Former U.S. Rep. Donna Edwards is hoping voters will return her to her old congressional seat, as the Prince George’s County Democrat launched her campaign on Thursday to once again represent Maryland’s 4th congressional district.
“It’s time to finish the job we started and make sure our community gets its fair share in Washington — just as I always have,” Edwards said in a statement.
Edwards represented Maryland’s 4th congressional district, which includes most of Prince George’s County and part of Anne Arundel County, from 2008 to 2017.
The seat is currently held by U.S. Rep. Anthony Brown, who has already said he is not seeking reelection for that position and instead is running for Maryland Attorney General. Brian Frosh, Maryland’s current state attorney general, is set to retire when his term ends in January 2023.
If elected, Edwards would be the only woman in Maryland’s congressional delegation, which is currently comprised of all men. The state’s congressional delegation – eight congressmen and two senators – is also nearly all white, aside from Brown, who is not seeking reelection, and U.S. Rep. Kweisi Mfume.
In a campaign announcement video, Edwards shared how she borrowed an RV, which she named Lucille, and went on a 12,000-mile listening tour across the country.
Edwards also highlighted how Prince George’s County has been one of the Maryland jurisdictions hit hardest by the COVID-19 pandemic.
The county has experienced the highest number of confirmed COVID-19 cases in Maryland to date, and the second-highest number of coronavirus-related deaths after Baltimore City, state data show.
“And that’s on top of the huge inequities we already face because our voices have not been heard,” she said in her campaign video. “Our stories have not been told, our children have not been a priority, and our families and workers have been left behind.”
Edwards said she will return to Congress with “more seniority than most of the people in that building,” which she plans to leverage.
“That means clout to make sure our district has not just a seat at the table, but a seat at the front of the table where the decisions are made,” she said.
Edwards pointed to bipartisan bills she sponsored and passed while in Congress, including legislation to invest in jobs at the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA); fund historically Black colleges and universities (HBCUs); and expand science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) education in schools.
Edwards said she wants to bring the FBI headquarters — and the jobs that would come with it — to Prince George’s County, despite previous failed attempts.
She said that she wants to “deliver on things that really matter, like Medicare for All, living wages, environmental justice for polluted communities, criminal justice reform, and securing our democracy and the voting rights of every single one of us. We’ll make the wealthy finally pay their fair share, so we can start bringing down the cost of living for our families.”
Edwards became the first Black woman to represent Maryland in Congress when she defeated eight-term incumbent Albert Wynn in 2008 for the 4th congressional district seat. She had previously worked as a clerk for Wynn when he was a Maryland state delegate.
In 2015, when U.S. Sen. Barbara Mikulski announced she would retire at the end of her term in 2016, Edwards ran to replace Mikulski. She faced off against then-U.S. Rep. Chris Van Hollen for the Democratic nomination. Van Hollen ultimately won the primary election and went on to win the seat in the U.S. Senate.
After her term in Congress ended in 2017, Edwards ran for county executive in Prince George’s County. However, Edwards lost that race to then-Prince George’s State’s Attorney Angela Alsobrooks, who went on to be unopposed in the general election and became the first woman to hold the county’s top job.
Before being elected to public office, Edwards earned her law degree from the University of New Hampshire School of Law.
She later co-founded and served as the executive director of the National Network to End Domestic Violence, where she led the effort to pass the Violence Against Women Act, which President Bill Clinton signed into law in 1994.
