Anne Arundel County Del. Alice Cain Resigns

From Maryland Matters: By Josh Kurtz

ANNAPOLIS, MD — State Del. Alice J. Cain (D-Anne Arundel), one of three young women representing the Annapolis area in the General Assembly since 2019, announced Thursday morning that she has resigned.

“My family circumstances have changed in unforeseen and unfortunate ways in recent months — well before COVID-19,” Cain wrote in a letter to supporters. “Despite these changes, I was committed to staying until the end of Session given the high stakes of this year’s legislation, especially the once-in-a-generation education reform bill that the House passed, with my vote, last night.

“Now it is time for me to turn my attention back to my family and to be there for them in ways that my role in the House of Delegates has not allowed.”

Cain’s abrupt departure means more churn in the District 30A delegation, which covers Annapolis and environs.

An education policy expert, Cain was elected to the House on a ticket head by the late House speaker Michael E. Busch (D). When Busch died last year, he was replaced by now-Del. Shaneka Henson (D), who had been an Annapolis City Council member.

In a letter to House Speaker Adrienne A. Jones (D-Baltimore County), Cain called the decision to resign “extremely difficult,” and said it is “all the more difficult during the pandemic.”

But Cain said she wanted to make her resignation known quickly so that a replacement might be in place for a special General Assembly session that may take place in late May.

While a bill to mandate special elections for many legislative vacancies made it out of the state Senate unanimously this year, it did not make much progress in the House. So Cain will be replaced in the usual way: With an appointment from the governor following a recommendation from the Anne Arundel County Democratic Central Committee.

“I will continue to stay deeply involved in my community and will find other ways to serve,” Cain told Jones in her letter.

jkurtz@marylandmatters.org

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