The widow of Rep. Elijah Cummings is considering running for her late husband’s Maryland congressional seat.
“I love Baltimore City, the counties of the 7th Congressional District, and the state of Maryland,” Maya Rockeymoore Cummings told the Washington Post in a Thursday text. “I’m deeply committed to public service and I’m honored by the widespread encouragement I’ve received to continue Elijah’s amazing legacy. As I mourn the loss of my husband, I’m thinking carefully about the future and will make an announcement very soon.”
The Democratic congressman died on Oct. 17 after entering Johns Hopkins Hospital for a heart procedure. He was 68 years old.
Rockeymoore Cummings, 48, was a favorite to take her late husband’s place in Congress, sources told The Washington Examiner after Cummings’ death. Two others have already announced their candidacies to replace Cummings, and at least eight others are considering running.
Rockeymoore Cummings has a background in politics working as chief of staff for former Rep. Charles B. Rangel of New York. She launched the nonprofit, the Center for Global Policy Solutions, and the firm Global Policy Solutions in 2005 to research how government and private operations can influence “positive social change.”
The relationship between Rockeymoore Cummings’ two organizations, the charity, and the for-profit firm, has been a source of controversy for her and her late husband. The Foundation for Accountability and Civic Trust filed a complaint against both organizations in July with the Maryland attorney general.
The two groups share an address and funding sources. The charity paid the firm over $250,000 between 2013 and 2015 in management fees. Federal law prohibits nonprofit executives from using charitable donations to their organizations for personal gain.
Rockeymoore Cummings’ charity also accepted millions of dollars from corporations and groups with business in front of the House Oversight Committee, which Cummings’ chaired before his death.
