Report: Rep. Donna Edwards to seek Md. Senate seat

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Rep. Donna Edwards, the first black woman to represent a Maryland district in Congress, reportedly will jump into the Senate race to succeed Barbara Mikulski.

Edwards is set to formally announce her intentions on Tuesday, according to The Washington Post. She joins fellow Rep. Chris Van Hollen, who has already locked up the support of Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., and sets up what could be a bruising primary battle next April in the heavily Democratic state.

First elected in June 2008, Edwards is viewed as a passionate liberal. She has been encouraged by groups such as EMILY's List, Democracy for America and the Progressive Change Campaign Committee to join the once-in-a-generation race to replace Mikulski, who is retiring after 30 years in the Senate.

Edwards told Capital Download that she's definitely interested in following in the mold of Mikulski. "I think I can be that kind of fighter," Edwards told Paste BN's weekly video newsmaker series. "I'm looking at it very carefully ... If I can see that there is a pathway to win the election than I'll do it."

EMILY's List says it is "focused on making sure this seat will remain in the hands of a progressive woman who will fight for the families of Maryland — just as Sen. Mikulski has done for over 30 years," said Marcy Stech, a spokeswoman for EMILY's List, the group that supports Democratic women who favor abortion rights.

Edwards is not the only black female lawmaker in the mix: Baltimore Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake has also said she is considering a Senate bid.

"I have a record of bringing people together for getting difficult things done, and I know that Washington needs more of that," Rawlings-Blake said Monday on MSNBC's Morning Joe. "I have to take a hard look at it and figure out how I can best serve Baltimore."

Seven of the eight members of Maryland's congressional delegation have expressed an interest in the 2016 race, as have former NAACP president Benjamin Todd Jealous and former lieutenant governor Kathleen Kennedy Townsend.

In addition to Reid's endorsement, Van Hollen begins the Senate race with about $1.7 million in his bank account. He is a formidable fundraiser, having chaired the House Democratic campaign committee in the 2008 and 2010 election cycles. Van Hollen was tapped in January to serve as the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee's top fundraiser for the 2016 election cycle.