Throughout the 1960s, Rush was involved in the civil rights movement and worked in civil disobedience campaigns in the southern United States. He later finished his Army service, receiving an honorable discharge. In 1968, he went AWOL from the Army and co-founded the Illinois chapter of the Black Panthers. While stationed in Chicago in 1966, he joined the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee, which had helped obtain national civil rights legislation passed in 19. In 1963, Rush dropped out of high school before graduating and joined the U.S. After his parents separated when Rush was 7 years old, his mother took him and his siblings to Chicago, Illinois, joining the Great Migration of African Americans out of the South in the first part of the 20th century. Rush was born on November 23, 1946, in Albany, Georgia. 4.5 Ethics concerns and conflicts of interestĮarly life, education, and activism.On January 3, 2022, Rush announced that he was retiring from Congress. He is the dean of Illinois's congressional delegation. A member of the Democratic Party, Rush is the only politician to have defeated Barack Obama in an election, which he did in the 2000 Democratic primary for Illinois's 1st congressional district. Although still minority-majority, since early 2013 it is 51.3% African American, 36.1% White, 9.8% Hispanic, and 2% Asian. In 2011 the Illinois General Assembly redistricted this area after the 2010 census. His district was originally principally on the South Side of Chicago, with a population from 2003 to early 2013 that was 65% African-American, a higher proportion than any other congressional district. He has since won consecutive reelections. Rush was first elected to Congress in 1992. A civil rights activist during the 1960s, Rush co-founded the Illinois chapter of the Black Panther Party. representative for Illinois's 1st congressional district, serving in Congress for almost three decades.

Bobby Lee Rush (born November 23, 1946) is an American politician, activist and pastor who is the U.S.

Bobby rush