Former Maryland delegate Rushern Baker will become Prince George’s county executive after defeating Sheriff Michael Jackson in the Democratic primary on Tuesday.
With about one-third of the votes counted, Baker was leading Jackson 45 percent to 31 percent. No Republican candidates ran for the office.
Baker succeeds County Executive Jack Johnson, who is leaving office after eight years, the limit for the job. Johnson had endorsed Jackson as his replacement.
Hundreds of Baker voters packed into a venue at Six Flags in Upper Marlboro for a four-hour victory party.
Union leader Bob Stewart said Baker’s win was a big day for organized labor.
“Now we got a lotta labor in the house flipping out!” he shouted to a crowd that howled and cheered back at him.”We now have a candidate we can believe in, a candidate that stands for more than cronyisms, and a candidate that reflects the character and the aspirations of the good people of Prince George’s County.”
Stewart is the executive director of the United Food and Commercial Workers Local 1994 union.
Baker voter Wendy Johnson said she hopes he helps non-profits survive through the down economy. Johnson, who leads a local nonprofit that helps at-risk youth, said the county is rife with troubled kids in need of positive encouragement and role models.
Baker has promised not to layoff teachers and says he will create incentives to attract and retain better teachers — including hiring an “education czar” to report directly to the executive.
D.C. resident Lesa Hoover said she supports Baker on behalf of the D.C.-based Apartment and Office Building Association, an organization that lobbies on behalf of major developers. Hoover said the AOBA — which contributed tens of thousands of dollars to Baker’s campaign — is supportive of Baker’s plans to provide tax credits and financing incentives to pump up development. Baker also promises to ramp up project labor agreements to help revitalize boarded-up businesses and foreclosed homes.
Baker says he wants to push legislation that would designate “troubled” neighborhoods as “duty-free zones,” where consumers and businesses are exempt from sales and local taxes.
The victory capped a long climb for Baker. He won a seat in the Maryland House of delegates in 1994 over two Democratic challengers. In 1998, the incumbent again won the nomination, this time against a single Democratic challenger; and he trounced a Republican candidate in the general election with 83 percent of the vote. He was elected that year to chair the county’s state delegation.
Baker then left office in 2002 for a shot at Prince George’s county executive. He finished fourth of five Democratic candidates with just 12.5 percent of votes. Jack Johnson won the seat with 37 percent of votes.
Baker tried again in 2006, and this time garnered 47 percent of the vote against the incumbent — but it wasn’t enough to win.
Aside from his political career, Baker served as a lawyer for the community development firm, Peoples Involvement Corporation, as well as president of the educational nonprofit, Community Teachers Institute.
Baker, 51, was born in Valdosta, Ga. and received an undergraduate and graduate degree from Howard University. Following graduation, he enrolled in the Army reserves and worked as a Senior Congressional Black Caucus fellow under U.S. Sen. John Kerry.
