Savage entered political life in 1948 as a
Progressive Party organizer. He challenged the local establishment's chosen candidates for the House of Representatives in
1968 and
1970, losing the Democratic primary both times. He won election to the House in
1980, representing the
2nd District on Chicago's
South Side for six terms, from January 1981 to January 1993. In 1983, he joined with seven other Congressional Representatives to sponsor a resolution to
impeach Ronald Reagan over his sudden and unexpected
invasion of Grenada. He denied the allegations and blamed them on the "racist press." The
House Ethics Committee decided that the events did indeed occur, but it did not take disciplinary action only because Savage wrote a letter of apology. Savage had long been controversial even in his own district. His racially incendiary and anti-Semitic remarks frequently drew bipartisan criticism. He never won a primary election–the real contest in this overwhelmingly Democratic district–with more than 52% of the vote, and usually faced multiple challengers.
Redistricting and defeat For the
1992 election,
redistricting pushed his district further into Chicago's south suburbs, territory that Savage did not know and that did not know him. He faced a rematch with
Mel Reynolds, who had challenged him in the 1988 and 1990 he lost the 1992 election to Reynolds by a margin of 63%-37% after voters in the suburban portion of the district voted 4-to-1 for Reynolds. In defeat Savage declared, "We have lost to the white racist press and to the racist reactionary Jewish misleaders."
Role in national historic landmark In one of his final acts as chairman of the House Subcommittee on Public Buildings and Grounds, excavation and construction at the site of the
African Burial Ground in
New York City was temporarily halted in 1992, pending further evaluation by the
General Services Administration, after Savage was able to leverage his reputation as a national political figure to bring attention to the potential importance of the site. The site was eventually designated a National Historic Landmark in 1993 and a National Monument in 2006 by President George W. Bush. == Final years ==