Today, another in our series of Conversations with the Candidates running in the 2020 elections for offices to lead Baltimore, the region and the nation.
This week, we've turned our attention to the race for Baltimore City's second-most-powerful post, after the mayor -- the office of City Council President. It's a job being sought by eight contenders — seven Democrats and one Republican. One of those Democrats is Councilman Leon Pinkett, who was elected in 2016 to represent Baltimore’s 7th Councilmanic District in West Baltimore.
Leon F. Pinkett III was born and raised in Baltimore. He earned a degree in economics from Guilford College in North Carolina. He was the senior economic development officer at the Baltimore Development Corporation, or BDC, for nine years. He later joined Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake’s administration as Assistant Deputy Mayor in the Office of Economic and Neighborhood Development.
On the City Council, Pinkett serves as the vice chair of both the Budget & Appropriations Committee, and the Transportation Committee.
Councilman Pinkett is 52 years old. He and his wife, Marika, have two teenaged children and they are long-time residents of the Reservoir Hill community.
We welcome audience comments and questions for the candidate.
This conversation is being live-streamed on WYPR's Facebook page. You can watch the video here.
We apologize for the brief microphone problem at the beginning of today's interview.
