Lewis posts April Fools’ Day announcement that he’ll grow beard to stop being confused with Cummings

Rep. John Lewis (D-Ga.) on Monday made an April Fools’ Day announcement saying he plans to grow a beard to avoid being mistaken for Rep. Elijah Cummings (D-Md.).

“Just this weekend, I went to church in Maryland. Someone came up to me and said, ‘Hi, Mr. Cummings! I vote for you all the time,’’’ Lewis said in a statement. “I just said thank you. What else could I say? That’s when I decided, I should just grow a beard.”

{mosads}The statement noted that the announcement “comes after years of ‘baldist’ press reports that have confused the two famously clean shaven, African-American members of Congress.”

Lewis said, “People stop me all the time and tell me they’re from Maryland,” the home state of Cummings. 

Lewis also joked in the statement that he thought about getting a tattoo on the back of his head “just to clear things up.”

“I tried to convince Elijah to get one too, but that didn’t go over so well,” he said.

“I guess being mistaken does have its advantages, though,” Lewis added. “Elijah’s younger than me, so I guess being mistaken for him is kind of a compliment. Maybe one day when I have a schedule conflict, I’ll see if he wouldn’t mind sitting in a hearing for me. You think anybody would notice?”