Maya Rockeymoore Cummings Joins Race For Maryland Governor
BALTIMORE (WJZ)– Maya Rockeymoore Cummings is jumping into the race for governor.
The 46-year-old is the wife of Representative Elijah Cummings of Baltimore.
Rockeymoore Cummings announced her candidacy on Thursday through a web video.
She says she brings 13 years as a business owner to the race. Rockeymoore Cummings operates the Washington-based public policy consulting company Global Policy Solutions LLC, which employs five people. She has a doctorate in political science and a focus on public policy.
"Maryland is blessed with many strengths but we're punching below our fighting weight," she said in her video. "Too many Maryland families are still struggling to make ends meet."
The Democrat says one of her policy specialties is health care. She said she wants a single-payer health care system adopted nationwide. For now, Rockeymoore Cummings says she wants to build on Maryland's unique all-payer system to bring it as close to universal healthcare as possible.
Rockeymoore Cummings also favors allowing people who don't qualify for Medicaid because they earn too much to "buy in" to the system. She'd also like to see a public option added to coverage under the Affordable Care Act.
"I'm not a typical politician, in fact, I'm not a politician at all. I am a community leader," she said. "I am an executive, I run a business and I have worked with people at every level of government to bring social change. So I am a change agent."
While competing against Governor Hogan, Rockeymoore Cummings says she will critique his record as governor.
She says the Republican has shortchanged public transit and proposed a highway-oriented transportation plan that would do little to relieve traffic congestion.
The 46-year-old calls Hogan's $9 billion to add express toll lanes to Interstate 270, the Capital Beltway, and the Baltimore-Washington Parkway "a 20th century solution to a 21st century problem."
Rockeymoore Cummings will become the eighth serious contender to join the June 26 Democratic Primary. She enters the field with Prince George's County Executive Rushern Baker, Baltimore County Executive Kevin Kamenetz, State Senator Richard Madaleno, former NAACP president Ben Jealous, tech entrepreneur Alec Ross, former law partner and attorney Jim Shea, and former Michelle Obama policy aide, Krish Vignarajah.
The Democrat will also be the second woman in the race, and the fifth candidate who has not previously held elected office.
Recent polls show Baker running first, and Kamenetz running second in the field of Democratic Primary candidates.
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