The arc of Rushern Baker’s life has prepared him to lead Prince George’s County as her next County Executive. His years recruiting and training teachers, working in housing and economic development, working in the government, in the private sector as a non-profit executive, and as one of the State’s leading legislators makes him uniquely qualified and equipped to guide Prince George’s County from good to great. Yet, Rushern Baker’s story is also one of overcoming huge challenges, including an early struggle with reading, a brief stint without housing while in law school, personal setbacks, family tragedies, and tough career choices. The result of his journey is a man whose biography matches the needs of the County at a time when he can proudly represent the best of what Prince George’s has accomplished, while making the major changes needed to reach greatness.
Born into a military family, his father was a decorated Green Beret who served multiple tours of duty during the conflict in Vietnam. Rushern grew up across the country and around the world:Georgia, North Carolina, Massachusetts, and Okinawa, Japan are just a few of the places the Bakers called home. Rushern and his three siblings came to rely on each other, but also learned to make friends quickly and to respect different races and cultures.Rushern struggled with reading as a child, but dedicated teachers and the persistence and love of his parents, helped him become a voracious reader. To this day, Rushern Baker does not believe we should give up on our kids or our schools, because his life could have gone in a different direction had his teachers and parents given up on him.He remains an active parent advocate for education, sending all of his children,Rushern IV, Aja, and Quinci, to public school, two of whom have already graduated from Suitland High School and gone on to college.His son, a talented artist, graduated from Cooper Union College in New York City and has been accepted into Yale’s graduate program.
Rushern also developed an early passion for public service as he watched national events unfold, and began to question why more wasn’t being done to help people who need help the most. Once, while watching the news and criticizing the efforts of the politicians, Rushern’s father challenged him to get involved if he thought he could do better. The challenge fueled a life-long love of public service. Rushern attended Howard University, graduating with a degree in History, and later received a law degree from Howard in 1986. He married his wife Christa, a graduate of William and Mary, and moved to Prince George’s County.
Rushern spent many years working for the People’s Involvement Community Development Corporation, and in the Department of Housing in Washington, D.C.He learned to create jobs and bring business to underserved communities. He helped find training opportunities for women on government aid to become nurses and for ex-offenders to find work.He helped bring businesses and jobs to the Georgia Avenue Corridor, directly negotiating contracts and bringing the private and public sectors together to serve the forgotten neighborhood. He knows Prince George’s County cannot reach its potential until we develop a comprehensive economic development plan that empowers all communities. He understands that it is important to develop our huge assets like the waterfront and metro stations, but that County only gets stronger when we bring jobs and opportunity to communities with greater challenges.
Prince George’s needs someone who understands how to get our fair share from State government.Rushern Baker’s track record and extensive experience with local and state budgets proves he can get the job done. In 1994, Rushern was elected to the Maryland House of Delegates, representing a broad cross-section of our County in Annapolis. Rushern quickly developed strong relationships with our state’s top officials, and his colleagues recognized his leadership abilities by making him Chairman of the Prince George’s County House delegation after just four years in the legislature. Rushern used that job — and a seat on the powerful House Appropriations Committee — to bring record levels of funding to our County.
He also dedicated himself to fighting to improve our County’s schools. When the State was on the verge of taking over full control of Prince George’s schools, Rushern Baker risked his political career to stop it, hammering out a compromise with the Governor, the County Executive and other leaders that kept the school district’s funding intact, saving nearly 40 million dollars in funding, while preserving the community’s voice in managing the schools. Today, Prince George’s voters have full political control over our schools, and thanks to Rushern Baker, a takeover was completely avoided.
Rushern Baker is committed to working with parents, teachers, school officials and community leaders for a school system that serves all our students — one we can all be proud of.He continues his commitment as the Chief Executive of the Community Teacher’s Institute (CTI), a non-profit organization dedicated to bringing culturally competent teachers into schools where they can have the greatest impact.Rushern will not lay off teachers, because Prince George’s schools are already last in the State and he believes it hurts the County’s chance to create jobs and attract businesses, if we don’t have a County Executive that puts fixing our school system and public safety first.
Rushern has also maintained close ties to our leaders in Annapolis and Washington. Whether it’s a pothole in Suitland, a wave of property crime in Capitol Heights, or broader policy and funding debates in the State House or on Capitol Hill, Rushern Baker knows all the relevant players, from President Obama to leaders of civic groups, and knows how to get things done. His previous run for County Executive and his years of service means he knows Prince George’s County in a way none of his opponents can match.
Rushern has the tools and compassion to ensure that we are first in education, last in crime, first in job creation, last in foreclosures, first in quality of life and last in corruption. Rushern is ready to lead Prince George’s County.
