Maya Rockeymoore Cummings heads public policy firm in Washington
Maya Rockeymoore Cummings, the head of a public policy firm in Washington who is married to Democratic Rep. Elijah E. Cummings, said Tuesday that she is considering a run for Maryland governor.
Rockeymoore Cummings said she plans to make a decision by early fall. She’s been seeking advice, commissioning polls and conducting focus groups.
She said said she’s been pondering the idea of running for a couple of years — first, after being disappointed by Republican Gov. Larry Hogan’s election in 2014, then by Republican President Donald J. Trump’s victory last year.
“I’ve done a lot of soul-searching and I want to step up and consider a bid for Maryland governor,” she said.
Rockeymoore Cummings, 46, is president of Global Policy Solutions, which is described as “a social change strategy firm dedicated to making policy work for people and their environments.”
She also has held positions at the National Urban League and the Congressional Black Caucus Foundation and worked for Democratic congressmen, according to her biography on her company’s website. She has a doctoral degree in political science.
If she runs, Rockeymoore Cummings would be the first woman to enter the race to unseat Hogan.
Several Democrats already have launched campaigns, including Prince George’s County Executive Rushern L. Baker III, state Sen. Richard Madaleno, former NAACP President Ben Jealous, tech entrepreneur Alec Ross and Jim Shea, former chair of the Venable law firm.
Other Democrats who are considering a run include Baltimore County Executive Kevin Kamenetz, U.S. Rep. John Delaney and Douglas F. Gansler, the former attorney general who ran unsuccessfully for the Democratic gubernatorial nomination in 2014.
Rockeymoore Cummings said Republicans, both in Annapolis and Washington, “are not speaking to our issues,” those that are important to women, including accessible health care, affordable child care, safe neighborhoods and more jobs.
“I would be a voice and an advocate for issues that are too often overlooked by male candidates,” she said.
Rockeymoore Cummings isn’t painting herself strictly as a women’s candidate. She said she is a “practical progressive” and a good listener who can make the jump from working on policy issues to elected politics.
Despite the already-crowded field of Democratic candidates, Rockeymoore Cummings said she can build a coalition of supporters including women, people of color, seniors and military families. She grew up in an Air Force family and lived in multiple states, as well as Greece, during her childhood.
Rockeymoore Cummings said she has the support of her husband, who has represented a Baltimore-area district in Congress since 1996. Cummings did not respond to a request for comment.
“I consider him an advocate for women and women’s issues, so he practices what he preaches in terms of being supportive of women and me in particular with my thoughts about this candidacy,” she said.
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