Rep. Alcee Hastings, D-Fla., died Tuesday after a more than two-year bout with pancreatic cancer, NBC News confirmed.
Hastings, who served in the House for nearly three decades, was 84. Throughout his career, he held several key committee assignments and leadership positions, most recently as vice chairman of the Rules Committee.
After the congressman’s death, Democrats hold a narrow 218-211 advantage in the House, giving the party a small margin for error in passing legislation. Six seats are vacant.
Hastings, a former federal district court judge, was impeached in 1988 amid accusations of bribery and perjury. The Senate voted to remove him from the bench the next year, but did not vote to disqualify him from holding future office.
