Two prominent Prince George’s County leaders announced Tuesday their bids for Maryland’s 4th Congressional District.
Del. Jazz Lewis (D-District 24) of Glenarden and former Prince George’s County State’s Attorney Glenn Ivey seek an office held by Rep. Anthony Brown, who announced his candidacy Monday for state’s attorney general.
Current Attorney General Brian Frosh, 72, will not seek a third term and plans to retire after 35 years of public service.
That’s one main reason why Ivey decided to run, again. He ran an unsuccessful campaign for Congress in 2016 and lost to Brown by only 8,700 votes.
He’s been in private practice and opened the firm of Ivey & Levetown in Greenbelt last year.
“I really enjoy public service. I miss it,” Ivey said in an interview. “I think we’re going to try and use the office as an informal platform, sort of a bully pulpit, to get things done locally.”
Ivey, 60, credits the community work of his wife, County Council member Jolene Ivey, and their son, Del. Julian Ivey, for his seeking to get back into public service.
With the accessibility of COVID-19 vaccines and thousands of residents who remain unvaccinated, Glenn Ivey supports mandating them to employees at businesses and government agencies, especially “employees who are interacting with the public. If you work remotely, I would be more open to it.”
The Cheverly resident’s goals include passing bills on criminal justice reform, expanding health care and maintaining constituent services to “make sure they get the services they need and any benefits they deserve.”
Lewis, who’s served in the House of Delegates since 2017 and chair of the House Democratic Caucus, helped craft legislation to ban solitary confinement for juveniles and a bipartisan bill this year with Sen. Chris West (R-Baltimore County) to ban life sentences without the possibility of parole for juveniles.
The 32-year-old senior policy adviser for House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (D-Maryland) announced his bid through a video that included his time as a student activist at the University of Maryland in College Park to fight tuition increases.
“I have been working on the issues of our time and, we in Annapolis, have been pushing a lot of the issues that I think are needed at the federal level,” he said in an interview. “Ultimately, folks want change now. They don’t want something perfect later. They are desperately asking for change right now.”
With Lewis choosing to run for Congress, his seat in the 24th Legislative District will now be open. The Prince George’s County Democratic Central Committee plans to meet Thursday in regards to the vacant seat left by former Del. Erek Barron, who received confirmation Aug. 30 from the U.S. Senate to become Maryland’s first Black U.S. attorney for Maryland.
Both Lewis and Ivey support legalizing recreational marijuana, which remains illegal on the federal level. According to a Goucher College poll released Tuesday, 60% of Marylanders support legalization — down from 67% in March — while 33% oppose it.
As state lawmakers continue to work on redistricting efforts and the legislature scheduled a special session in December, it remains unclear where the 4th Congressional District boundaries may lie.
The district currently encompasses portions of Prince George’s and Anne Arundel counties. The municipalities and neighborhoods in the majority-Black Prince George’s include District Heights, Largo and parts of Upper Marlboro. Anne Arundel locations include Gambrills, Pasadena and Severna Park.
As of Tuesday, Republican and perennial candidate George McDermott of Forest Heights has been the only person to file paperwork for the congressional seat.
The primary election is June 28.