Maryland Democratic gubernatorial hopeful Doug Gansler is teaming up with Candace B. Hollingsworth, a former mayor of Hyattsville, as his running mate in the 2022 campaign.
Hollingsworth was the youngest-ever mayor and the first Black mayor of the town in Prince George’s County, winning election in 2015 before resigning in 2020 to focus on Our Black Party, an advocacy organization she cofounded.
As they announced their political partnership Tuesday, Gansler and Hollingsworth posted a video in which she acknowledges having had personal financial struggles. Hollingsworth said in the video her financial setbacks make her sympathetic to Marylanders facing the same challenges.
Hollingsworth, 40, grew up in Memphis, Tennessee, and her career in nonprofit grants management brought her to the Washington, D.C., region, where she settled in Hyattsville in 2009.
Hollingsworth said in an interview that she’s excited to work with Gansler, who she said has “a beautiful mix of care and compassion alongside real ability and leadership to do the things he cares about.”
Gansler said he picked Hollingsworth as his lieutenant governor candidate because he’s been impressed with her work in Hyattsville.
“What she has done to revitalize Hyattsville is a success story that we will strive to replicate all across Maryland,” Gansler said in a statement.
Maryland Policy & Politics
Gansler, 59, worked as a federal prosecutor in Washington before winning election as state’s attorney in Montgomery County. He then was elected Maryland attorney general in 2006 and served two four-year terms. A bid for governor in 2014 was unsuccessful and he’s been in private practice since then.
Online court records show Hollingsworth has been the subject of seven cases involving tax liens or contract disputes in Maryland between 2009 and 2016.
Hollingsworth said she and her family had to make tough financial decisions without a safety net. “When things happened to me, when I’m behind on my mortgage, there’s no one to call,” she said in the interview.
Hollingsworth said she and her husband, Nyere, have worked on payment plans and “satisfied much of that to date.”
The rocky personal financial history shouldn’t deter voters from supporting the campaign, Hollingsworth said, as they represent common struggles for families. She said her personal financial struggles didn’t affect her fiscal leadership in Hyattsville.
Another ticket was announced Thursday in the crowded governor’s race, ahead of an extended March 22 deadline for political hopefuls to file their candidacy paperwork for the June primary. Democrat Jerome Segal named Justin Dispenza, a Town Council member in Galena on the Eastern Shore, as his running mate.
The race has attracted 10 Democrats and four Republicans so far.