Brenda Jones (politician)

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 and later received a Bachelor of Arts in psychology from Wayne State University.[1]

Jones worked for Michigan Bell and was later elected as a union president of the Communications Workers of America Local 4004 in Detroit. She was appointed as an executive on the boards of the Detroit Economic Growth Corporation and the Detroit Transportation Commission.[2]

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.[3] 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.[4]

In April 2020, The Intercept reported that leading up to her 2017 reelection campaign, Jones received campaign contributions from the then-chairman and another board member of First Independence Bank, which runs a loan program for the city's police and fire pension fund. As the city council's representative on the pension fund board of trustees, Jones was directly responsible for the city's contract with the bank.[5] The contributions, made within days of each other in October 2015, totaled over $7,000.[6]

On December 5, 2017, Representative John Conyers 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 and easily won in the special election. However, in the general election Democratic primary Jones was defeated by Rashida Tlaib. Prior to the general election Jones filed to run as a write-in candidate, causing criticism, and received 633 write-in votes in the election.[7]

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.[8][9] 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 be consulted to clarify federal and House rules.[10]

Speaker Paul Ryan delayed swearing Jones in until November 29, after receiving guidance from the House Ethics Committee on how Jones could minimize conflicts of interest.[11] She introduced two bills and cast 77 votes during her five-week tenure in the House of Representatives.[12]

On March 25, 2020, Jones filed to run in the Democratic primary for the 13th Congressional district against Tlaib.[13] On April 2, she announced that she had tested positive for coronavirus.[14]