Craig Zucker is an American politician from Maryland's 14th District, which includes parts or all of Silver Spring

Silver Spring, Maryland

Silver Spring is an unincorporated area and census-designated place in Montgomery County, Maryland, United States. It had a population of 71,452 at the 2010 census, making it the fourth most populous place in Maryland, after Baltimore, Columbia, and Germantown.The urbanized, oldest, and...

, Calverton

Calverton, Maryland

Calverton is an unincorporated area and Census-designated place located on the boundary between Montgomery and Prince George's Counties, Maryland.-Geography:As an unincorporated area, Calverton's boundaries are not officially defined...

, Colesville

Colesville, Maryland

Colesville is a census-designated place and an unincorporated area in Montgomery County, Maryland in the USA.-Geography:As an unincorporated area, Colesville's boundaries are not officially defined. Also, many residents consider the town to be one of the many neighborhoods of Silver Spring, Maryland...

, Cloverly

Cloverly, Maryland

Cloverly is a census-designated place and an unincorporated town in Montgomery County, Maryland, United States.-Geography:As an unincorporated area, Cloverly's boundaries are not officially defined. Many residents consider themselves to live in a neighborhood of Silver Spring, Maryland, the...

, Fairland

Fairland, Maryland

Fairland is a census-designated place and an unincorporated area in Montgomery County, Maryland, United States.-Geography:As an unincorporated area, Fairland's boundaries are not officially defined...

, Burtonsville

Burtonsville, Maryland

Burtonsville is a census-designated place and an unincorporated area in Montgomery County, Maryland, United States.-History:In colonial times, the area was referred to as the Patuxent Hundred and later the Eastern Branch Hundred, a community comprising about 100 inhabitants...

, Spencerville, Olney

Olney, Maryland

Olney, a census-designated place and an unincorporated area of Montgomery County, Maryland, USA, is located in the north central part of the county, twenty miles north of Washington, D.C. It was largely agricultural until the 1960s, when growth of the Washington suburbs led to its conversion into...

, Brookeville

Brookeville, Maryland

Brookeville is a town located twenty miles north of Washington, D.C. and two miles north of Olney in northeastern Montgomery County, Maryland. Brookeville was settled by Quakers late in the 18th century, and was formally incorporated as a town in 1808...

, Ashton, Sandy Spring

Ashton-Sandy Spring, Maryland

Ashton-Sandy Spring is a census-designated place in Montgomery County, Maryland, United States. The CDP is designated to include the two unincorporated communities of Ashton and Sandy Spring.-Geography:...

, Brinklow, Laytonsville

Laytonsville, Maryland

Laytonsville is a town in Montgomery County, Maryland, United States. The population was 277 at the 2000 census. Laytonsville was originally known as Cracklintown. This name originated from the popular cracklin bread, which was baked in the locale. This recipe, essentially a bacon corn bread, also...

, Sunshine, Goshen, Montgomery Village and Damascus

Damascus, Maryland

Damascus is a census-designated place and an unincorporated area in Montgomery County, Maryland, United States.In the early part of the 20th century, there was an incorporated municipality there for about a quarter century, but it no longer exists...

 in Montgomery County. He was elected to the Maryland House of Delegates on November 2, 2010, and sworn in on January 12, 2011.

Background

Zucker earned his Bachelors of Science

Bachelors Of Science

Bachelors of Science is the stage name of Phil "Rene", Chris and Lukeino. They met in California and formed a successful act, quickly becoming one of the top drum and bass producers in the electronic music scene...

 from St. Thomas Aquinas College

St. Thomas Aquinas College

St. Thomas Aquinas College is a private four-year liberal arts college in Rockland County, New York that occupies a forty-eight acre campus. Located at 125 Route 340 in Sparkill, New York, the college is named after the medieval philosopher and theologian Thomas Aquinas...

 and his Masters Degree in Government from the Johns Hopkins University

Johns Hopkins University

The Johns Hopkins University, commonly referred to as Johns Hopkins, JHU, or simply Hopkins, is a private research university based in Baltimore, Maryland, United States...

. He lives in Brookeville, Maryland

Brookeville, Maryland

Brookeville is a town located twenty miles north of Washington, D.C. and two miles north of Olney in northeastern Montgomery County, Maryland. Brookeville was settled by Quakers late in the 18th century, and was formally incorporated as a town in 1808...

 with his wife Jenny, his son Benjamin and their dog Bella. Over the years, Zucker has been active in many community organizations, including the Greater Olney Civic Association, the Olney Theatre Center for the Arts and the Manna Food Center. He also served on Maryland's Joint Task Force on Workplace Fraud.

Career

Zucker has worked in public service since graduating from college in the mid 1990s. He began his career as a scheduling assistant to U.S. Senator Bill Bradley

Bill Bradley

William Warren "Bill" Bradley is an American hall of fame basketball player, Rhodes scholar, and former three-term Democratic U.S. Senator from New Jersey. He ran unsuccessfully for the Democratic Party's nomination for President in the 2000 election.Bradley was born and raised in a suburb of St....

 (D-New Jersey) in 1996. He then interned for U.S. Senator Carl Levin

Carl Levin

Carl Milton Levin is a Jewish-American United States Senator from Michigan, serving since 1979. He is the Chairman of the Senate Committee on Armed Services. He is a member of the Democratic Party....

 (D-Michigan) in 1997, served as scheduler for U.S. Senator Barbara Boxer

Barbara Boxer

Barbara Levy Boxer is the junior United States Senator from California . A member of the Democratic Party, she previously served in the U.S. House of Representatives ....

