Young Bethesdan Kicks Off Campaign to Run for District Delegate

Jordan Cooper may not have reached his 30th birthday yet, but he already has a vision of how he can help Montgomery County.

Last month, Cooper—a Democrat—announced that he is running in the November 2014 election for the position of District 16 delegate to the Maryland General Assembly.

Cooper, 28, is 2003 graduate of Walter Johnson High School. Born and raised in the Bethesda area, he served as a page for the Maryland General Assembly in high school, taught high school civics in DC, worked in Baltimore as a legislative aid for two years, earned a master's degree in health policy from Johhs Hopkins University and has been volunteering in the community since he was a child. 

He's also worked on about a dozen campaigns, but this is his first time as a candidate.

Currently, District 16's three delegates to the Maryland General Assembly are C. William Frick (D), Ariana B. Kelly (D) and Susan C. Lee (D).

Cooper's youth, he says, is an advantage, because he understands the concerns of younger people—the ones whom, he says, Montgomery County must attract if the county is to maintain a sustainable tax base.

He understands what it's like to be a Millennial in the midst of the instability of the recession—to take on low-paying jobs to make ends meet, to follow "all the rules" (go to college, study hard, etc.) and still have difficulty finding employment and paying the rent, to have to commute by bicycle, to have to move back in with one's parents, and to be faced with high student loans in an uncertain economy.

"It's wrong that our generation is graduating from school with [the equivalent of] a house mortgage before owning a house."

Some of the ways in which the county can be improved, Cooper says, are to focus on transit-oriented development (like the White Flint redevelopment project) and to institute bus-rapid transit lanes to expedite transit up and down Rockville Pike. Bicycle lanes and more affordable housing also would help.

Right now, it's "difficult to live near public transit in this area" because of the high rents and house prices, he told Patch.

"I don’t have all the solutions, but I am going out every single day," asking people what challenges the county faces, and what may work to solve those challenges. "I don’t have all the answers but I’m ... engaging with the community every day, trying to learn more about what the county needs," Cooper told Patch.

In 14 months, Cooper plans to knock on 14,000 doors, using his "youthful energy to reach every voter," or as many voters as possible.

Cooper already has an idea of what some of the concerns of District 16 residents are. People have mentioned to him that they are worried about the achievement gap in the schools, traffic in the county, jobs and the economy, and real estate and other taxes that small business owners must pay, he said.

For Cooper, public service is very important. "I dedicate my life to public service—it’s just being part of something larger than yourself, it provides a sense of meaning. ... The pursuit of justice and making a ... more efficient and fair society appeals to me," he said.

Learn more about Cooper and his campaign at his website, www.cooperformaryland.com.