Del. Jackson wins unanimous nod to fill Baltimore County Senate vacancy
Del. Carl Jackson (D-Baltimore County) is headed to the state Senate following a vote Tuesday of the county's Democratic Central Committee. (Courtesy photo.)
Baltimore County Democrats are recommending that Del. Carl Jackson (D) fill the 8th District Senate seat vacated earlier this month when former Sen. Kathy Klausmeier (D) was appointed Baltimore County executive.
District 8 members of the county's Democratic Central Committee voted unanimously Tuesday night to for Jackson over his 8th District colleague, Del. Harry Bhandari (D). Jackson's name now goes to Gov. Wes Moore (D), who has final say on the appointment.
Assuming Moore approves the nomination, Jackson would become the third delegate appointed to the 47-member Senate since the beginning of the year, joining fellow junior Sens. Shaneka Henson (D-Anne Arundel) and Dalya Attar (D-Baltimore City).
The vote came after an hour of interviews in which Bhandari first and then Jackson were asked the same 12 questions in their achievements in the House and their goals in the Senate, should they get the job.
In his presentation to the central committee members, Bhandari, a native of Nepal, stressed his immigrant background and his success in this country from humble beginnings as a personification of the American dream. He talked about knocking on doors and doing other campaign work in support of fellow Democrats, and said the in the Senate he would be focused on affordable housing and public safety.
Jackson cited endorsements by former Baltimore County Executive Johnny Olszewski Jr. — whose election to Congress last fall cleared the way for Klausmeier — and fellow District 8 Del. Nick Allen (D), as well as the backing of a number of state and local labor unions. He touted his constituent work in the House and said that he planned remain focused in the Senate on delivering for the district.
The six District 8 central committee members met privately for about 40 minutes before returning and voting unanimously for Jackson.
Jackson, who has held several administrative jobs at University System of Maryland campuses, narrowly lost a race for a District 8 House seat in 2018, then was appointed to fill a vacancy after then-Del. Eric Bromwell (D) took a job with the Baltimore County government. He has served on the House Economic Matters Committee ever since, and won a full term in 2022.
Bhandari, the first Nepali American elected to a state legislature in the U.S., first won his seat in 2018 and was reelected in 2022. A former educator, he has served on the House Health and Government Operations Committee.
Last year, Bhandari ran in the Democratic primary for the 2nd District seat in Congress, but lost handily to Olszewski.
Klausmeier had represented District 8 in the Senate since 2003, and previously spent eight years in the House.
With this pending appointment, the number of appointed state lawmakers continues to rise. Jackson would be the seventh senator to be seated by appointment since the 2022 election (though one has already resigned). Whenever the District 8 seat is filled, there will be no more vacancies in the Senate.
In the House, a dozen appointees have already been put into delegate seats since the 2022 election, with two vacant seats waiting to be filled. Assuming Jackson moves up, that will make for a third House vacancy.
The Anne Arundel County Democratic Central Committee is moving closer to filling Henson's seat in the House. Five candidates have applied for the vacancy: Dylan Behler, a former central committee chair who works for the Maryland Department of Natural Resources and was chief of staff to then-state Sen. Sarah K. Elfreth (D), who was recently elected to Congress; Abigail Diehl, an Annapolis businesswoman who unsuccessfully sought the Democratic congressional nomination in District 3 last year; Lindsay Donahue, a health care IT professional who also sought the congressional seat last year; Chrissy Holt, a progressive activist who has run unsuccessfully for state Senate; and Annapolis Alderman Brooks Schandelmeier.
The central committee is set to interview the candidates and vote to nominate a replacement for Henson on Saturday at 11 a.m. at Annapolis Middle School.
Meanwhile, the Baltimore City Democratic Central Committee is moving forward with its process to replace Attar in the House. Applications for the appointment are being accepted through Feb. 17; the central committee members from District 41 will interview the candidates and recommend a successor on the evening of Feb. 20.
The same process will take place in Baltimore County to fill Jackson's seat if Moore accepts his nomination, as expected.
Meanwhile, the House Ways and Means Committee on Tuesday heard legislation that would set a vote on a proposed constitutional amendment to create special elections to fill vacancies in the House and Senate, depending on the timing of when they occur.
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