Rising conservative star Kim Klacik lost her bid to take the seat held by the late Rep. Elijah Cummings.
Democratic Rep. Kweisi Mfume defeated Klacik on Tuesday to continue representing Maryland’s 7th Congressional District, according to the Associated Press. The district takes in slightly more than half the city of Baltimore, plus most of suburban Howard County. Mfume previously beat Klacik in a special election in April to complete Cummings’s term following his death.
“I want to thank all of the people from Baltimore City, Baltimore County and Howard County for continuing to put their support in this campaign,” Mfume said, according to CBS13.
Mfume, 71, a former NAACP president, was previously a House member from January 1987 to February 1996. He resigned at the time to accept the NAACP presidency, a position he held until 2004. Mfume lost a Democratic Senate primary bid in 2006.
Klacik gained acclaim in Republican circles with a viral ad showing the candidate walking through some of the more neglected areas of Baltimore lambasting Democratic leadership in urban areas with large black populations, boosted by President Trump when he retweeted the video in August. That was followed by a significant fundraising haul.
Trump endorsed Klacik on social media. The president also attacked Cummings and derided the city of Baltimore as a “rodent-infested mess” where “no human being would want to live.”
