Maryland Congressman Jamie Raskin completes chemotherapy, says doctors are ‘extremely optimistic’

U.S. Rep. Jamie Raskin, a Maryland Democrat who was diagnosed with cancer last December, said Tuesday that he completed chemotherapy treatment and “the doctors are extremely optimistic.”

“I had the last chemo today and got to ring the bell,” the fourth-term, Montgomery County representative said in an interview, referring to the ceremonial end of chemotherapy or radiation.

Raskin, 60, who was prominent in a House committee’s investigation of the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol, was diagnosed with diffuse large B cell lymphoma, a serious but curable form of cancer.

He received a clear imaging test midway through the rounds, but continued the therapy.

“They make you keep going because they (cancer cells) could be microscopic,” he said.

Raskin received the treatment as an outpatient at MedStar Georgetown University Hospital and the affiliated Lombardi Comprehensive Cancer Center.

“I didn’t have to miss any votes,” he said.

It was the second time the former state lawmaker and constitutional law professor had been diagnosed with cancer. He previously battled colorectal cancer in 2010.

Raskin was the lead manager when former president Donald Trump, a Republican, was impeached for the second time by the House at the end of the president’s term. During the proceedings, Raskin gave an emotional speech remembering his 25-year-old son, Tommy, who had taken his own life weeks earlier.

Raskin represents the 8th Congressional District, including much of the Washington, D.C., suburbs located within Montgomery County, and lives in Takoma Park. He is the top-ranking Democrat on the House Oversight Committee, which investigates government misconduct.