Kweisi Mfume (Incumbent)
Jurisdiction Baltimore City
[Rep. Kweisi Mfume] left Congress after five terms in 1996 to become president of the NAACP, never imagining he would return nearly a quarter-century later following the death of his close friend, congressman Elijah E. Cummings. Mfume won a special election early last year to replace Cummings before securing a two-year term in November.
As is customary for returning members, House leaders credited Mfume for his previous tenure. That meant that, instead of being near the back of the line, he got to bypass about two-thirds of his colleagues on the “terms of service” list, according to congressional records.
More important, Mfume was given deference on his choice of committees, and he became a subcommittee chairman earlier this year — a rarity for new members. He is vice-chair of the Small Business Committee; the subcommittee he oversees is designed to help small businesses with federal contracts.
He has particularly sought to assist minority-led businesses, not only in navigating the coronavirus crisis but also in helping them access capital and contracts during non-pandemic times.
Mfume, who lives in Catonsville and has a condominium in Baltimore, was aided in the election by being widely known in the 7th Congressional District, which includes parts of Baltimore City, Baltimore County, and Howard County.
Mfume has spent much of the last several weeks tormenting the White House over the pending crime bill. As a congressional conference committee waited through June and into July, Mfume haggled with the White House over the Racial Justice Act, which would give convicted killers the right to appeal their death sentences based on statistical evidence of racial imbalance.
His early life as a street hoodlum named Frizzell Gray demonstrates his relationship with gangs. Due to his political interests, he changed his life, adopted a new name, and eventually got a job on a radio station. He earned a master’s degree in liberal arts from Johns Hopkins.
In his early 70s, the progressive Democrat is in his fourth Congressional election in less than a year.
After the death of Cummings, Mfume won the special election to fill the 7th District U.S. House seat of his friend and congressman. It’s a seat that Mfume held for the decade prior before leaving to lead the national NAACP, and a seat from which he said he has cast 108 votes in the past five months. He said the first vote was for a second coronavirus relief package.
“I have problems with bullies, and Donald Trump and I are in the same generation, so I have no problem calling him out whatsoever, as I’m sure he would call me out. But I don’t like bullies,” Mfume said. “Particularly now in our pandemic, and the first topic, obviously, is health, and it’s followed by safety and then it’s followed by actions by the government to make life better.”
Mfume’s life, which now includes nine grandchildren, is part of his message to voters. Born and raised in Baltimore, by the age of 16, he dropped out of high school, got drawn in by the streets, and watched his mother die of cancer in his arms.
Mfume said he is not a fan of packing the court, as some Democrats are suggesting. He calls it a “slippery slope” and said “nine is fine” until he’s shown otherwise.