Texas Democrat Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee dead at 74 | 19 July 2024 | Texas Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee died at 74, her family announced on Friday, just two months after the longtime lawmaker revealed she had been diagnosed with cancer. The Democratic congresswoman, who served Texas’s 18th District since 1995, recently announced in June she was battling pancreatic cancer. It is not clear when Jackson Lee died. Jackson Lee was among the legislators who fought to establish Juneteenth as a national holiday.