Heather Mizeur

Heather R. Mizeur (born December 6, 1972) is an American politician who served as a member of the Maryland House of Delegates from January 10, 2007 to January 14, 2015, representing the 20th district in Montgomery County, Maryland.

Mizeur was born on December 6, 1972, in Blue Mound, Illinois.

Her father, Dale Mizeur, was a welder at the Caterpillar, Inc. factory and a member of the United Auto Workers.

She attended Blue Mound High School, where she graduated as valedictorian of her graduating class.

Mizeur attended the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign as a Truman scholar from 1991 to 1994, but dropped out after receiving a full-time job offer in the office of U.S. Representative Marjorie Margolies-Mezvinsky, who she had interned for during her junior year.

Mizeur first got involved with politics when she was 15 years old, volunteering for the campaign of Illinois State Senator Penny Severns.

By age 23, she served as the legislative director for U.S. Representative Joseph P. Kennedy II.

Mizeur participated in the state's public financing system, making her the first gubernatorial candidate to limit their campaign spending since Republican Ellen Sauerbrey in 1994.

During the primary, Mizeur received endorsements from former U.S. Representative Wayne Gilchrest, EMILY's List, the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws, Sierra Club, and Democracy for America.

She also refused to criticize any of the other candidates in the primary, instead pointing out the differences in their political positions.

In 1998, Mizeur briefly left Capitol Hill to work for the National Association of Community Health Centers before returning to work for U.S. Senator John Kerry in 2003, later working on his presidential campaign team and writing his health care platform.

In November 2003, Mizeur was elected to the Takoma Park City Council, succeeding outgoing councilwoman Carol Stewart.

Around this time, she also became a lobbyist specializing in health care policy.

In 2005, after state delegate Peter Franchot announced that he would run in the 2006 Maryland Comptroller election, Mizeur entered the race to succeed him.

She won the Democratic primary, placing first with 21.9 percent of the vote, and later won the general election with 30.8 percent of the vote.

Mizeur was sworn into the Maryland House of Delegates on January 10, 2007, and was re-elected for a second term in 2010.

She was the first openly gay member of the Maryland General Assembly to have a spouse.

In November 2012, Mizeur told The Washington Blade that she was "taking a very serious look" at running for governor in 2014.

Her running mate was Reverend Delman Coates, a Prince George's County pastor who backed the state's 2012 same-sex marriage referendum.

If elected, she would have become Maryland's first female governor and the first openly gay person elected governor of any U.S. state.

She began fundraising for a potential bid in January 2013, before launching her campaign on July 16, 2013.

She was a candidate for governor of Maryland in the 2014 election but lost the Democratic primary to Lieutenant Governor Anthony Brown.

In 2022, she unsuccessfully ran for the United States House of Representatives in Maryland's 1st congressional district, challenging incumbent U.S. Representative Andy Harris.

She lost the general election to Harris by 11 points.

Mizeur was defeated by Lieutenant Governor Anthony Brown in the Democratic primary election on June 25, 2014, placing third with 21.7 percent of the vote.

In her concession statement, she said that she needed some time to rest and "collect my thoughts, my energy, and my strategic sense of where we take this next".

Mizeur later endorsed Brown in an op-ed to The Baltimore Sun in October 2014, in which she asked her supporters not to vote for her as a write-in candidate in the general election.

Following her gubernatorial campaign, Mizeur did not run for re-election as a member of the Democratic National Committee.

She also sold her home in Takoma Park to move to her farm in Chestertown, Maryland, where she and her wife grow organic herbs.

She later said on April 8, 2015, that she would not run for Senate in 2016, and later endorsed U.S. Representative Chris Van Hollen for the seat.

Mizeur was seen as a potential candidate in the 2016 United States Senate election in Maryland, in which incumbent U.S. Senator Barbara Mikulski said she would not run for re-election.

In October 2017, Mizeur launched a nonprofit organization named Soul Force Politics, which sought to increase involvement with politics and social justice in Maryland.

A podcast by the same name was also launched alongside the nonprofit, which included episodes featuring Melissa Etheridge, former U.S. Senator Barbara Mikulski, Sonja Sohn, Washington Post reporter Jenna Johnson, and Governor Larry Hogan.

In January 2021, Mizeur announced that she would run for the United States House of Representatives in Maryland's 1st congressional district, challenging incumbent U.S. Representative Andy Harris, citing the January 6 United States Capitol attack and Harris' involvement in refusing to certify the results of the 2020 United States presidential election.

During the primary, Mizeur received endorsements from the entire Maryland House delegation (excluding Harris), most Democratic candidates for governor, U.S. Senator Chris Van Hollen, and Salisbury mayor Jacob R. Day.

She also received backing from the Congressional LGBTQ+ Equality Caucus, LGBTQ Victory Fund, LPAC, Sierra Club, and EMILY's List.

In December 2021, the Maryland General Assembly redrew Maryland's congressional districts to make Maryland's 1st congressional district more competitive for Democrats, an effort that Mizeur cheered on and invited supporters to testify in support of.

Mizeur's opponents accused her of seeking to influence the redistricting process and opposed the newly drawn maps.

Mizeur won the Democratic primary on July 19, 2022, defeating Democratic challenger R. David Harden with 68.8 percent of the vote.

In the general election, Mizeur criticized Harris of refusing to debate her, noting that he had turned down multiple debate opportunities.