Mfume-Conway primary comes as Democrats nationally fret about older politicians

Whenever 77-year-old U.S. Rep. Kweisi Mfume retires, an open seat in a district with a large Baltimore footprint will be catnip for the area’s high-profile Democrats.

At the moment, Mfume isn’t willing to put an end date on his government service, which began in 1987 and has spanned two separate stints. He has swept elections for years, winning 88% of the vote in 2024.

But the 7th Congressional District primary this year reflects a question on the minds of Democrats across the country: Does a politician’s advanced age matter more than experience on the job? Mfume’s most aggressive challenger is Baltimore City Council member Mark Conway, 38.

“The time comes, obviously, for everybody to move into another phase of their life,” Mfume said in an interview. “I’m just not there right now.”

Mfume sits on the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform and the House Committee on Foreign Affairs.

He said he is proud of his emphasis on constituent services, such as helping families wade through government bureaucracy. He has been vocal about the need to fund services for people returning to their communities after prison.

And he has supported projects that target preservation, restoration and workforce development, including redevelopment of the Highway to Nowhere, which was awarded $85 million in federal funding last year.

Conway, a Bronx native, was elected to the City Council in 2020 after serving as deputy director of City Hall’s CitiStat office and holding executive roles at two local nonprofits. He’s in his second term representing parts of Baltimore that include Woodbourne-McCabe, Govans and Kenilworth Park.

“When I first came into City Hall, I was young and eager and trying to make change,” Conway said in an interview. “And I walked in and saw that the system was broken.”

Conway spotlighted the city’s opioid crisis when he launched his campaign for Congress. He told the crowd that the slow response to it was symbolic of everything that’s wrong with stagnant establishment politics.

Mfume served in Congress from 1987 to 1996 before leaving to head the Baltimore branch of the NAACP. He was voted back into the seat in 2020 through a special election to finish the term of U.S. Rep. Elijah Cummings after his death.

The 7th District includes much of Baltimore and a few parts of Baltimore County, including Arbutus and Dundalk. The median age of the roughly 700,000 people in the district is 37, according to the U.S. Census Bureau’s 2024 American Community Survey.

The district has produced legendary Baltimore politicians, including Parren Mitchell, who was the first African American elected to Congress from Maryland.

Mfume said Mitchell is one of his political idols.

Similarly, Conway said he profoundly respects Mfume and his political career.

In May, Mfume and Conway appeared at a candidate forum hosted by 1199SEIU, a healthcare workers union. The other candidates in the Democratic primary, Theo Gillespie and Tashi Davis, did not participate.

Campaign finance reports show Mfume in a comfortable position as the Tuesday primary election approaches. He raised a little over $365,000 and had about $756,000 in cash on hand as of June 3. Conway raised about $185,000 and had roughly $10,000 left.

The faceoff between a longtime politician and a newer contender isn’t unique to Maryland, especially in the Democratic Party.

In the aftermath of then-81-year-old President Joe Biden’s debate stumbles, which dashed his 2024 reelection hopes, voters have sought fresh faces. In April, Maine Gov. Janet Mills, 78, bowed out of a U.S. Senate race in which she faced a 41-year-old political newcomer in the Democratic primary.

Still, it’s far more common for incumbents, even those in their 70s and 80s, to prevail.

In Mississippi, longtime U.S. Rep. Bennie Thompson, 78, defeated 34-year-old Evan Turnage to win the Democratic nomination for the state’s 2nd Congressional District. U.S. Rep. Maxine Waters, 87, who has represented southern Los Angeles for the last 35 years, fended off younger opposition in the California primary.

“It’s really hard to beat an incumbent, especially someone who has been there for a long time and people who have come to rely on them as a political presence,” said Donn Worgs, a professor in Towson University’s Department of Political Science.

Mfume isn’t surprised that younger candidates are eager for their shot; it’s always been that way, he said.

“The younger generation defines itself in its own way,” Mfume said. “Every generation has to figure out what the issues of their time are and then try to move forward in that way.”

Conway’s convinced that a movement of fresh candidates within the Democratic Party is necessary to fight President Donald Trump’s administration. He said it was one of his main motivations for getting into the race.

“We desperately need to change as a party and as a country if we’re going to be able to successfully push back,” Conway said.

And Trump is keeping Maryland Democrats busy.

The Republican’s return to the presidency last year came with an immigration crackdown — including in Baltimore. Last week, a father and mother were detained after dropping their children off at an East Baltimore school.

Last year, Trump threatened to send the National Guard to “clean up” crime in Baltimore. The administration has also been critical of federal funding to rebuild the Key Bridge.