Our Party looks like, fights
for, and works on behalf of all
Marylanders
Maryland
has a long history of Democratic leadership at
all levels of elected office and the results of
our service to Maryland are profound
and impressive.
Maryland Democrats have produced a
progressive record by championing the
principles of fairness, justice, opportunity
and diversity. Women and
minority participation within our Party has
increased steadily and produced dynamic and
powerful leaders at the local, county, state
and federal levels. Our
inclusiveness is not a campaign
slogan: We strive for it
everyday and it makes us stronger and more
effective.
The Democratic
Leadership Team:
Representing Your Priorities and
Values
Statewide
Officeholders:
Governor Martin
O'Malley
was the only gubernatorial
candidate in America to defeat an
incumbent Governor on November 7,
2006. Prior to that day Gov.
O'Malley served 7 years as Mayor of
Baltimore.
During his two terms as mayor, Baltimore
became a national model for improvement in
public safety, government efficiency, education
and economic
development. Martin O’Malley believes the
foundation of Baltimore’s comeback begins with
public safety and a commitment to making every
neighborhood an even safer place to call
home. While Mayor, Gov. O'Malley
championed a computerized tracking system,
CitiStat, which has shifted Baltimore’s way of
“doing government” from an antiquated
patronage-based system to a contemporary,
high-tech, performance-based system that zeroes
in on areas of under-performance, using
computerized databases to track targets and
results. He is
installing this innovation in government
accountability to state government for the
first time.
Lt. Governor Anthony
Brown was elected to his
first statewide office on November 7, 2006
after serving his native Prince
George’s County as a
Delegate in the Maryland House for two
terms where he rose to the position of Majority
Whip. Anthony continues to serve his country as
a Colonel in the U.S. Army Reserve. In 2005,
Anthony again proudly answered his country’s
call to duty, and was deployed as a reservist
to Iraq
as a part of Operation Iraqi Freedom. In
Fallujah, Kirkuk
and Basra,
Anthony worked with local and military
officials to deliver humanitarian assistance
and rebuild a war-torn Iraq.
In recognition of his distinguished service
Anthony has earned the Bronze Star Medal,
Meritorious Service Medal, Army Commendation
Medal with two Oak Leaf Clusters and Iraq
Campaign Medal.
Attorney General Douglas
F. Gansler was elected on November 7, 2006
to succeed the retiring J. Joseph Curran, Jr.
as Maryland’s Attorney General. For eight years
prior to becoming Maryland Attorney General,
Mr. Gansler had been Montgomery County’s chief
prosecutor, where he launched innovative and
successful programs to fight gangs, punish
criminals, and protect the public. He has an
unparalleled record of experience as a State’s
Attorney, former Assistant United States
Attorney and private
litigator.
Comptroller Peter
Franchot was elected to serve as
Maryland's 33rd State Comptroller on November
7, 2006. Prior to his election to
statewide office, Peter served as a Delegate
from Montgomery County for 20 years. During his
time in the House of Delegates, he was a member
of the Appropriations Committee, and served as
the Chair of its Transportation & the
Environment Subcommittee. Using this
experience and expertise, Peter has pledged as
Comptroller to be a strong fiscal watchdog for
Maryland taxpayers and an independent voice on
the Board of Public Works.
United
States
Senators:
Maryland's Democratic United States
Senators work very hard to promote the
interests of Maryland
and its citizens in Washington and around the
State of Maryland. Under their
leadership, legislation has been enacted to
expand Maryland's economy
and provide new jobs, clean up our environment,
expand assistance for education, housing and
public safety, and improve our transportation
infrastructure.
Senator Barbara
Mikulski
was elected to the United States Senate in
1986. Maryland's Senior
Senator serves as Ranking Democrat of the
Appropriations Subcommittee on Commerce,
Justice and Science, and is also the Ranking
Democrat on the Retirement Security and Aging
Subcommittee of the Health, Education, Labor
and Pensions (HELP) Committee.
