Musical Chairs Continue In District 27, A Schiraldi Sighting And New Champions, In Political Notes

By William J. Ford, Maryland Matters

December 5, 2025

If you’re keeping score in legislative District 27, we hope you’re using a pencil and not a permanent marker.

The shakeup began when Democratic Sen. Michael Jackson left his seat to become superintendent of the Maryland State Police on Nov. 12, opening the Senate seat in the district that sprawls over Prince George’s, Charles and Calvert counties. A race between District 27A Del. Kevin Harris, District 27B Del. Jeffrie Long Jr. and District 27C resident Jason Fowler ended last week after the Democratic central committees for all three counties settled on Harris as their Senate nominee.

That means a new delegate for District 27A, representing Charles and Prince George’s counties, will need to selected. But Rachel Jones could stir things up even more.

Jones, who held the District 27B (Calvert and Prince George’s) before being unseated by Long in the 2022 primary election is looking f0r a rematch. Jones, who turns 41 on Dec. 18, will make a formal announcement Saturday, supported by Harris and by Del. Adrian Boafo (D-Prince George’s).

“I’m going to be 1,000% behind her. I’ve been in meetings with her in Calvert and Prince George’s and I’ve seen how she just delivers for her community,” Boafo said Thursday. “You need a representative who knows how to be a consensus builder in that district, and frankly that’s Rachel Jones.”

Jones, who currently works as government relations director for the Maryland Department of Agriculture, would give up that job if elected. She says her legislative priorities include protecting civil rights for all Marylanders, economic development and environmental and agricultural policy.
Education is also a priority, with a personal connection: Her husband is a middle school teacher in Anne Arundel County.

“I have a passion for public service. I don’t take that lightly,” she said Thursday. “I don’t see no reason not to pursue what I know I’m good at and have a passion for just because someone else is in the seat.”

Before she arrived in Annapolis, Jones worked as a legislative aide to former state Sen. Nathaniel McFadden (D-Baltimore City), as a field representative and assistant to former U.S. Sen. Barbara Milkulski (D-Md.), and a field representative to former U.S. Sen. Ben Cardin (D-Md.

While in Annapolis, Jones sponsored legislation in 2022 that would have required the Motor Vehicle Administration to include a notation on identification cards that a person had a disability. That initiative became law this year, named after Eric Carpenter-Grantham, that requires the MVA to add a butterfly logo above the words “hidden disability” on ID cards for those who request it.

Michael Bennett, a Coast Guard veteran and founder of Bennett Global Strategies, filed for the District 27B seat in September, but says that if Jones get in the race, “I will be withdrawing my candidacy application and throwing all my support and finances behind her. That’s how serious I am about Rachel.”

Vince Schiraldi is returning…
… to New York, where he will serve on one of the many transition committees set up by New York City Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani.

Where did you think we meant?

Not Maryland, where Schiraldi spent several tumultuous years as secretary of Juvenile Services before resigning in June — or being encouraged to leave, according to the Moore administration at the time. Maryland Republicans, in particular, had long called for Schiraldi’s ouster, pointing to staff shortages, high rates of recidivism among youths released from the department’s care and high-profile shootings by juveniles who had been in the system, among other issues.

Then-Juvenile Services Secretary Vincent Schiraldi at a Jan. 15 Senate Judicial Proceedings Committee briefing. (Photo by William J. Ford/Maryland Matters)

But Schiraldi, who was appointed to the job when Gov. Wes Moore was sworn in, said at the time of his departure that he was pleased with the department’s progress, noting gains in staffing and the success of a program aimed at gun-violence prevention, among others. When he left Maryland, Schiraldi said he planned to do some fishing and hiking while he figured out his next act.

Now comes word, first reported by the Baltimore Sun, that Schiraldi was one of more than 400 people appointed to 17 transition committees by Mamdani, the income democratic socialist mayor. Schiraldi was one of 20 people named to the Committee on the Criminal Legal System. He did not respond to a request for comment, but posted on his Linkedin profile that he was “honored” to be on the committee, where he will be “working alongside a stellar group of criminal justice leaders.”

Schiraldi is no stranger to New York. He previously worked as a senior criminal justice adviser to former New York Mayor Bill De Blasio (D) and was a leader of the New York City Department of Corrections, during which he tried to close the notorious Rikers Island jail complex and end solitary confinement. He also worked as a senior researcher at the Columbia School of Social Work in New York and, immediately before Maryland, was director of the Department of Youth Rehabilitation Services in Washington, D.C.

They are the Champions, my friend

The Chesapeake Conservancy last week announced its three newest Champions of the Chesapeake, the organization’s award to honor those “whose accomplishments have significantly advanced the protection and restoration of the Chesapeake Bay’s natural and cultural resources.”

The 2025 Champions include former National Park Service Director Robert G. “Bob” Stanton, who got the Lifetime Achievement Award; Maryland conservation advocate Ann Holmes Jones, honored as a Land Preservation Leader; and Lysle S. Sherwin, an advocate for more than 50 years in wildlife conservation and watershed restoration, named a Watershed Stewardship Leader.

“From leading the National Park Service and ensuring the nation’s history is shared with future generations to protecting thousands of acres and restoring damaged waterways, these Champions prove how creative, committed and collaborative people can make a real difference for the Bay,” said Chesapeake Conservancy CEO Susan Shingledecker in a prepared statement. “Their decades of service inspire us and give hope for a healthier, more resilient Chesapeake in the years ahead.”

Stanton, the 15th director of the National Park Service and a former member of the Chesapeake Conservancy Board of Directors, has played a central role in national efforts to protect the Chesapeake Bay, in addition to decades of leadership in conservation, historic preservation and public service. The conservancy said he has also served with the National Parks Conservation Association, the Student Conservation Association and the Rosenwald Schools Park Campaign, among others.

Jones was recognized for more than four decades of leadership in land preservation and her advocacy for Maryland’s Program Open Space, monitoring and working with others to ensure full support for the program, which creates local and state parks, helps protect important habitat and preserves agricultural lands. A private consultant since 1987, Jones currently administers the Piney Run Rural Legacy Program in Baltimore County, a $48 million purchased easement program that has protected more than 8,700 acres, according to the conservancy release.

Sherwin, a retired Penn State University educator and former director of the Center for Watershed Stewardship, has led academic, nonprofit and federal initiatives to restore streams, protect wildlife habitat and improve water quality across the Chesapeake Bay watershed, the conservancy said. It said he works today as an affiliate biologist with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Partners Program, working with private landowners to enhance wildlife habitat and improve water quality in impaired streams.