Sunday, 01 December 2024

Former Democratic Senator And Presidential Candidate Passes Away At 94


Fred Harris, a former U.S. senator from Oklahoma, has passed away.

He was 94.

Harris served in the Oklahoma Senate from 1957 to 1964 and the U.S. Senate from 1964 to 1973.

He unsuccessfully sought the Democratic presidential nomination in 1972 and 1976.

After 1976, he worked as a professor at the University of New Mexico.

Harris’ wife, Margaret Elliston, confirmed his death to the Associated Press.

“Fred Harris passed peacefully early this morning of natural causes. He was 94. He was a wonderful and beloved man. His memory is a blessing,” Elliston told the outlet via text message.

From the Associated Press:

Harris served eight years in the Senate, first winning in 1964 to fill a vacancy, and made unsuccessful bid for the presidency in 1976.

It fell to Harris, as chairman of the Democratic National Committee in 1969 and 1970, to help heal the party’s wounds from the tumultuous national convention in 1968 when protesters and police clashed in Chicago.

He ushered in rule changes that led to more women and minorities as convention delegates and in leadership positions.

“I think it’s worked wonderfully,” Harris recalled in 2004, when he was a delegate to the Democratic National Convention in Boston. “It’s made the selection much more legitimate and democratic.”

Per Daily Caller:

In 1968, Harris, then 37, was shortlisted in consideration for the role as Democratic candidate Hubert Humphrey’s vice president, the outlet noted.

Harris became a political science professor at the University of New Mexico in 1976, AP reported. He resided in the state since then, going on to write and edit a dozen books, many about politics and Congress.

The Democratic Party of New Mexico issued a statement which remembered Harris as a vocal advocate against poverty and racial discrimination.

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