Maryland Senate President Thomas V. “Mike” Miller Jr. (D-Calvert, Charles, Pr. George’s) waves from a car at last year’s holiday parade in North Beach.
Wife Patty, left, and Sen. President Thomas V. “Mike” Miller Jr. (D-Calvert, Charles, Prince George’s) is show here ready to meet guests at Running Hare Vineyard earlier this fall.
Maryland Senate President Thomas V. Mike Miller Jr. (D-Calvert, Charles, Prince George’s) announces that he is stepping down from the Senate presidency but will continue to represent District 27 during a press conference Thursday morning in Annapolis.
Maryland Senate President Thomas V. “Mike” Miller Jr. (D-Calvert, Charles, Pr. George’s) waves from a car at last year’s holiday parade in North Beach.
FILE PHOTO
Wife Patty, left, and Sen. President Thomas V. “Mike” Miller Jr. (D-Calvert, Charles, Prince George’s) is show here ready to meet guests at Running Hare Vineyard earlier this fall.
SUBMITTED PHOTO
Maryland Senate President Thomas V. Mike Miller Jr. (D-Calvert, Charles, Prince George’s) announces that he is stepping down from the Senate presidency but will continue to represent District 27 during a press conference Thursday morning in Annapolis.
In an announcement that had been widely rumored for some time, Senate President Thomas V. Mike Miller Jr. (D-Calvert, Charles, Prince George’s) said Thursday that he would not seek the nomination of the Maryland Democratic Party to serve as Senate president in the 2020 General Assembly session, and announced Sen. Bill Ferguson (D-Baltimore city) as his successor.
Miller made the announcement following a closed-door meeting with Senate Democrats in Annapolis. Miller announced prior to last year’s General Assembly session that he was battling stage 4 metastatic prostate cancer.
“My mind is strong, but my body is weak,” Miller said during the press conference. He said that he would continue serving as the District 27 senator, which includes Calvert, Charles and Prince George’s counties.
Miller is the longest-serving Senate president in Maryland history. As of the beginning of this year, he became the longest-serving state senate president in the country. Ferguson, 36, was 3 years old when Miller became Senate president.
“The governor has been very supportive of this whole process,” Miller said. “I’m going to try to bring him along on [the] Kirwan” Commission on Innovation and Excellence in Education, the state's newest endeavor to fund and revamp public education.
In a press release issued following the meeting with the Senate Democrats, Miller said, “I have done my best to make the Senate inclusive, collegial and productive, and to remind my colleagues that they swore an oath to the state of Maryland, not to a party or parochial interest.”
The battle over whether to fund the recommendations in the Kirwan Commission report is expected to be the major legislative issue before the General Assembly when they convene in January.
Sen. Jim Rosapepe (D-Prince George’s, Anne Arundel) thanked Miller for his service and said that Ferguson was the “unanimous choice of the Democratic caucus.”
“I’ve learned from his example over the last nine years,” Ferguson said of Miller, adding that he wants to “maximize the skills of the 47 members of the Senate.”
Miller, Ferguson said, “will continue to serve as a leader and a mentor whether he wants to or not.”
Sen. Arthur Ellis (D-Charles) told The Enterprise that he was “impressed” with the smoothness of the transition process.
“We were very collegial about it,” Ellis said. “We want it to work very well.”
State and national political leaders were quick and generous in their praise of Miller following the announcement.
“On behalf of a grateful state, I want to sincerely thank Senate President Mike Miller for his 33 years of dedicated service as president of the Maryland Senate,” Gov. Larry Hogan (R) said in a release.
“As the longest continuously serving presiding officer in the nation, President Miller has been a strong, unifying leader for the legislature and the state,” Hogan said. “His steady presence and trademark humor will be deeply missed as president, but we are pleased to know that Mike will continue to represent the people of District 27 in the Senate.”
“I have immense respect for Mike Miller. For the past year, he has shown all of us what courage and determination look like as he faces a very tough personal battle. As we celebrate his historic tenure as president of the Senate, Maryland’s First Lady and I ask all Marylanders to join us in praying for him and his family.”
Sen. Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.) recalled how, at a tribute to the late Rep. Elijah Cummings (D-Md., 7th) on Wednesday evening, Miller had “insisted that the doctors let him out of the hospital to eulogize Elijah.
“Mike Miller has dedicated his life to serving Marylanders and set the gold standard for true leadership in the State Senate,” Van Hollen said in a release. “I was proud to serve under him, and to this day appreciate his mentorship and wisdom. His guiding hand will be missed, but I’m confident that Bill Ferguson will serve our state well.”
House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (D-Md., 5th) called Miller a “consensus builder, artful politician and an institution in our state.”
“Throughout his distinguished tenure as Senate President, Mike has been a champion for Maryland families, for the health of the Chesapeake Bay, for improving transportation in our state, and for equal opportunity and justice,” Hoyer said in a release.
“As a former president of the Maryland Senate, I know how much hard work and dedication is required to lead the body,” Hoyer continued. “Though often wearing a stern face, Mike has displayed his soft and caring heart in the efforts he has led to bring hope and opportunity to Marylanders, displaying a deep respect and admiration for the institution of the Senate throughout his tenure and a belief in its ability to deliver for the people it serves.”
Ferguson will officially assume the Senate presidency when the 2020 General Assembly session convenes in January.
