Rep. Jamie Raskin at his residence in Takoma Park, Md. on June 12, 2023.

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Rep. Jamie Raskin at his residence in Takoma Park, Md. on June 12, 2023.

Catie Dull/NPR

On a current morning, Maryland Rep. Jamie Raskin was sitting within the kitchen of his residence in Takoma Park, Md., simply outdoors Washington, D.C., considering a significant choice.

He’s weighing a run for the U.S. Senate after going into remission following intensive most cancers remedy.

“I’ve written a speech announcing my reelection campaign for the House, I’ve written a speech declaring my candidacy for the Senate,” Raskin says. “I figure out my situation best through the process of writing.”

The prime Democrat on the House Oversight Committee, Raskin has given himself a Fourth of July deadline to choose a type of speeches to publicly announce his plans.

“I have had friends on Capitol Hill tell me that I would be crazy to think about leaving the House of Representatives,” Raskin mentioned. “And then there are people who say to me that the U.S. Senate seats open up once every quarter century, and I would be crazy not to run for it at this point.”

Raskin has been a House member since 2017

Raskin was first elected to the House in 2016 after instructing constitutional regulation at American University for greater than 25 years.

In Congress, he rapidly rose up the ranks, making a reputation for himself as the lead House manager throughout former President Trump’s second impeachment trial. He later served as a member of the House Select Jan. 6 panel earlier than changing into House Oversight’s rating member.

That means he is one among a core group of Democrats defending President Biden and his administration towards Republican investigations. It’s a job that is anticipated to be greater in demand as the House GOP ramps up its probes into President Biden, his administration and Democrats since Trump’s historic federal indictment.

“We’re still in the fight of our lives,” Raskin says. “Donald Trump is still very much at large and we’re in a struggle to defend democracy and the rule of law.”

Rep. Jamie Raskin, D-Md., delivers remarks over the last assembly of the House Select Committee to Investigate the January 6 Attack on the U.S. Capitol within the Canon House Office Building on Dec. 19, 2022.

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At the identical time, Raskin has been in one other struggle of his life: battling diffuse massive B-cell lymphoma, a critical however curable type of most cancers.

So when Maryland Democratic Sen. Ben Cardin said in May he wouldn’t search reelection, Raskin was not instantly serious about getting into the race.

“I was still just trying to, you know, eat and hold a meal down,” Raskin mentioned. “I was besieged and barraged with phone calls and emails and texts from people asking me what I was going to do, and I just … begged everybody’s patience.”

Maryland Rep. David Trone, and Angela Alsobrooks, a Prince George County, Md., govt, had been amongst the early Democrats launching Senate campaigns to fill Cardin’s seat.

Nothing compares to shedding ‘Tombo’

Raskin first obtained news of his diagnosis in late December 2022, and underwent six rounds of chemotherapy over a number of months. Raskin misplaced his hair, eyebrows, eyelashes and his sense of style.

He mentioned all the things he ate tasted like an aluminum tennis racket.

“Chemo is not something I would wish on my worst enemies in the world,” he mentioned.

In late April, Raskin obtained phrase from his medical staff at MedStar Georgetown University Hospital and the close by Lombardi Comprehensive Cancer Center that he was in remission, with a 90% prognosis of no relapse.

It marked the most recent chapter in a series of life tests punctuated by trauma and grief for Raskin. He obtained his most cancers analysis after the House Jan. 6 panel wrapped up its work, and days earlier than the second-year anniversary of his son’s death.

“As difficult as it was going through chemo and all of this, I mean, nothing compares to losing Tombo,” Raskin says, his voice trailing.

Tombo is Raskin’s nickname for his late son Tommy Raskin, who died by suicide in December 2020. Tommy Raskin, who was a Harvard Law scholar, wrote extensively about philosophy, injustice and animal rights.

The day after Tommy was buried, Raskin, his youngest daughter, Tabitha, and his son-in-law were were at the Capitol when it was attacked on Jan. 6, 2021.

Raskin takes lengthy, considerate pauses when he considers the place he’s right this moment on his journey with grief.

“Well, you know … My heart is still broken,” he says. “But … it keeps beating. And you know, we’ve got so much to live for.”

That consists of Raskin and his spouse, Susan Bloom Raskin, who noticed Tabitha marry this month.

“We just we have a lot of beautiful things to live for. And, you know, we just have to incorporate that. What else can we do?” Raskin asks.

How the private has knowledgeable the politics

Today, Raskin’s eyelashes have began to develop again. He nonetheless sports activities the bandanas he began sporting when he started shedding his hair — inspired by one of his newest friends, Steven Van Zandt of Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band.

Van Zandt sent Raskin a dozen bandanas during his treatment. Now, the 2 are speaking about launching a line of bandanas for youngsters coping with most cancers and chemotherapy.

“We’ve been talking about the possibility of soliciting some of the great fashion designers to see if they would make bandanas,” Raskin mentioned.

Raskin’s current challenges are informing his politics and his priorities. His battle with most cancers highlighted the plight of the uninsured. And he is been serious about what Tommy would say a couple of potential Senate run.

“I think he would ask probably that fundamental utilitarian question,” Raskin says, “which is where can I go? Where can I be doing the most good for the most number of people now? And he would say disregard everything else.”

As Raskin considers his subsequent transfer, he’s weighing his seniority within the House towards doubtlessly vying to turn out to be the junior senator from Maryland. He nonetheless recurrently provides to these drafts of his two speeches for both plan, making an attempt to determine which one makes probably the most compelling case.

“I’m just going to see after spilling my guts, what feels right to me,” he says.