ANNAPOLIS, Md. (AP) - Maryland’s longtime Senate president announced Thursday he will step down from his leadership post, and a Baltimore lawmaker was nominated to be his successor in a year of major changes in the Maryland General Assembly.
Senate President Thomas V. Mike Miller, one of Maryland’s most powerful politicians over the last three decades and the longest-serving state Senate president in the nation, made the announcement after speaking with the chamber’s other 31 Democrats in a closed-door meeting.
The announcement marked another significant change in the General Assembly’s leadership this year. Michael Busch, who was the state’s longest-serving House speaker, died in April. House Speaker Adrienne Jones, the state’s first black woman to hold the office, was elected to the position in May.
Miller, who announced in January that he has stage 4 prostate cancer, said he will remain a senator.
“I suffer from fatigue, and this is a full-time job,” said Miller, who is 76. “It’s a statewide job, and we need someone younger.”
Sen. Bill Ferguson, who is 36, was nominated unanimously by the Democratic caucus to be the next Senate president. Miller will remain the Senate’s leader until January, when the state’s 90-day legislative session begins, and senators vote for leadership.
“I look forward to working with all 46 other senators to continue to protect the values of Marylanders across the state,” Ferguson said.
Democrats outnumber Republicans 32-15 in the state’s Senate. Democrats outnumber Republicans 2-1 statewide.
Jones, of Baltimore County, described Miller as “one of the most consequential state legislative figures of the 20th and 21st” centuries.”
“I will continue to rely on his counsel, guidance, and friendship as I begin my first full legislative session as Speaker of the House,” Jones said.
Miller, whose district includes parts of the Washington suburb of Prince George’s County as well as rural parts of Calvert and Charles counties, has led the chamber as a steady moderate Democrat. Ferguson, four decades younger, won his seat as a liberal lawmaker from the state’s largest city.
Miller, an attorney, was first elected to the state’s House of Delegates in 1970, moving to the Senate four years later. As an astute observer of state politics, he never hesitated to use his acumen to muscle through bills. He was a main force in getting casino gambling on the ballot for voters to approve to help raise money for education.
He also could willingly acquiesce to major legislation he opposed. For example, he didn’t support same-sex marriage, but he allowed the bill to come to the Senate floor in 2012, when it was approved.
Ferguson, a former teacher, won an upset victory against six-term incumbent George Della in 2010. He has chaired the Senate Executive Nominations Committee, which weighs whether to approve political appointees.
The announcement means the two most powerful positions in the legislature will be held by officials from the Baltimore area. The presiding officers decide who will chair the legislature’s committees, which decide what legislation moves forward.
Both Miller and Ferguson alluded to some of the major policy debates that will play out in the upcoming legislative session, which begins Jan. 8.
One of the top issues will be updating the state’s funding formula for K-12 education. A state commission is planning to make recommendations by the end of the year on proposals supporters say are aimed at making Maryland’s public schools among the best in the world.
The proposals include investing in early childhood education and increasing teacher pay. They also include implementing rigorous curricula, providing more support to struggling schools and children who live in poverty and creating accountability for underperformance. Officials have estimated that implementing all the recommendations will cost about $4 billion a year a decade from now.
“We have tough conversations ahead and with all of the members of the Senate we will reach a compromise to ensure that all Marylanders have access to world-class schools,” Ferguson said.
Please read our comment policy before commenting.