By Sean Yoes, Baltimore AFRO Editor, syoes@afro.com
Large swaths of the 40th Legislative District of Baltimore City are plagued by poverty and violence (both epicenters of the 2015 uprising, Mondawmin and Penn North are in the 40th). However, it is also the home of venerable Druid Hill Park, four institutions of higher education (Coppin State University, Baltimore City Community College, the University of Maryland School of Law and the University of Maryland at Baltimore), some of the most aesthetically beautiful neighborhoods in the city, as well as some of the most historically significant Black communities. Here is the most complete list available of Black candidates vying for the three seats to represent the 40th in the Maryland House of Delegates. All the candidates are Democrats.
Clockwise from top left: Frank Conaway Jr.; Nick Mosby; Westley West; Melissa Wells; Latia Hopkins; Timothy Mercer; Anees Abdul-Rahim; Terrell Boston Smith. (Courtesy Photo)
Anees Abdul-Rahim
Abdul-Rahim’s Facebook page lists him as founder and director of the Al Tawhid Counseling Network. He attended the HBCU, Lincoln University in Pa., and graduated from Essex Community College in Maryland.
Terrell Boston-Smith
Boston-Smith began working as youth community organizer when he was a student at Baltimore City College High School. He pursued higher education as an undergrad at Franklin Pierce University in New Hampshire and graduate student at Baruch College, City University of New York. He served as campaign manager for Del. Cory McCray’s successful run for the 45th House of Delegates seat and was political director for Brian Frosh’s successful campaign for Maryland Attorney General. He is a member of the Boston political family of Baltimore.
Frank M. Conaway, Jr.
Conaway was elected to the Maryland House of Delegates representing the 40th in 2006. He is a member of the House Judiciary Committee and in 2014, he was the first Maryland legislator to sponsor a bill to require body-worn cameras for police officers. Conaway holds a B.A. degree in business administration from Sojourner-Douglass College. He produced dozens of controversial YouTube videos on subjects ranging from the Book of Revelations, to Rubik’s Cube, and peddled several of his books, allegedly using the mailroom of Baltimore’s Municipal Post Office. He resigned from that job in 2014 and the videos were taken down. He is a member of the Conaway political family.
Latia Hopkins
Hopkins is a political organizer, who has worked on several Democratic campaigns around the state. She is a graduate of Frostburg State University in Western Maryland, where she earned Bachelor’s degrees in Political Science, and Law and Society, as well as a Masters degree in Education. She is the Mid-Atlantic regional director for Young Democrats of America.
Sarah Matthews
Matthews, a native of the South side of Chicago, has established herself as a neighborhood activist in Bolton Hill. She is a former member of the Baltimore City Democratic Central Committee. She has run unsuccessfully for several Baltimore elected offices over the years.
Timothy Mercer
Mercer, a contractor has run unsuccessfully for multiple Baltimore elected offices.
Nick Mosby
Mosby served on the Baltimore City Council from 2010 to 2016. He was appointed by Mayor Catherine Pugh to his current 40th District Delegate seat once occupied by Barbara Robinson (who moved on to the Maryland Senate), when Pugh’s previous appointee Gary Brown Jr., was indicted on campaign finance violations. Mosby ran unsuccessfully to be Baltimore mayor in 2016. He is a graduate of Baltimore Polytechnic Institute and Tuskegee Institute, where he obtained a Bachelor of Science degree in Electrical Engineering. He is married to Baltimore City State’s Attorney Marilyn Mosby.
Melissa Wells
Wells, a longtime community advocate in the 40th, is a labor leader, who is a member of the Baltimore Washington Building Trades Unions. She is a financial security specialist.
Westley West
West, is Pastor of Faith Empowered Ministries, at 1900 Walbrook Ave., in West Baltimore. He gained some notoriety as an activist during the uprising of 2015.
He ran unsuccessfully for Baltimore City Council in 2016.
