State Senator Jill Carter has joined an increasingly crowded Democratic field of 17 candidates running for Maryland’s 7th Congressional District seat left vacant by the death of U.S. Rep. Elijah Cummings in October.
Carter filed to run for the seat Monday at the state Board of Elections and has planned a “special announcement” about her campaign for Tuesday afternoon. In between those events, she attended her third fundraiser Monday night in Ellicott City, the southern part of the 7th district.
Carter, a lawyer for nearly 30 years, represented the 41st District in the Maryland House of Delegates for 14 years. She was appointed to fill the unexpired Senate term of Nathaniel Oaks, who had pleaded guilty to corruption charges, in May 2018 and elected to the seat that fall.
This is her first run for federal office.
She says her state legislative experience is a strong indicator of the kind of Congressperson she’d be.
“In the climate we have now nationally, we need someone who will fight for people over the special interests and be someone people can trust to carry their voices and interests to Washington,” she said.
Carter's campaign signs refer to her as “the people’s champion,” a term she says the late Elijah Cummings gave her during her state senate race.
In between her stints as a state delegate and a state senator, Carter was the director of the Baltimore City Office of Civil Rights and Wage Enforcement, appointed by then Mayor Catherine Pugh.
Carter has been in the news recently because she called in the tip last spring that eventually exposed Mayor Catherine Pugh and University of Maryland Medical System’s Healthy Holly book scandal. Carter says she’s loyal to the people of Maryland and she’d bring that “independent spirit” to Congress.
She says she’s running on criminal justice reform, racial equality, and healthcare for all. Her mission, if she’s elected to Congress she said, is to make sure “not one Marylander is without healthcare”.
