With his ascendency to the city council presidency, Nick Mosby leaves our neighborhood – part of the 40th General Assembly district – short-handed as the assembly prepares to convene in Annapolis on Jan. 13, 2021.
Mosby in 2017 moved from his city council seat representing Reservoir Hill, where he and his wife, State’s Attorney Marilyn Mosby, reside to the assembly after unsuccessfully running for mayor. When he dropped out of the mayor’s race and endorsed her, then-Mayor Catherine Pugh arranged for Mosby’s appointment to the General Assembly. He served just one full term before jumping back to the council. He was inaugurated as council president on Dec. 10.
The 40th district includes most of Bolton Hill, but a segment of the neighborhood falls into Assembly District 46, which is unaffected by the 40th district shuffle.
Remaining members of the 40th legislative District are Sen. Anthony Hayes and Assembly Delegates Melissa Wells and Frank Conaway Jr., all Democrats. According to the political blog Maryland Matters, at least six people are vying to fill the vacancy, which is nominally named by the governor acting on a recommendation from the 40th legislative district’s delegation to the Baltimore City Democratic committee. It’s not clear when the committee will meet and act.
Said to be in the running are:
- Crystal Jackson Parker, who happens to be a member of the 40th district Democratic committee. In 2016 she was diagnosed with Stage III colon cancer. She was elected to the committee in 2018.
- Joshua Harris, who ran for the seat in 2018 as a Green Party candidate. He also was a Green candidate for mayor of Baltimore in 2016. Harris works for the Prince George’s County Educators’ Association and is vice president of Baltimore City’s NAACP.
- China Terrell, the president of the Baltimore Pumphouse project, which seeks to transform a blighted brownfield site in the Broadway East neighborhood into a commercial hub.
- Marlon Amprey, a former educator and currently an attorney at the downtown law firm Cole Schotz P.C.
- Kathy Shulman of Wyman Park, who is a “social change activist” and is Healthy Food Access Director at Vincent de Paul of Baltimore.
- Marshall Bell, executive director of The Community Support Program, which provides analytical services of camera imagery to help reduce crime, limit dumping and reduce auto thefts. He is a former member of the Democratic Central Committee for the 40th District and ran for city council in 2016.