Rushern Baker Statement on Supreme Court Decision Gutting the Voting Rights Act
April 29, 2026
Baker: “This is personal to me. In 1994, I was elected to the Maryland House of Delegates in a newly created district under the Voting Rights Act."
WASHINGTON, DC — Today, Rushern Baker, candidate for Congress in Maryland’s 5th congressional district, released the following statement in response to the Supreme Court’s decision weakening the Voting Rights Act:
"Today’s Supreme Court decision is a direct blow to the Voting Rights Act and to the fundamental promise of fair representation in this country. By making it harder to challenge discriminatory maps, the Court is effectively giving politicians a roadmap to strip away the voting power of Black communities.
"The consequences will be felt far beyond the South. Black communities are already fighting to get our fair share of federal resources, and the Court just weakened one of the last protections we had to demand it.
“This is personal to me. In 1994, I was elected to the Maryland House of Delegates in a newly created district under the Voting Rights Act. It opened the door for Black representation in Prince George’s County. Before that, the system was designed to keep people like me from winning.
“The Voting Rights Act changed that—it paved the way for me to serve as a Delegate, become one of the first Black chairs of the Prince George’s County delegation, and later as County Executive. I saw firsthand what real representation delivers. When Black voices were finally in the room, we started getting our fair share in Prince George's County.
“I’m running for Congress because I have lived through the fight for these rights and I am not going to sit back and watch them be stripped away.”
Rushern Baker was first elected to the Maryland House of Delegates in 1994, representing a single-member district in Prince George’s County that was newly created under the Voting Rights Act of 1965. Prior to those changes, many legislative districts in the county operated under at-large systems that made it almost impossible for Black candidates to win office.
Baker’s election is part of a broader shift in Prince George’s County, where enforcement of the Voting Rights Act helped increase Black representation in state and local government after a long history of limited access to elected office outside a small number of majority-Black districts.
As County Executive, Baker also took an active role in protecting fair representation at the federal level. During the Trump administration, he joined with the NAACP and other leaders in efforts to challenge policies that could undermine an accurate census count. These efforts were focused on ensuring that communities like Prince George’s County were fully counted, recognizing that census data directly determines congressional representation and the allocation of billions of dollars in federal funding. Suitland—home to the U.S. Census Bureau—became a focal point in the fight against policies that threatened an accurate count.
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