable to a primary challenge, due to her status as a

democratic socialist Democratic socialism is a left-wing political philosophy that supports political democracy and some form of a socially owned economy, with a particular emphasis on economic democracy, workplace democracy, and workers' self-management within a ...

, divisive rhetoric and attacks made on many popular national Democrats. For example, Tlaib booed former Secretary of State and 2016 Democratic Nominee

Hillary Clinton Hillary Diane Rodham Clinton ( Rodham; born October 26, 1947) is an American politician, diplomat, and former lawyer who served as the 67th United States Secretary of State for President Barack Obama from 2009 to 2013, as a United States sen ...

. However, Jones’ campaign was wracked by allegations of financial misconduct. On April 2, Jones announced that she had tested positive for

COVID-19 Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a contagious disease caused by a virus, the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The first known case was COVID-19 pandemic in Hubei, identified in Wuhan, China, in December ...

. Jones decisively lost the primary election to Tlaib 66%-34% on August 4. The margin of Jones's loss was considered to be large.

Electoral history

References

External links

Government websiteCampaign website
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Jones, Brenda 1959 births 21st-century American politicians 21st-century American women politicians African-American members of the United States House of Representatives African-American people in Michigan politics African-American women in politics Democratic Party members of the United States House of Representatives from Michigan Detroit City Council members Female members of the United States House of Representatives Living people Politicians from Birmingham, Alabama Wayne State University alumni Women city councillors in Michigan African-American city council members in Michigan 21st-century African-American women 21st-century African-American politicians 20th-century African-American people 20th-century African-American women