Valerie Ervin confirmed Thursday afternoon that she was indeed would seek Maryland's top job and has named former Baltimore County School Board member Marisol Johnson as her running mate.
Ervin was the gubernatorial running mate of Baltimore County Executive Kevin Kamenetz who died suddenly last week from a heart attack. She had a few options: run herself in a crowded Democratic primary, choose someone else to lead the ticket or end the campaign. Ervin is a former member of the Montgomery County Council.
“This campaign is going to be about the future of Maryland, and about putting people before corporate profits,” said Ervin. “I believe in a Maryland where we help every kid achieve their full potential, and we all can thrive regardless of where we were born, the color of our skin, or the size of our bank account.”
“This campaign is going to be about the future of Maryland, and about putting people before corporate profits,” said Ervin. “This campaign is about the future of Maryland. It’s about a new vision for our state where working families come before corporate profits, where we help every kid achieve their full potential, and ensure that we all can thrive regardless of where we were born, the color of our skin, or the size of our bank account. I’m announcing a run for Governor of Maryland because I truly believe in the vision of Kevin and I’s campaign and I am not giving it up.”
Ervin said her top three priorities would be making Maryland public schools the strongest in the nation and ensuring that they are debt free; universal free pre-k and childcare and 100% renewable energy and creating the best clean public transit system in America.
After nearly a decade of service as an elected official in Montgomery County on both the Board and the Council, Valerie was named executive director of the Center for Working Families, and most recently served as senior adviser for the Working Families Party, where she helped direct the progressive coalition’s efforts to expand economic and educational opportunities for families across the country.
Ervin has received many awards for her public service including: Washingtonian Magazine’s Most Powerful Women Award in 2011; Maryland’s Top 100 Women from the Daily Record in 2008 and 2012; Phyllis Campbell Newsome Public Policy Leadership Award from the Center for Nonprofit Advancement in 2008 and 2013; and the Phenomenal Woman of the Year Award from Community Bridges in 2007.
She holds a degree in labor studies and an M.P.A. from University of