Arizona Leaders Remember Rep. John Lewis

Pete Souza/White House

Longtime Georgia congressman and noted civil rights leader John Lewis has died. Arizona politicians are remembering his legacy.

Sen. Kyrsten Sinema tweeted that Lewis was her hero, and Sen. Martha McSally called Lewis an icon and a legendary leader. Congressman Ruben Gallego wrote he was heartbroken over the loss.

Arizona State University’s McCain Institute, named for late Sen. John McCain,  issued a statement calling Lewis “a giant in the American story” who “battled hatred and bigotry without ever losing his optimism.”

A son of Alabama sharecroppers, the young Lewis first preached moral righteousness to his family’s chickens. His place in the vanguard of the 1960s campaign for Black equality had its roots in that hardscrabble Alabama farm.

Lewis, who died Friday at age 80, was the youngest and last survivor of the Big Six civil rights activists who organized the 1963 March on Washington, and spoke shortly before the group’s leader, Rev. Martin Luther King Jr., gave his “I Have a Dream” speech to a vast sea of people.

Lewis earned bipartisan respect in Washington, where some called him the “conscience of Congress.” He served in Congress for 33 years. His humble manner contrasted with the puffed chests on Capitol Hill. But as a liberal on the losing side of many issues, he lacked the influence he’d summoned at the segregated lunch counters of his youth, or later, within the Democratic Party, as a steadfast voice for the poor and disenfranchised.

Associated Press contributed to this report.