Delegate Jolene Ivey (Photo: MD House of Delegates)

As many of you are aware I am a resident of the 47th legislative district. This is the district I moved to from California and where I have lived since then. It is where I focus most of my community and political work at and where I hope to call home for a long time. My point is this is a district that I care about a lot as do many of us who live here. This election year the voters in my community will have a very real opportunity to change the face of our delegation and send a stronger and more united team to Annapolis. It is no secrete that the current bunch of incumbents have their challenges when it comes to working together but to be fair much of that likely centers around the fact at least two of the delegates believe they should be the senator. Agree or disagree when both Jolene Ivey and Victor Ramirez announced their desire to be named to replace the late-Senator Britt after her untimely death, they in my mind deserved considerable consideration, but in the end I like many in our district agreed with or supported the eventual decision by the Democratic Central Committee.

We are now a little more than 80 days from the September 14th Democratic Primary and regardless of the small and petty politics that undoubtedly are at play in Annapolis voters will have to pick leaders for the next four years. When it comes to my three votes for the House of Delegate I have already announced my intention to back Wanda Shelton-Martin for one of those seats, today I have decided to back the campaign of incumbent Delegate Jolene Ivey.

Ivey and I are not likely to ever be best of friends. In fact I think that her personality leaves much to be desired. However the State of Maryland faces challenging and difficult days ahead and when it comes down to it the 47th District will need a tough fighter in Annapolis to ensure we get our fair share of resources. Jolene is that fighter and along with Wanda Shelton-Martin our district should be fine. As a mother, wife, and all around independent woman Jolene should be able to hit the ground running next January. I am confident in both her ability and determination. A product of a large family of 9 I know what it takes for a mother like Jolene to balance both work and family life. She is uniquely positioned to speak for those families in the Maryland legislature that are stretched to the max and just need a little help from their government. More than ever the House of Delegates needs leaders in Annapolis who will fight for families and there has been no stronger defender of the working family than Jolene in the last session of the legislator and she deserves to be reelected. As I have said before, personality aside, sometimes you just need someone who is ready to bruis some egos to get things done.

Learn more about Jolene Ivey at www.joleneivey.com.

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