Donna Edwards, who served as the U.S. representative for Maryland’s 4th congressional district from 2008 to 2017, is running in the 2022 US House elections for her old seat.

Edwards made the announcement in January after Anthony Brown said he would not be running for re-election to Congress in order to run for state attorney general.

Born in Yanceyville, North Carolina, Edwards earned B.A. degrees in English and Spanish from Wake Forest University. She was one of only six black women in the class of 1980.

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After working for Lockheed Corporation at the Goddard Space Flight Center with the Spacelab program, she attended and earned a J.D. in 1989. Edwards worked for Albert Wynn as a clerk in the 1980s, when he served in the Maryland House of Delegates.

Edwards defeated 15-year incumbent Albert Wynn in the 2008 Democratic primary, and, following his resignation, won a special election on June 17, 2008. She was sworn in two days later on June 19, becoming the first African-American woman to represent Maryland in the United States Congress.

Edwards – a lawyer and longtime community activist – ran for a full term in November 2008, defeating Republican candidate Peter James with 85% of the vote. She ran for US Senate in 2016 in the primary to replace retiring Barbara Mikulski.

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She sponsored an amendment to the US Constitution that would repeal the 2010 Supreme Court ruling in Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission.

Edwards co-founded and served as the first executive director of the National Network to End Domestic Violence – an advocacy and legal support group for women in need. She worked to pass the 1994 Violence Against Women Act.

In 2017, Edwards announced that she had been diagnosed with multiple sclerosis – a potentially disabling disease of the brain and spinal cord.

Edwards appeared on several MSNBC programs where she talked about the current health care bill which was up for a vote and how it would affect her and many others with pre-existing conditions.