Buttons 22

Boyd K. Rutherford is the third African-American in a row to serve as the Lieutenant Governor of Maryland (see Michael Steele and Anthony Brown). Sworn into office on January 21, 2015 along with Governor Larry Hogan, Rutherford is also only the ninth person to hold the office of Lieutenant Governor of Maryland. A Republican he had previously served in the administration of President George W. Bush as an Associate Administrator in the U.S. General Services Administration from 2001-2003. He then served as Secretary of General Services from 2003-2006 in the administration of Maryland Governor Robert Ehrlich. Rutherford was then appointed by President Bush as Assistant Secretary for Administration in the U.S. Department of Agriculture, serving from 2006 to 2009. An attorney by trade, Rutherford was born in Washington D.C. and received his undergraduate degree from Howard University.

Anthony Brown was elected Lieutenant Governor under Martin O'Malley in 2006 and re-elected in 2010. He announced his candidacy for the Democratic nomination for Governor on May 10, 2013. He had previously served in the Maryland House of Delegates from 1999. His running-mate for Lieutenant Governor was Howard County Executive Ken Ulman. Brown won the Democratic primary in June 2014, but lost to the Republican candidate, Larry Hogan, in the November 4, 2014 General Election. There is additional information on Brown elsewhere on this website.

Ross Z. Pierpont (1917-2005) was a member of the Democratic Party until 1970 when he became a Republican. Pierpont ran for office in the State of Maryland numerous times. This included candidacies for Mayor of Baltimore, the U.S. House of Representatives, the U.S. Senate and primary candidacies for the office of Governor of Maryland in 1966 (as a Democrat), 1978, 1982, 1990 and 2002. This button is from his 1966 Gubernatorial primary campaign. Archie D. Williams of Baltimore was on the Pierpont ticket in 1966 as the candidate for Comptroller of Maryland. Williams was the first African-American to run for state-wide office in Maryland. Pierpont was defeated in the Democratic primary by George P. Mahoney who went on to lose to the Republican, Spiro Agnew.

Elijah E. Cummings, a Democrat, was elected to the U.S. House of Representatives in 1996 and continues to serve in that capacity as of this writing (June 2014.) Cummings represents Maryland's 7th Congressional District which encompasses a large portion of both Baltimore City and Howard County. Prior to that time he served in the Maryland House of Delegates holding office from 1983 to 1996. Cummings was the first African-American in Maryland history to hold the position of Speaker Pro Tempore, the second highest office in the Maryland House of Delegates.

Howard Peters (Pete) Rawlings (1937-2003), a Democrat, served in the Maryland House of Delegates from 1979 until his death in 2003. He represented the City of Baltimore's 40th Legislative District. In 1992 Rawlings was appointed Chairman of the Appropriations Committee in the Maryland House of Delegates. He was the first African-American to become chair of this powerful state committee.

Howard "Pete" Rawling's daughter, Stephanie Rawlings-Blake, was elected to the Baltimore City Council in 1995 and served as council president from 2007-2010. Upon the resignation of Sheila Dixon in 2010, Rawlings-Blake ascended to the position of Mayor of the City of Baltimore. She was elected in her own right to that position in 2011. The Stephanie Rawlings-Blake key chain shown here was given out at the Maryland Association of Counties (MACo) conference in August 2014. Rawlings-Blake decided not to seek re-election in 2016.

Benjamin "Ben" Carson, Sr. is a retired neurosurgeon and former director of pediatric neurosurgery at Johns Hopkins Hospital in Maryland. He is known for his pioneering work on the successful separation of conjoined twins joined at the head. On February 7, 2013 Dr. Carson spoke at the National Prayer Breakfast where he presented his views on various social and fiscal issues, as well as to how they relate to the federal government. These were felt to be conservative in nature and although he had given no indication of seeking political office, Dr. Carson was mentioned as a possible candidate for the 2016 presidential election. At this writing he is the author of four bestselling books, and in July 2013 had begun writing an opinion column for the Washington Times. The "Run Ben Run" and "Ben" buttons were distributed at the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) held in National Harbor, Maryland, March 6-8, 2014, as well as the following year's CPAC held on February 26-28, 2015. The CPAC is sponsored each year by the American Conservative Union. The buttons were issued by the National Draft Ben Carson for President Committee, a SuperPAC and self-described "patriot organization" which has as its goal the candidacy of Dr. Ben Carson for President in the 2016 election. In the words of the committee, "He will win! - He will heal! - He will lead!" Ben Carson officially announced his candidacy for the 2016 Republican presidential nomination on May 4, 2015. He discontinued his newspaper column at that time.

Charles Lollar, an African-American and Republican, is a businessman and former Marine Corps officer. He was the 2010 Republican nominee for Maryland’s Fifth Congressional District. He lost to the Democratic incumbent, Steny Hoyer, in the general election. Lollar is a Tea Party Republican and served as Chair of the Charles County Republican Central Committee. In September 2013 he announced his candidacy for the Republican nomination for Governor of Maryland in 2014. Lollar’s campaign slogan, “A New Way Forward,” characterizes his belief that cutting excessive taxes and regulations is the way to creating job growth and economic opportunity. He is one of several Republicans vying for the Republican nomination in the June 2014 primary.

Marion Barry (1936-2014) was the second person to be elected Mayor of Washington, D.C. He served twice in this position, first from 1979 to 1991, and again from 1995 through 1999. It was in 1990 that he was arrested on a drug charge that prevented him from seeking reelection that year, and which also resulted in a six-month prison term. Barry was then elected to the city council in 1992, and in 1994 won election as mayor. In 2004, Marion Berry again sought and won election to the city council and continued to serve on the council until the time of his death. This button was from one the memorial services held in D.C. upon his death.

Thomas "Tom" Bradley (1917-1998), a Democrat, was the grandson of slaves. He joined the Los Angeles Police Department in 1940, and retired from the LAPD in 1962 to begin a law practice. In 1963 he was elected to the Los Angeles City Council and in 1973 became the nation's first African-American Mayor of a major city without a black majority population. He was re-elected to a total of five terms, serving as Mayor of Los Angeles for twenty years until his retirement in 1993. Bradley ran for Governor of California in both 1982 and 1986, but was defeated both times by the Republican candidate. The narrowness of his 1982 defeat and the racial relationship led to what is known as the "Bradley Effect." Bradley had been ahead in the polls, largely based upon white voters who felt they needed to respond in a socially positive manner to questions, but in reality preferred the other candidate. The polls were therefore inaccurate.