Senator Mikulski was the first
Democratic woman to hold a Senate seat not
previously held by her husband; the first
Democratic woman to serve in both houses of
Congress; and the first woman to win a
statewide election in Maryland. Senator
Mikulski's pioneering efforts and her advocacy
on behalf of women candidates has helped elect
nine Democratic women to the United States
Senate during her tenure, and has made her the
unofficial "Dean of the Senate
Women."
Senator Benjamin L.
Cardin was
elected to the United States Senate in
2006.
Senator Cardin serves
on five critical senate committees: Foreign
Relations, Environment and Public Works,
Judiciary, Budget and Small Business.
He also is Ranking
Member on the Commission on Security and
Cooperation in Europe
(the U.S. Helsinki Commission). In
addition, he is Chair of one of the
three international committees of the
Organization for Security and Cooperation in
Europe (OSCE) Parliamentary Assembly that deals
with economics and the environment. In 2001, he
was named by Worth Magazine as among the top
"100 people who have influenced the way
Americans think about money." In 2004, he was
named to Treasury and Risk Management’s list of
"100 Most Influential People in Finance."
Previously, Sen. Cardin represented
Maryland's Third
Congressional District in the House of
Representatives from 1987 to 2006 and
served as Speaker of the House in Maryland's
General
Assembly.
United States
House of Representatives:
Democrats currently hold six of
Maryland's eight
seats in the U.S. House of
Representatives. In 2002,
Maryland was the only
state where Democrats won two congressional
seats from Republicans:
Congressman Dutch
Ruppersberger brought
Maryland’s Second
Congressional District into the Democratic
column after 18 years of Republican control,
and Congressman Chris Van
Hollen won Maryland’s Eighth
Congressional District seat after 16 years of
Republican dominance.
House Majority Leader,
Congressman Steny
Hoyer
is the senior member of the Maryland Democratic
House Delegation and has represented Maryland’s Fifth
Congressional District since 1981.
In November
2006, Congressman Hoyer was elected by his
colleagues in the Democratic Caucus to serve as
House Majority Leader in the
110th Congress. His election as Majority Leader
– which is the second-highest position in the
House – makes him the highest-ranking Member of
Congress from Maryland in history.
Congressman Albert R.
Wynn
has represented Maryland’s Fourth
Congressional District since being elected in
1992. Congressman Wynn currently serves on the
powerful and prestigious Energy and Commerce
Committee, where he is a member of the
Subcommittee on Energy and Air Quality,
the Subcommittee on Telecommunications and
the Internet, and the Subcommittee on
Environment and Hazardous Waste. The
Energy and Commerce Committee has jurisdiction
over a wide range of issues, including
telecommunications, trade, utility regulation,
energy, health, securities and biotechnology.
Rep. Wynn is a member of the Democratic Message
Group, and a Deputy Democratic Whip (a
party organizer in Congress.) Wynn also
Chairs the Congressional Black Caucus Task
Force on Campaign Finance Reform, and the
Caucus Minority Business Task
Force.
Congressman Elijah
Cummings
has represented Maryland’s Seventh
Congressional District since April 1996. He
serves on the House Government Reform
Committee, is the Ranking Member of the
Criminal Justice, Drug Policy and Human
Resources Subcommittee and is a member of the
Wellness and Human Rights Subcommittee.
Congressman Cummings also serves on the House
Transportation and Infrastructure Committee,
the Subcommittee on Highways & Transit and
the Subcommittee on Railroads. In addition to
his standing committee assignments, Congressman
Cummings is a member of the Joint Economic
Committee, the co-chair of the House AIDS
Working Group, and a member of the House Task
Force on Health Care Reform.
He is the Immediate Past Chair of the
Congressional Black Caucus.
Congressman Dutch
Ruppersberger
has represented Maryland’s Second
Congressional District since being elected in
2002. Congressman
Ruppersberger was the first Democratic freshman
ever to be appointed to the powerful House
Select Committee on Intelligence. The committee
oversees the collection and analysis of
intelligence information from all around the
world to ensure our national security and
prevent potential crisis situations -
especially terrorist activity.