 (D-California) in 1999, and was Legislative Director to Delegate Peter Franchot

Peter Franchot

Peter V. R. Franchot assumed office as the Comptroller of Maryland in January 2007. He was formerly a member of the Maryland House of Delegates, representing the 20th legislative district in Montgomery County, Maryland from 1987 to 2007.-Education and family:Franchot was born in New Haven,...

 (D-Takoma Park) from 1999-2000. He went on to serve as Deputy District Director for U.S. Representative Albert R. Wynn from 2000 to 2004. After working for Congressman Wynn, Zucker worked for Service Employees International Union

Service Employees International Union

Service Employees International Union is a labor union representing about 1.8 million workers in over 100 occupations in the United States , and Canada...

 before becoming Deputy Chief of Staff to Comptroller Peter Franchot

Peter Franchot

Peter V. R. Franchot assumed office as the Comptroller of Maryland in January 2007. He was formerly a member of the Maryland House of Delegates, representing the 20th legislative district in Montgomery County, Maryland from 1987 to 2007.-Education and family:Franchot was born in New Haven,...

 from 2007-10.

House of Delegates

Zucker was elected to the Maryland House of Delegates

Maryland House of Delegates

The Maryland House of Delegates is the lower house of the General Assembly, the state legislature of the U.S. state of Maryland, and is composed of 141 Delegates elected from 47 districts. The House chamber is located in the state capitol building on State Circle in Annapolis...

 in 2010 and sworn in on January 12, 2011. He was assigned to the House Appropriations Committee, the Transportation and the Environment Subcommittee and the Oversight Committee on Pensions.

2010 Same-Sex Marriage Debate

Zucker and the other District 14 Delegates were vocal supporters of the same-sex marriage bill in 2010. He was quoted in March of that year as saying, "The District 14 Team and I can't wait to finally cast our yes votes."

2002 Democratic Primary

In 2002, as a 27-year-old candidate, Zucker ran a competitive race for the Maryland House of Delegates in the newly created District 14. After losing by just 327 votes, he was asked by the District 14 Democratic winners to serve as the chair of their campaign.

Name	Votes	Percent	Outcome
Herman Taylor	5352	16.3%	Won
Karen Montgomery	4678	14.5%	Won
Anne Kaiser	4280	13.3%	Won
Craig Zucker	3953	12.3%	Lost
Allan Mulligan	2970	9.2%	Lost
Robert “Bo” Newsome	2391	7.4%	Lost
Holly Reed	2217	6.9%	Lost
A. Michael Kelly	2151	6.7%	Lost
Michael Dupuy	1420	4.4%	Lost
Mike Cafarelli	1137	3.5%	Lost
Peter Esser	848	2.6%	Lost
Harold Huggins	794	2.5%	Lost

2010 Democratic Primary

In 2010, Zucker ran again for the House of Delegates after then-Delegates Herman L. Taylor, Jr.

Herman L. Taylor, Jr.

Herman L. Taylor, Jr. is an American politician who served as a member of the Maryland House of Delegates from 2003-2011 in Maryland's 14th Legislative District...

 and Karen S. Montgomery

Karen S. Montgomery

Karen Slater Montgomery is an American politician and artist from the state of Maryland. A Democrat, she is currently serving as the state senator for the Maryland State Senate from Maryland's 14th District, which includes parts of Silver Spring, Burtonsville, Olney, Barnesville, Brookeville,...

 decided to run for higher offices. This time Zucker was successful in the Democratic primary, coming in second just behind incumbent Delegate Anne Kaiser

Anne Kaiser

Anne R. Kaiser is an American politician from the state of Maryland and is a lifelong resident of Montgomery County, Maryland. She is currently serving her third term as one of three members of the House of Delegates from Maryland's 14th District, which includes parts of Silver Spring, Calverton,...

.

Name	Votes	Percent	Outcome
Anne Kaiser (incumbent)	6380	24.1%	Won
Craig Zucker	6216	23.5%	Won
Eric Luedtke	3696	14%	Won
Jodi Finkelstein	3154	11.9%	Lost
Robert "Bo" Newsome	2834	10.7%	Lost
Gerald Roper	1660	6.3%	Lost
Neeta Datt	1288	4.9%	Lost
Vanessa Ali	1244	4.7%	Lost

2010 General Election

In the 2010 General Election, Democratic nominees Anne Kaiser

Anne Kaiser

Anne R. Kaiser is an American politician from the state of Maryland and is a lifelong resident of Montgomery County, Maryland. She is currently serving her third term as one of three members of the House of Delegates from Maryland's 14th District, which includes parts of Silver Spring, Calverton,...

, Eric Luedtke

Eric Luedtke

Eric Luedtke is an American politician from Maryland and a member of the Democratic Party. He was elected in 2010 to the Maryland House of Delegates, representing District 14 in Montgomery County, which includes parts of Burtonsville, Silver Spring, Olney, Sandy Spring, Brookeville, and Damascus...

and Craig Zucker faced Republican nominees Patricia Fenati, Henry Kahwaty and Maria Peña-Faustino. All Democratic candidates won in a landslide, with Zucker placing second.

Name	Votes	Percent	Outcome
Anne Kaiser (incumbent)	23503	21.5%	Won
Craig Zucker	22148	20.2%	Won
Eric Luedtke	21165	19.3%	Won
Patricia Fenati	14866	13.6	Lost
Henry Kahwaty	14152	12.9%	Lost
Maria Peña-Faustino	13639	12.5%	Lost