With Nick J. Mosby ascending to the position of Baltimore City Council president Thursday, it created a vacancy in the Maryland House of Delegates.
Mosby resigned as a state delegate representing the city’s 40th District, effective at 9:59 a.m., one minute before council inaugural ceremonies were set to begin. The 40th District includes neighborhoods in West and Southwest Baltimore.
Mosby wrote in his resignation letter to House of Delegates Speaker Adrienne A. Jones that leaving the House was “bittersweet.”
“My service as delegate has been a tremendous honor,” Mosby wrote Wednesday. “Under your leadership, the House of Delegates has accomplished meaningful change on behalf of Marylanders. I stand ready for any and all opportunities to work together in the interest of the great City of Baltimore as incoming president of the City Council.”
Baltimore’s Democratic State Central Committee will be charged with nominating a replacement for Mosby.
The committee is accepting applications through noon on Dec. 24. Applicants must be registered Democrats who are 21 years old and who have lived in Maryland for one year and in the district for six months.
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A round of video interviews and a vote by the seven voting members of the committee representing the 40th District will follow on Dec. 29.
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The central committee will forward its nomination to Gov. Larry Hogan, who has the final say over the replacement. Hogan, a Republican, can only appoint someone nominated by the committee. If he dislikes the nomination, he can reject it and ask the committee for a new recommendation.
Mosby became a state delegate himself through this same process as part of a cascade of resignations and appointments. Gary Brown Jr., who was an aide to then-Mayor Catherine Pugh, was about to be appointed as state delegate in 2017 when he was charged with campaign finance violations and Hogan rescinded the appointment.
The central committee instead picked Mosby, who had experience as a city councilman and mayoral candidate. Mosby then won election in his own right in 2018 as the top vote-getter in the 40th District.
The 40th District has three seats in the House of Delegates. The others are Del. Frank M. Conaway Jr. and Del. Melissa Wells, both Democrats.
Mosby’s resignation is the second in the House of Delegates this month.
Republican Del. Warren Miller, who represents District 9A in Howard and Carroll counties, is resigning effective Dec. 31 to spend more time on his career with a technology company. The Howard and Carroll Republican State Central Committees are soliciting applications through Dec. 15.