Maya Michelle Rockeymoore Cummings (born January 31, 1971) is an American consultant, politician, and former chair of the

Maryland Democratic Party The Maryland Democratic Party is the affiliate of the Democratic Party (United States), Democratic Party in the state of Maryland, headquartered in Annapolis, Maryland, Annapolis. The current state party chair is Yvette Lewis. It is currently the ...

in the United States. Before her election as party chair, she briefly ran for

Governor of Maryland The Governor of the State of Maryland is the head of government of Maryland, and is the commander-in-chief of the state's National Guard units. The Governor is the highest-ranking official in the state and has a broad range of appointive powers ...

. She owns a

Washington, D.C. ) , image_skyline = , image_caption = Clockwise from top left: the Washington Monument and Lincoln Memorial on the National Mall, United States Capitol, Logan Circle, Jefferson Memorial, White House, Adams Morgan, ...

-based consulting firm. Rockeymore Cummings was a candidate in the 2020 Maryland 7th congressional district special election to fill out the term of her late husband,

Elijah Cummings Elijah Eugene Cummings (January 18, 1951October 17, 2019) was an American politician and civil rights advocate who served in the United States House of Representatives for from 1996 until his death in 2019, when he was succeeded by his predecess ...

, and was also a candidate in the overlapping regular 2020 election for the same congressional seat.

Early life and career

Rockeymore Cummings graduated from John Jay High School in

San Antonio, Texas ("Cradle of Freedom") , image_map = , mapsize = 220px , map_caption = Interactive map of San Antonio , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = United States , subdivision_type1= State , subdivision_name1 = Texas , subdivision_t ...

. She earned her

bachelor's degree A bachelor's degree (from Middle Latin ''baccalaureus'') or baccalaureate (from Modern Latin ''baccalaureatus'') is an undergraduate academic degree awarded by colleges and universities upon completion of a course of study lasting three to six ...

from

Prairie View A&M University Prairie View A&M University (PVAMU or PV) is a public historically black land-grant university in Prairie View, Texas. Founded in 1876, it is one of Texas's two land-grant universities and the second oldest public institution of higher learnin ...

, and then attended

Purdue University Purdue University is a public land-grant research university in West Lafayette, Indiana, and the flagship campus of the Purdue University system. The university was founded in 1869 after Lafayette businessman John Purdue donated land and money ...

, where she studied political science. She earned a

master's degree A master's degree (from Latin ) is an academic degree awarded by universities or colleges upon completion of a course of study demonstrating mastery or a high-order overview of a specific field of study or area of professional practice.

in 1996 and a

Doctor of Philosophy A Doctor of Philosophy (PhD, Ph.D., or DPhil; Latin: or ') is the most common Academic degree, degree at the highest academic level awarded following a course of study. PhDs are awarded for programs across the whole breadth of academic fields ...

in political science, with an emphasis in public policy, in 2000.

Career

From 1995 to 1997, Rockeymoore Cummings was the Administrative Assistant to the Director at the

Marion County, Indiana Marion County is located in the U.S. state of Indiana. The 2020 United States census, 2020 United States census reported a population of 977,203, making it the largest county in the state and 51st List of the most populous counties in the United ...

Department of Health. In September 1997, she then moved to Washington, D.C., and became a legislative fellow for the

Congressional Black Caucus The Congressional Black Caucus (CBC) is a caucus made up of most African-American members of the United States Congress. Representative Karen Bass from California chaired the caucus from 2019 to 2021; she was succeeded by Representative Joyce ...

under former Rep.

Melvin Watt Melvin Luther Watt (born August 26, 1945) is an American politician who served as director of the Federal Housing Finance Agency from 2014 to 2019. He was appointed by President Barack Obama. He is a former United States House of Representatives, ...

. In 1998, she moved to the

United States House Ways and Means Subcommittee on Social Security The Subcommittee on Social Security is a subcommittee of the Committee on Ways and Means in the United States House of Representatives The United States House of Representatives, often referred to as the House of Representatives, the U.S. H ...

as a professional staffer, until January 1999, at which time she began working as the Chief of Staff for former Congressman

Charles Rangel Charles Bernard Rangel (, ; born June 11, 1930) is an American politician who was a U.S. representative for districts in New York from 1971 to 2017. A member of the Democratic Party, he was the second-longest serving incumbent member of the Ho ...

. In 2017, Rockeymoore Cummings announced she would run for

governor of Maryland The Governor of the State of Maryland is the head of government of Maryland, and is the commander-in-chief of the state's National Guard units. The Governor is the highest-ranking official in the state and has a broad range of appointive powers ...

in the 2018 election. She received an endorsement from

EMILY's List EMILY's List is an American political action committee (PAC) that aims to help elect Democratic female candidates in favor of abortion rights to office. It was founded by Ellen Malcolm in 1985. The group's name is an acronym for "Early Money ...

when she ran for Governor of Maryland. In January 2018, after her husband was hospitalized she dropped out of the race. In December 2018, Rockeymoore Cummings was elected as chair of the

, succeeding

Kathleen Matthews Kathleen Ann Matthews (née Cunningham; born August 9, 1953) is the former chief communications and public affairs officer for hotel company Marriott International. Prior to joining Marriott International, she was a reporter for 25 years at WJLA ...

. Under her leadership the party was overspending and its bank balance fell from $700,000 to $360,000. On November 11, 2019, she announced on ''

The Rachel Maddow Show ''The Rachel Maddow Show'' (also abbreviated ''TRMS'') is an American liberal news and opinion television program that airs on MSNBC, running in the 9:00 pm ET timeslot Monday evenings. It is hosted by Rachel Maddow, who gained a public pr ...

'' that she would stand in the

2020 Maryland's 7th congressional district special election A special election was held on April 28, 2020, after a February 4, 2020 primary, to fill the remainder of the term in the United States House of Representatives for in the 116th U.S. Congress. Elijah Cummings, the incumbent representative, die ...

, to campaign for the seat previously held by her husband. In the February 4, 2020 Democratic primary Rockeymoore Cummings finished second to

Kweisi Mfume Kweisi Mfume ( ; born Frizzell Gerald Gray; October 24, 1948) is an American politician who is the U.S. representative for Maryland's 7th congressional district, first serving from 1987 to 1996 and again since 2020. A member of the Democratic Pa ...

who went on to win the April 28, 2020 special election. She was also a candidate for a full term of the same seat in the June 6 Democratic primary.

Personal life

Rockeymoore Cummings married

, a member of the

United States House of Representatives The United States House of Representatives, often referred to as the House of Representatives, the U.S. House, or simply the House, is the Lower house, lower chamber of the United States Congress, with the United States Senate, Senate being ...

who represented , in 2008. They remained married until his death in 2019. Rep. Cummings had three children from earlier relationships; Rockeymoore Cummings is stepmother to his two daughters and one son.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Cummings, Maya Rockeymoore 1971 births African-American people in Maryland politics African-American women in politics Living people Maryland Democratic Party chairs Maryland Democrats Prairie View A&M University alumni Purdue University alumni Women in Maryland politics 21st-century African-American people 21st-century African-American women 20th-century African-American people 20th-century African-American women