Congresswoman Donna Edwards grew up in a military family, graduating from Thomas Stone High School in Charles County, Maryland. She earned her B.A. degree in English and Spanish Congresswoman Donna Edwards grew up in a military family, graduating from Thomas Stone High School in Charles County, Maryland. She earned her B.A. degree in English and Spanish from Wake Forest University in 1980, where she was one of only twelve Black women in her class, and received her J.D. degree in 1989 from the University of New Hampshire School of Law. Donna settled in Prince George’s County after college when her Dad retired near Andrews Air Force Base. For nearly 40 years, Donna has made her home in the Oxon Hill-Fort Washington area where she raised her son.
Donna clerked for a District of Columbia Superior Court judge, worked as an attorney in private practice, and worked as a public interest lawyer. As a nonprofit executive, she co-founded and led the National Network to End Domestic Violence, spearheading the bipartisan effort to pass the Violence Against Women Act in 1994.
In 2008, Donna became the first Black woman elected to represent Maryland in Congress, in an upset victory against a long-time incumbent. As a congresswoman, Donna passed a bipartisan bill to provide 1,000 jobs at NASA in Greenbelt, expanded STEM education in Maryland schools, passed historic investments in HBCUs, fought to improve veterans’ hospitals and healthcare, secured funding for Maryland’s After-School Supper Program, passed the economic package that saved and created 100,000 Maryland jobs, and prevented cuts to Social Security and Medicare.
After Donald Trump was elected, Donna set out in a borrowed RV named Lucille to learn more about our country. She logged 12,000 miles on state and local roads. While camping, hiking, and fishing throughout the United States, Donna had conversations with voters about where they stand on issues facing our country. Voters shared their personal stories about the skyrocketing cost of insulin and their concerns about the future. Donna told them about paying for the MS meds that keep her in good health. Upon her return, she brought her voice as a Black woman from Prince George’s County to the national political conversation as an analyst on NBC/MSNBC and a contributing columnist for the Washington Post.
Now Donna is running to represent Maryland’s 4th Congressional District, a district marked by vast inequities in income, healthcare, and education. The district does not get its fair share from Washington, and it’s time we fix that. In Congress, Donna will use her seniority to fight for universal pre-K for every child, reduced prescription drug prices, criminal justice reform, high-speed internet, union-built new roads and bridges, environmental justice, increased public transportation, and requiring the wealthy to pay their fair share for a change in order to help reduce prices for all of us.