Elijah Cummings’ Widow Maya Rockeymoore Expected To Run For His House Seat
Dr. Maya Rockeymoore Cummings suffered a great loss when her husband of more than two decades, Rep. Elijah Cummings, died Thursday (October 17).
Now, the chairwoman of the Maryland Democratic Party is expected to run for her late husband’s House seat, according to a report, Fox News reports.
In a heartfelt statement, following Rep. Cummings’ death due to long-term health complications, the chairwoman remembered her husband as “an honorable man who proudly served his district and the nation with dignity, integrity, compassion and humility.”
Tasked with scheduling a special election is Maryland’s Republican Governor Larry Hogan, who has not made a decision yet on how to proceed, his spokesman said.
Gov. Hogan has one week to issue a proclamation with dates of special primary and general elections. After that, the special primary election will be held on a Tuesday at least 65 days after the proclamation, followed by a special general election, also on a Tuesday, at least 65 days after the primary.
“This whole process could be five months,” said Jared DeMarinis, the state elections board’s director of candidacy and campaign finance. “And that’s moving it along.”
Cummings was up for re-election in 2020.
Dr. Rockeymoore has not yet confirmed her intention of running.
“We ask the public and the press to allow Maryland Democratic Party Chair Dr. Maya Rockeymoore Cummings — and the rest of the Cummings family — time and space to grieve their loss,” the Party said in a statement released Friday (October 18).
One longtime Maryland political operative said Rockeymoore is not planning to run for the seat immediately, as she takes time to grieve the loss of her husband.
“Word is that Maya Rockeymoore will pass on the special election,” they told the Washington Examiner.
Still, sources do expect her to run in the previously scheduled election for the seat in April and believe other potential candidates will make room for her out of respect for her and the late Rep. Cummings, the Washington Examiner reports.
While the law allows for swift action on the part of Gov. Hogan to fill the seat, he does have the option to leave it vacant. That option would ease the state expense of holding a special election, but it would also mean that Cummings’ seat would be empty for over a year. In that case, a new representative would be selected during the general election on Nov. 3, 2020.
As chairwoman of the Maryland Democractic Party, Rockeymoore will play a powerful role in deciding whom the party supports in the special election and could ensure that the party backs a place-holder candidate who would be willing to step aside if and when Rockeymoore decides to run in the spring, according to the Washington Examiner.
Rockeymoore “has a lot of control over who the placeholder is,” the Maryland operative said.
Former Baltimore Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake is one name that’s been floating as a possible placeholder, the Washington Examiner reports.
After undergoing an unspecified medical procedure in September, Rep. Cummings did not return to his office. He had undergone multiple surgeries in the last two years on his heart and knee.
“He worked until his last breath because he believed our democracy was the highest and best expression of our collective humanity,” Mrs. Cummings wrote. “I loved him deeply and will miss him dearly.
Written by Zayda Rivera