In an op ed article in Monday’s Baltimore Sun, former House of Delegates member Heather Mizeur endorsed Chris Van Hollen over Daily Kos favorite Donna Edwards for U.S. Senate.
In 2014, Delegate Mizeur excited Maryland progressives with her run for governor against two heavily favored establishment Democrats — Lt. Governor Anthony Brown and Attorney General Doug Gansler. As Mizeur had never before run for statewide office and was little known outside her state legislative district, she was written off at the outset as an also ran in what promised to be a two man race. Yet she soon excited progressive Marylanders with her staunchly progressive advocacy in the televised debates. Here’s what I wrote about Heather Mizeur prior to the 2014 primary:
Finally, a word about Heather Mizeur, who has submitted diaries to Maryland Kos, is an outstanding progressive, and, if elected, would be Maryland's first woman governor as well as Maryland's first openly gay governor. Mizeur not only denounced the estate tax giveaway to the 1 percenters, but she supports raising the state's minimum wage to $16.70 per hour and legalizing and taxing marijuana, using the tax revenue to support universal kindergarten. (Come on now - is "pot for tots" any worse than "slots for tots"?)
The voting results: Brown 51%, Gansler 24%, Mizeur 22%. Brown was considered a shoo in to win the general election and become Maryland’s first African American governor, but, other than the angry white men in the exurbs and rural parts of the state, few bothered to vote and we now have a Republican governor.
So I was surprised yesterday, while reading the Baltimore Sun, to see that Mizeur is endorsing Chris Van Hollen for Senate. In her article, she raised only one issue: constituent service, a task which she says is the most important job of any legislator; a task she says at which Van Hollen excels and Edwards stinks:
In Ms. Edwards’ office, a familiar pattern emerged over the years for many of my constituents living in that district: No matter how often you called or emailed or pleaded in person to get attention to your problem, it would often be ignored. . . . For a legislator to have a consistent record of not responding to the needs of constituents is akin to malpractice in our field.
Heather Mizeur is echoing what has been one of Van Hollen’s consistent attacks on Donna Edwards:
Van Hollen went after Edwards for what he has described as lackluster constituent services in the 4th Congressional District, pointing to a union of NASA workers at the Greenbelt-based Goddard Space Flight Center who recently said they didn't receive help from Edwards dealing with a complaint of racial bias.
“In many cases, she has not been there for her constituents when they're in need,” said Van Hollen, who represents the neighboring 8th Congressional District. “The question is, when you hear of a problem, what kind of action do you take?”
Edwards said her office did try to work with the group, and she dismissed the overall line of argument, noting she had been reelected four times.
Anyway, thanks to this website’s consistent promotion of Donna Edwards, I was leaning towards voting for her come April 26th. Now, I’m not so sure. Endorsements often don’t mean much, but, for me, this one really surprised me, and Ms. Mizeur’s endorsement may well be decisive in how I vote.