Reynolds, Mel, 1952-

Melvin Reynolds (born January 8, 1952) is an American politician from Illinois. A member of the Democratic Party, he served in the United States House of Representatives from 1993 to 1995. He resigned in October 1995 after a jury convicted him of sexual assault charges related to sex with an underage campaign worker.

Reynolds and his twin brother, Marvin Jerry Reynolds, were born in Mound Bayou, Mississippi to Reverend J. J. Reynolds and Essie Mae Prather. Reynolds moved to Chicago as a child. He received an Associate of Arts from one of the City Colleges of Chicago, and graduated from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, and from Harvard University with a M.P.A.. He also won a Rhodes Scholarship to the University of Oxford, where he attended Lincoln College and received an LL.B.. Before entering politics, Reynolds worked as an assistant professor of political science at Roosevelt University in Chicago, Illinois. He also founded the Community Economic Development and Education Foundation.

After two unsuccessful attempts in 1988 and 1990 to primary Congressman Gus Savage, Reynolds finally bested Savage in 1992, in part due to redistricting that shrank Savage’s stronghold in urban black neighborhoods, replacing them with white suburbs south of Chicago. Reynolds went on to earn 78 percent of the vote in the general election. In 1994, he bested two challengers in the Democratic primary with 56 percent of the vote and easily defeated a write–in candidate in the general election to earn a second term in the House.

Although Reynolds had an auspicious beginning in the House, a series of legal problems jeopardized his career.15 Early in his first term, published reports emerged alleging that Reynolds owed thousands of dollars in campaign debts and educational loans. In August 1994 a Cook County grand jury indicted Reynolds on counts of criminal sexual assault, child pornography, and obstruction of justice. Reynolds denied having an affair in 1992 with his accuser - a 16-year-old campaign worker.

Initially, Reynolds managed to weather the controversy and retain his position in Congress but when a Chicago jury found Reynolds guilty of multiple criminal counts, including having sex with a minor and obstruction of justice, calls for his resignation among Democrats reached a crescendo. Reluctantly, Reynolds resigned from the House, effective October 1, 1995.