Beverly Byron represented Maryland in the U.S. House from 1979 to 1993.
- Died: February 9, 2025 (Who else died on February 9?)
- Details of death: Died at her home in Frederick, Maryland of congestive heart failure at the age of 92.
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Beverly Byron’s legacy
Byron didn’t set out to be a politician. Instead, she was a politician’s wife, supporting her husband, Goodloe Byron, as he served in state politics and then represented Maryland in the House as a Democrat. But when he unexpectedly died in 1978 at the age of 49, less than a month before Election Day, everything changed.
Within days of her devastating loss, Byron found herself in discussions with Democratic Party leaders, who wanted her to run in the special election to fill her late husband’s seat. Widowed, a single mother, and unemployed, she didn’t hesitate. Byron knew her husband’s political priorities well and was confident she could carry on his work in Congress. She agreed to run, she won, and weeks later, she was a U.S. congresswoman.
Party officials thought Byron would serve a single term in place of her husband and then quietly step away to make room for a career politician, but she had no such intentions. Instead, she served seven terms in the House and became a leader on the Armed Services Committee. One of only 18 women in all of the U.S. Congress when she was first elected, Byron initially struggled to find respect in Armed Services, but she rose to helm the Military Personnel and Compensation Subcommittee, the first woman to lead an Armed Services subcommittee. She also served on the Select Committee on Aging and the Interior and Insular Affairs Committee.
Byron ran for an eighth term in 1992, but she was defeated in the primary. Her opponent ultimately lost to his Republican challenger. After her years in Congress, she retained her interest in military affairs. She served as a commissioner on the 1993 Base Realignment and Closure Commission, and later, President Bill Clinton appointed Byron to the U.S. Naval Academy Board of Visitors.
In an interesting example of history repeating itself, Byron wasn’t the first woman in Maryland to seek – and win – a congressional seat vacated by her husband’s death. The first was Katherine Byron, her mother-in-law, who served in the House from 1941 to 1943 after her husband, William D. Byron, was killed in a plane crash. The elder Mrs. Byron served a single term and didn’t seek re-election.
Notable quote
“I was told, ‘Well, we’ll nominate her and she’ll just serve one term and we can get a real candidate in there.’ Well, I don’t think they thought I was going to stay for 14 years.” — from a 2019 interview for Maryland Matters
Tributes to Beverly Byron
Full obituary: The Washington Post
