Maya Cummings, widow of the late Rep. Elijah Cummings, D-Md. and a Democratic politician in her own right, is soon expected to announce a bid for her husband's now-vacant House seat in Maryland's 7th District (Baltimore), Maryland political sources told Newsmax Wednesday.
"She will run and she will be formidable," said a veteran political consultant from the Free State who requested anonymity.
So far, Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan has yet to set the dates for the primary and special election to fill the seat of Cummings, who died Oct. 17 and was laid to rest last week.
Under Maryland election law, there is no runoff required to win the primary and, in the heavily Democratic inner-city district, the Democratic primary is tantamount to election.
Office-holders are not required to give up their offices to run for Congress and the primary could easily become a "free-for-all" of ambitious candidates.
In 1996, then-State Delegate Cummings overcame 25 primary opponents with 37% of the vote.
For Maya Rockeymoore Cummings, a political scientist and the Democratic state chairman, there is another precedent working to her advantage: the historical tendency of voters to award a House seat to the widow of the deceased congressman.
The last time a widow ran for her late husband's seat in Maryland was 1978, when Democratic Rep. Goodloe Byron suddenly died while seeking re-election. His widow Beverly Butcher Byron won the Democratic nomination and captured his seat with little opposition.
John Gizzi is chief political columnist and White House correspondent for Newsmax. For more of his reports, Go Here Now.
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