Democratic Rep. Anthony Brown announces run for Maryland attorney general
By Ethan Cohen, Clare Foran and Melanie Zanona, CNN
Democratic Rep. Anthony Brown announced Monday that he will run for Maryland attorney general in 2022 instead of seeking another term in the House of Representatives.
The news makes Brown the latest House Democrat to announce that they are either retiring or running for another office. Democrats will be fighting a tough battle to retain control of the chamber as they defend a narrow majority in the midterms and Republicans grow increasingly confident they will take back the House.
In another high-profile announcement, Democratic Rep. John Yarmuth of Kentucky, the powerful chair of the House Budget Committee, recently said that he will not be seeking reelection.
Twenty-three House members — 14 Democrats and nine Republicans — have now announced they’ll be retiring at the end of the term. Nine of them — five Republicans and four Democrats — are running for Senate or governor.
The departures could make the fight even harder for Democrats as the party will now have to field new candidates to replace outgoing lawmakers.
Maryland’s 4th Congressional District, which Brown represents, is based in the eastern Washington, DC suburbs. While the boundaries will likely change in redistricting, it is expected to remain safely Democratic next year.
Before winning his first term in 2016, Brown was a state legislator and then Maryland’s lieutenant governor from 2007-2015. In 2014 he was the Democratic nominee for governor, but lost in an upset to Republican Larry Hogan.
Brown, a veteran of the Army and Army Reserve, sits on the Armed Services, Transportation and Infrastructure, and Veterans’ Affairs committees.
“With nearly 3 decades as an attorney, and experiences ranging from a young lieutenant in the United States Army to a three-term member of the United States Congress, I know that as Attorney General you can either be a champion for progress or a defender of the status quo,” Brown said in a statement released on Monday. “Marylanders deserve a champion for progress. As Attorney General, I will be that champion and will never back down from a challenge.”
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CNN’s Annie Grayer contributed to this report.
