Jim Daniels

**Jim Cross Daniels** (born April 1, 1983) Is an American politician who is currently serving Marylands 2nd Congressional district, and who served as a former State Senator from 2013 to 2016, and as the Mayor of Baltimore from 2008 to 2012.

Born in Baltimore City Maryland, the Daniels name was well known as His father, Dave Daniels was the current mayor of Baltimore from 1982 to 1994. Dave worked towards reforming the police, and ending homelessness, at the end of his term crime had gone down 10.31%, and homelessness had went down 17.32%. In 1991 when Jim graduated Highschool, he showed interest in holding a public office, so in 1992 when he got accepted to the University of Maryland, He majored in political science. In 1997 Jim graduated with a bachelors degree in Political Science.

In 2008 Jim officially announced his candidacy for Mayor of Baltimore, where during the primary's he faced heavy backlash for his policy on abortion of which he strongly opposed, and when election day came on November 3rd, he surprised everyone by actually winning.

## Mayor Term

Jim Began his term on December 8th, 2008 after winning in a landslide. His mayoral term was set out to be one that worked to reduce the affect of poverty and crime. His first few days would see him sign a series of executive orders which begin providing proper funding to the Baltimore city Police Department. In March of 2009 the City Council passed the Save lives act, which saw the Baltimore Police Department see a 56% increase in police funding, which improved weapons and amination, vehicles and technology, it saw an increase in Police patrol of neighborhoods which had high crime, it also saw extra funding being provided to combat drug usage, which is also a big issue in Baltimore. The bill provided funding for programs to rehabilitate former drug users, it also enacted a Gun permit law and Universal background checks, to where people who have a history of mental illness would not be able to get or purchase a weapon. The act ensured all cops would have body camera on at all times, and it would also provide extra funding for Police training, and increase the length of training to 1 year, and 1 month. The bill saw a decrease in drug usage of 8%, a decrease in racial injustice of 12%, and a decrease in crime of about 14%.

In 2010 it saw a city-wide cleanup of Baltimore to combat against climate change, it saw $12,874,414 be funded for the cleanup, it saw the cleaning up of parts of the Chesapeake bay of which Baltimore city is surrounded by. 81,313 citizens took part in the event and Streets, Sidewalks, Parks, and recreational facilities, it imposed a $3,000 fine for those who polluted and it saw an overall decrease of 34% in pollution, for the 2010 year. Also during 2010 the city council approved a program to reduce homelessness, by using $32,048,303 dollars for homeless shelters and educational programs, these include: Highschool education for homeless, more access to the poverty rate for homeless shelters, the opening of 10 new homeless shelters which would cover 2,000 homeless, more food and technology for homeless shelters as well as an increase in plumbing and electricity quality.

In his last year as Mayor, he signed numerous executive orders to reduce city property prices, and overall cleaning up parks and the Chesapeake bay. He announced his candidacy for the Maryland State Senate in January of 2012, during the Democratic primary he beat Incumbent Michael Winslow, amid his corruption scandal. He beat him by 6,000 votes, and went on to win the general election by 50,000 votes.

## State Senate Term

Once sworn in to State Senate on January 31, 2013 he worked towards legislation such as free community college, universal background checks, free healthcare, racial justice reform, and criminal justice reform. He worked closely with Governor Martin O'Malley to introduce such legislation, in April of 2013 he introduced the Justice for all act, which reformed the Maryland courts, and hired independent judges for better results and less discrimination. The bill drastically changed the Maryland Courts and was a major success of Daniels career, and O'Malleys term.

In 2014 he introduced legislation to allow for free community college in Maryland, the bill would rid students of worrying about debt, so they could focus more on education than financial issues, he also introduced legislation for free healthcare for the entire state of Maryland, this bill would be the biggest of his career and would prevent people from going into massive amount of debt, the bill was passed and signed into law in late 2015.

2016 saw his last year as State Senator, his last legislation introduced was universal background checks around Maryland, especially in Baltimore to reduce the crime there. The bill passed and was signed into law, and would mark the last accomplishment of his term before resigning to assume the office of United States Representative.

## Electoral History

Baltimore Mayoral Election, 2008
 Total votes