For Immediate Release

January 9, 2020

EMILY’s List Endorses Maya Rockeymoore Cummings in Maryland’s 7th Congressional District

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, EMILY’s List, the nation’s largest resource for women in politics, endorsed Maya Rockeymoore Cummings for Congress in Maryland’s 7th Congressional District. Stephanie Schriock, president of EMILY’s List, released the following statement:

“EMILY’s List is proud to support Maya Rockeymoore Cummings, a longtime fighter for Maryland families, as she runs for Congress. Maya has dedicated her career to pushing for a more equal and inclusive future that expands opportunities for all. She has worked to address disparities in health care, especially for communities of color and Black women, advocated for our children’s health and well-being across the country, and led the fight to push back against Republican efforts to privatize Social Security. Maya is a lifelong champion for social justice, human rights, and strengthening the well-being of kids, seniors, families, and workers.”

“Maya is running in the special election for the open seat most recently held by her husband, the late Congressman Elijah E. Cummings. The fast-approaching, crowded Democratic primary is on February 4th. EMILY’s List looks forward to helping elect this champion for Maryland working families to the House.”

Maya Rockeymoore Cummings’ parents grew up in the Jim Crow South, and taught Maya and her siblings to work hard, give back, and never take the rights and opportunities they enjoyed for granted. A proud HBCU graduate, she went on to earn her M.A. and Ph.D. in political science and dedicated her career to improving working families’ lives. Maya became a legislative aide in 1998 and went on to serve as senior resident scholar for health and income security at the National Urban League and served as vice president of research and programs at the Congressional Black Caucus Foundation. In 2005, Maya joined the board of the National Committee to Preserve Social Security and Medicare and was elected Board Chair in 2012, the first African American woman to hold that position. Maya and her dog Andy reside in Baltimore’s Madison Park neighborhood in the home the late Congressman Elijah E. Cummings lived in for more than thirty years.

EMILY’s List, the nation’s largest resource for women in politics, has raised over $600 million to elect pro-choice Democratic women candidates. With a grassroots community of over five million members, EMILY's List helps Democratic women win competitive campaigns – across the country and up and down the ballot – by recruiting and training candidates, supporting strong campaigns, researching the issues that impact women and families, and turning out women voters to the polls. Since our founding in 1985, we have helped elect 150 women to the House, 26 to the Senate, 16 governors, and nearly 1,100 women to state and local office. Nearly 40 percent of the candidates EMILY’s List has helped elect to Congress have been women of color. During the historic 2017-2018 cycle, EMILY’s List raised a record-breaking $110 million and launched a record independent expenditure campaign. We helped elect 34 new women to the House, including 24 red-to-blue victories; enough seats to have delivered the U.S. House majority alone. Since the 2016 election, more than 50,000 women have reached out to EMILY's List about running for office laying the groundwork for the next decade of candidates for local, state and national offices.