Fisher Kicks Off State's Attorney Bid, Albornoz Reveals Next Steps, Donors Get Out Their Wallets

By William J. Ford, Maryland Matters

October 22, 2025

Prince George’s County Councilmember Wanika Fisher (D) officially launched her campaign Tuesday night to become the county’s top prosecutor, flanked by several current and former county Democratic officials at Newton White Mansion in Mitchellville.

Bold-name attendees included retired Circuit Judge Ingrid Turner, Sen. Nick Charles and District 4 County Councilmember Ingrid Watson. House Majority Whip Jazz Lewis (D-Prince George’s), 36, knew Fisher when they were both student activists at the University of Maryland, College Park, and later worked with her when she was in the House of Delegates from January 2019 to December 2022.
“You get a chance to see someone’s character, particularly when they aren’t in the limelight,” Lewis said. “This is a woman of service. This is a woman who has been standing up for others long before she took the mantle of leadership.”

Lewis and Charles cited Fisher’s work on the House Judiciary Committee, where she sponsored legislation in her first year that became law, the Anti-Exploitation Act of 2019. Until then, Maryland was one of three states without a specific labor trafficking statute to ensure people wouldn’t provide services “by force, fraud, or coercion.” The law also lets a local state’s attorney or the attorney general investigate and prosecute alleged violations.

Fisher was born in New York and earned her law degree at Pennsylvania State University. Her parents are of Nigerian and South Asian descent, and she promised to advocate for immigrants who are “demonized and attacked” by the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

Fisher also said she wants to incorporate “community prosecution,” a program implemented by former U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder that sought to assign local prosecutors in certain neighborhoods to work with community leaders as well as law enforcement agencies.

“Basically, you take the state’s attorney’s office and you align it with each police district. So, if you’re in police District 9, you know the top prosecutor of 9,” Fisher said. “One of the big problems that we have is that dockets are so big [that] it takes two years for you to see an officer again. We have to focus on the quality of our office, not just the quantity.”

Jackson, Fisher face off in Prince George’s, more campaign news in political notes

A campaign representative for interim State’s Attorney Tara Jackson didn’t respond to emails Monday and Tuesday for comment. But Jackson recently announced that she will seek reelection, and her campaign website lists an Oct. 29 fundraiser hosted by retired Prince George’s County Circuit judge Sheila Tillerson Adams and Elizabeth Hewlett, former head of the bi-county Maryland-National Capital Park and Planning Commission and chair of the county’s planning board.

Jackson was picked by the county’s circuit court judges this year to fill the vacancy left when then-State’s Attorney Aisha Braveboy (D) became county executive in a special election to fill the post vacated last year by U.S. Sen. Angela Alsobrooks (D). The county executive’s job was held in the interim by Jackson, who had been the county’s chief administrative officer.

Jackson began her legal career as an assistant state’s attorney, serving at one point as the first full-time assistant state’s attorney dedicated to domestic violence cases.

The 2026 primary election will be held on June 23.

Apparently, you can go home again

When he formally announced Thursday that he would step down from the Montgomery County Council on Dec. 1, Councilmember Gabe Albornoz was coy about his future, saying that the announcement would have to wait until Monday. The second half of the announcement came Monday, as promised: Albornoz is going back to lead the county’s Department of Recreation, a job he held from 2007 to 2018, before being elected as an at-large council member.

County Executive Marc Elrich said Monday that he will nominate Albornoz to replace former department Director Robin Riley, who retired earlier this year. The nomination still needs to be approved by the Albornoz’s soon-to-be-former colleagues on the council.

“As the former Director for over a decade, Gabe helped build, expand, and diversify our Recreation programs. We look forward to working with the County Council during his nomination process and, upon their confirmation, his return as Director of the Department of Recreation,” Elrich said in a statement announcing the nomination.

Elrich noted that during his first term as recreation director, Albornoz had to cope with a 34% budget cut and a 29% staff reduction as the county slogged through the Great Recession, but still managed to lead the department to award-winning performance.

Albornoz said in the statement that he was “humbled and honored” to be tapped "to lead a department for which I have such great respect and admiration.” If confirmed, he pledged to continue “the work of the Department of Recreation to provide critical programming and support to all County residents that promotes their mental health and well-being.”

Montgomery County Councilmember Gabe Albornoz. Photo by Danielle E. Gaines.

Albornoz is a county native who graduated from Walt Whitman High School and the University of Maryland, College Park, before earning an MBA from Johns Hopkins University. He lives in Kensington with his wife, Catherine, and their four children.

Albornoz’s resignation, with a year still left in his term, means the council will choose another Democrat to serve the rest of his term. The council is accepting applications until Nov. 5 from people with knowledge of the county and the legislative process and with one other important characteristic: They cannot be interested in running for reelection to the seat next year, to level the playing field for candidates who want to run for the full four-year term.

