Del. Nick Mosby announced today he is making a bid for city council president, sharing a YouTube video touting his record passing local “Ban the Box” legislation and a state law to end tax sales for unpaid water bills, and his efforts to keep the Preakness Stakes in Baltimore.
“I’m running so that my daughters have more opportunities,” he said in the video, “and a safer, more just and more equitable Baltimore than in generations past.”
In an accompanying Facebook post, Mosby wrote that he has “the right combination of experience and vision to serve the city I love in this capacity.”
A former two-term councilman for District 7, Mosby joins current members Shannon Sneed (District 13) and Leon F. Pinkett III (District 7) in the race to lead the legislative body. The current council president, Brandon Scott, is running for mayor.
The video message also nods to his wife, Baltimore City State’s Attorney Marilyn Mosby, saying that while many people may be familiar with their relationship, he also wants voters to know about his background as an electrical engineer and record on the council.
As The Sun‘s Luke Broadwater notes, a poll by the newspaper during Nick Mosby’s unsuccessful bid for mayor in 2016 found that one-third of voters were less likely to back his candidacy and concentrate power with one couple.
Mosby was ultimately appointed to represent the 40th District in the House of Delegates in 2017 after the Democratic Central Committee’s first pick, former Mayor Catherine Pugh’s aide Gary Brown Jr., was indicted on campaign finance violations charges. The seat was previously held by Barbara A. Robinson, who was elevated to the Maryland State Senate after Pugh was elected mayor.
He received the highest vote total among 40th District delegates in the 2018 election.
In Annapolis, Mosby also sponsored “ban the box” legislation, preventing employers from looking into a potential employee’s criminal history until after a first job interview, but the bill was ultimately vetoed by Gov. Larry Hogan. Mosby called that decision “tone deaf.”
Mosby did succeed in getting The Water Taxpayer Protection Act on the books, a bill he co-sponsored with State Sen. Mary Washington, now a candidate for mayor. The bill prohibits the city can no longer place liens on residential and religious properties for unpaid water and sewer bills and bring them to tax sale.
And during the legislative battle over the Preakness Stakes, he rose concerns about the poor living conditions for track workers at Laurel Park as the track’s owners, the Stronach Group, were seeking state funds to ultimately turn the facility into the race’s future home.
Candidates have until Jan. 10, 2020 to file for the April 28 primary election.
