Then-Prince George’s County Executive Angela Alsobrooks, left, with then-Vice President Kamala Harris at a Prince George’s County rally in June 2024. (File photo by William J. Ford/Maryland Matters)
A recent report shows Black women have made record gains in state legislatures this year, especially in Maryland.
It shows the state has the highest percentage of Black women lawmakers in the nation, accounting for 18.6% of the 188-member General Assembly. Maryland is one of 14 states where the legislature’s share of Black women is higher than its representation of the state’s population at 17.9%.
“That is pretty rare,” said Chelsea Hill, an author of the report released Thursday, “Black Women in American Politics 2025.” “What’s really important to the Democratic, and also the Republican side, is that there is support for these Black women candidates. To help fundraise. To create infrastructure. To make a concerted effort to make these jobs for officeholders something that Black women would want to do.”
The report was compiled by Rutgers University’s Center for American Women and Politics and the Higher Heights Leadership Fund, a nonprofit aimed at boosting Black women in leadership roles. Besides state legislatures, the university has followed progress of Black women in other statewide offices and Congress since 2014. The biggest improvement has come in state legislatures, which has grown form about 240 Black women more than a decade ago to a record high 401 this year.
Hill, the director of data at the Rutgers center, said Black wome “are running in these races and winning them.” She said it’s about “getting these candidates through the pipeline and having support for them. When Black women run, they win.”
The report highlights six Black women who current lead their state House chambers including Maryland Speaker Adrienne Jones (D-Baltimore County).
However, there remain challenges. Five states – Hawaii, Idaho, Montana, North Dakota and South Dakota – currently have no Black women in their legislatures. President Donald Trump (R) continues to push to eliminate diversity, equity and inclusion policies (DEI) from federal agencies, and states like Florida and Iowa have moved to ban those initiatives at state colleges and universities.
The report was released one day after former Vice President Kamala Harris (D) said she would not seek the governorship of California.
“She believes that her current most powerful use of her voice, her time, talent and treasures, is as someone not running for office and somebody not governing,” Glynda Carr, the president and CEO of Higher Heights, said during a briefing reported by the New Jersey Monitor, a part of States Newsroom.
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U.S. Sens. Angela Alsobrooks (D-Md.) and Lisa Blunt Rochester (D-Del.) credit Harris’ presidential candidacy last year “as a testament” for other Black women to seek political office. Alsobrooks and Blunt Rochester made history last year as the first two Black women ever elected to serve in the Senate at the same time.
“That milestone is not a coincidence; it’s a culmination,” the senators wrote in the foreword to the report. “But this is not just a story of celebration. As this report makes clear, Black women remain underrepresented at every level of government, especially in the highest offices. In our nation’s 249-year history, a Black woman has never served as governor of a state or as president of the United States. That reality is a stark reminder that our work is not done.”
Iannucci to O’Malley Miles
That’s not a double-play combination, but the latest chapter in the long political-adjacent career of David Iannucci.
Iannucci, recently retired as president and CEO of the Prince George’s Economic Development Corp., has joined the law firm of O’Malley, Miles, Nylen & Gilmore, the firm announced Tuesday.
“We are so thrilled to have David Iannucci on our team,” said William Shipp, managing director of the firm, which has offices in Greenbelt and Annapolis. “His experience in economic development in Maryland is unparalleled.”
Iannucci welcomed the “great opportunity to join such a prestigious firm.”
“I can’t wait to use my experience advising and advocating for clients seeking to navigate the government real estate development labyrinth,” he said in a press release from the firm.
Iannucci’s experience goes back 50 years, starting as a legislative assistant to Del. Joseph Vallario (D-Prince George’s) in 1975 while he was still in law school. He earned a bachelor’s degree from the University of Maryland, College Park, in 1974 and his law degree from the University of Maryland School of Law in 1979.
Since then, he has served as Gov. William Donald Schaefer’s chief legislative officer, as secretary of the Maryland Department of Business and Economic Development and as executive director of the Baltimore County Department of Economic Development. He was deputy chief of staff to Gov. Parris Glendening and assistant deputy chief administrative officer under former Prince George’s County Executive Rushern Baker. He started as head of the Prince George’s Economic Development Corp. in 2018, serving until his retirement this year, and was admitted to the Maryland Economic Development Association Hall of Fame.
Kane leaves hospital regulating commission
Former chair of the Health Services Cost Review Commission Adam Kane has termed out of his tenure with the powerful hospital regulating board amid the state’s transition into a new hospital payment model.
Kane was first appointed to the HSCRC in 2017 as a commissioner. He was appointed commission chair in 2020 right as the COVID-19 pandemic took off, and is largely credited for helping to lead the state through the public health crisis.
He was removed from his chairmanship in 2023 when Gov. Wes Moore (D) appointed former state health Secretary Dr. Joshua Sharfstein to take the position, but Kane still served as a commissioner until his term ended in June.
Former Health Services Cost Review Commissioner Adam Kane on Oct. 11, 2023. (Photo by Danielle J. Brown/Maryland Matters).
At the June meeting, Sharfstein presented Kane with a plaque that recognized him for his “steadfast leadership of the Commission throughout the COVID-19 pandemic and consistent dedication to the health and welfare of the people of Maryland.”
The HSCRC sets hospital rates in the state. It oversees the state’s Total Cost of Care model which aims to incentivize higher quality of care at lower costs for Marylanders by setting a fixed amount of revenue that a hospital can earn each year.
Kane attended his last meeting with the HSCRC virtually.
“It’s been almost eight years,” he said at the time. He thanked all of the governors who allowed him to serve on the commission – Gov. Martin O’Malley (D), Gov. Larry Hogan (R) and Moore.
“I really walk away thinking that it’s been quite an experience to get to know all of these folks who are really trying to do the right thing for our health care system and the citizens of Maryland,” Kane said. “I am hopeful that you guys will be able to steer it to a more successful future.”
Kane’s departure means that he will not be around as the commissioners work with the Trump administration to transition into a new hospital payment model known as AHEAD, or the Advancing All-Payer Health Equity Approaches and Development model, which takes a cue from Maryland’s current rate setting system but could see significant changes as negotiations continue.
During this past legislative session, Moore appointed Kane to the Maryland Stadium Authority, where he has served since April.
The commission has a new member in Kane’s place — Jonathan Blum, who previously served as an administrator for the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services under the Biden administration.