The council will interview the top candidates behind closed door before holding public interviews for finalists at its Dec. 2 meeting, according to a statement from Council President Kate Stewart.

‘Tis the season … to get out your checkbook

It’s that time of year, when pumpkin spice is unavoidable, the leaves are falling, the sweaters are coming out — and so are the invitations to political fundraisers. More so perhaps in the fall before an election year.
The exhaustive roundup of “activities and events” circulated by Annapolis lobbyist Bruce Bereano lists 45 campaign fundraisers for at least as many candidates for county, state and federal office in just the last two weeks of October. We’re sure there are many, many more to come this fall, particularly for State House officials who are prohibited from passing the hat around during the 90-day legislative session, but after 45 events we started to get a little numb.

In addition to the Jackson and Fisher events noted above in the Prince George’s County state’s attorney’s race, there are hopefuls with hands out for pretty much any race you can imagine.

Campaigns for delegate and state senator make up the bulk of the events but there are candidates for sheriff, judge, register of wills, county council and a whole mess of county executive candidates, in Anne Arundel, Baltimore, Carroll, Harford, Howard, Prince George’s, Washington and Wicomico counties.

Did we mention that this is just for a two-week stretch?

The biggest names on the list are Rep. Kweisi Mfume (D-7th) who’s hosting a birthday fundraiser Thursday at the Center Club, and House Speaker Adrienne Jones (D-Baltimore County), whose “Fall into Autumn Fundraiser” will be held Wednesday at Linwoods Restaurant in Owings Mills.

Mfume has the biggest ticket event of the next few weeks, with the price of entry starting at $500 and going up to $3,500. Jones went more affordable and, like many candidates, she went with a theme. For $50 at Jones’ event, you can be a “roasted chestnut resident,” for $150 a pumpkin patch patron and for $1,000 a harvest moon sponsor.

Lots of lawmakers got in on the fall-themed pricing scheme. Anne Arundel County Register of Wills Democratic hopeful Courtney Buiniskis’ Halloween Happy Hour at Homestead Gardens in Davidsonville on Oct. 30 is offering “trick-or-treat tickets” on the low end and specter sponsors and skeleton sponsors for the pricier tickets.

Del. Heather Bagnall (D-Anne Arundel) really got into the spirit, no pun intended, for her Howloween Spooktacular at Park Books in Severna Park on Oct. 28: Tickets go from Casper the Friendly Ghost, to The Addams Family, Hotel Transylvania, Practical Magic and Goosebumps, all the way up to Monsters Inc. Two thoughts: We hope she talked to a copyright lawyer and we would love to see how her house is decorated right now.

In terms of creative naming, it may not be seasonally themed, but the tickets at the Wednesday fundraiser being hosted by Del. Kathy Szeliga (R-Baltimore and Harford) at Boordy Vineyards in Hydes promise the most entertaining evening: From sangria and riesling to malbec and cabernet and, if you want to drop $6,000, you can be a Veritas sponsor, named for Boordy’s dessert wine.
Remember, this is just for two weeks, now.

The ticket names are cute, but the real names are the special guests that can bring some shine to an event.

Anne Arundel County Councilwoman Allison Pickard, a Democrat, has lined up Rep. Sarah Elfreth (D-3rd) and state Sens. Pamela Beidle and Dawn Gile for her county executive fundraiser Thursday at the Severna Park home of Erin and Will Castleberry, while Sen. Carl Jackson (D-Baltimore County) will have Rep. Johnny Olszewski (D-2nd) at his Thursday reelection fundraiser at Jerry D’s in Parkville. Sen. Will Smith (D-Montgomery) lined up Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-8th) and former U.S. Capitol Police Officer Harry Dunn — a former congressional candidate himself — for his Oct. 28 event at Motorkat in Silver Spring.

The big name, for Democrats, at least, is Gov. Wes Moore, who is the featured speaker at Del. Mike Rogers (D-Anne Arundel) virtual fundraiser Thursday and the special guest that same night at the 44th birthday party — all the tickets have an extra $44 tacked on to the price — and reelection fundraiser for Del. Kevin Harris (D-Prince George’s) at Robin Hill Farm and Vineyards in Brandywine.
District 18 Democratic Dels. Emily Shetty and Jared Solomon will have Moore as special guest for their “desserts with your delegates” event on Oct. 30 in Kensington.

And while we may have mentioned that we’re just looking at the next two weeks, we’ll stretch that rule to show the apparent affinity the Moore-Miller administration has for District 18: The governor is confirmed for Sen. Jeff Waldstreicher’s Nov. 4 fundraiser at the Bethesda home of Susan Esserman and Andy Marks, while District 18 Del. Aaron Kaufman will have Lt. Gov. Aruna Miller at his Nov. 8 fundraiser.

That’s just the next two weeks. And that’s not all of them. The start of the legislative session can’t come soon enough.