Congressman Ruppersberger was
hand-picked by the Democratic Leadership and
named an Assistant Whip. In this prestigious
position he meets regularly with the House
leadership to help set legislative priorities
and to ensure the passage of key measures.
Congressman Ruppersberger serves on the
Government Reform Committee, the investigative
arm of Congress, where he works to prevent
government fraud and waste and to craft reforms
to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of
government programs. The Congressman was also
elected by his freshman Democratic peers to
represent them on the Democratic Steering and
Policy Committee.
Congressman Chris Van
Hollen has represented Maryland’s Eighth
Congressional District since being elected in
2002. Rep. Van Hollen is
Chairman of the Democratic Congressional
Campaign Committee and serves on the House
Committee on Ways and Means as well as the
Committee on Oversight and Government
Reform. He is the Vice
Chairman of the bipartisan Renewable Energy and
Energy Efficiency Caucus, Co-Chairman of the
Chesapeake Bay Watershed Task Force and Vice
Chairman of the Democratic Task Force on Budget
and Tax Policy. . Rep. Van Hollen has
been recognized for his efforts and leadership
in a range of areas of including education,
foreign policy, environmental protection,
protecting the rights of federal employees and
civil rights. Roll Call newspaper named him one
of the “rising stars” in Congress and the
Washington Post noted that Van Hollen “has
distinguished himself as a shrewd legislative
player.”
Congressman John
Sarbanes was elected on November
7, 2006 succeeding Senator Ben Cardin as the
representative from Maryland’s
3rd Congressional District. Rep. Sarbanes has
nearly two decades of experience in health care
and education from the private, public and
non-profit sectors. He served as Chair of the
Health Care Practice at Venable, one of the
nation's leading law firms, where he
represented non-profit hospitals and senior
living providers in their mission to deliver
high quality care to the people of Maryland.
For nearly twenty years, Rep. Sarbanes has
worked to improve public education having
recently completed a seven-year tenure as
special assistant to the State Superintendent
of Schools, serving as liaison to the Baltimore
City Public Schools under the City-State
Partnership.
Maryland General
Assembly:
Of the 188 members of
the Maryland General
Assembly, 137 are
Democrats.
Under the leadership of Senate President Thomas V.
"Mike" Miller,
Democrats hold 33 of 47 seats in the Maryland
State Senate. Senator Miller is the longest
serving Senate President in the history of
Maryland and is
currently the longest serving State Senate
President in the nation. His leadership and
influence are also demonstrated on the national
political scene where he serves as Chair of the
Democratic Legislative Campaign Committee.
In the House of Delegates, Democrats occupy 98
of the 141 seats. In 2003, Speaker Michael E.
Busch from
Anne Arundel County was
elected to lead the House of Delegates where he
has been a member since 1987. The former
teacher quickly established himself as a
strong, progressive leader.
Maryland's Democratic legislators are as
diverse as the districts they represent and by
working together they achieve remarkable
results for citizens in every corner of the
state. In 2002, Democrats crafted and put into
place historic education reform legislation
known as the "Thornton Commission," a formula
that provides resources to students facing
particular challenges and helps them overcome
those obstacles, such as poverty, so they may
achieve in school and in life.
Local Leadership:
Democrats hold leadership positions
in many of Maryland’s counties
and municipalities:
·
Chief Executives
for 5 of Maryland's 7
largest jurisdictions –
o
County Executive Isiah "Ike"
Leggett of Montgomery County
o County Executive Jack
Johnson of Prince George’s
County
o
County Executive Jim
Smith of Baltimore County
o
Mayor Sheila Dixon of Baltimore City
o
County Executive Ken
Ulman of
Howard County
·
Mayors of Baltimore,
Annapolis, Ocean City, Rockville, Bowie
and a majority of county council and
commission members
