James Carew Rosapepe is an American politician from Maryland

Maryland

Maryland is a U.S. state located in the Mid Atlantic region of the United States, bordering Virginia, West Virginia, and the District of Columbia to its south and west; Pennsylvania to its north; and Delaware to its east...

 and a member of the Democratic Party

Democratic Party (United States)

The Democratic Party is one of two major contemporary political parties in the United States, along with the Republican Party. The party's socially liberal and progressive platform is largely considered center-left in the U.S. political spectrum. The party has the lengthiest record of continuous...

. He is currently serving in his 1st term in the Maryland State Senate

Maryland State Senate

The Maryland Senate, sometimes referred to as the Maryland State Senate, is the upper house of the General Assembly, the state legislature of the U.S. state of Maryland...

, representing Maryland's District 21 in Prince George's

Prince George's County, Maryland

Prince George's County is a county located in the U.S. state of Maryland, immediately north, east, and south of Washington, DC. As of 2010, it has a population of 863,420 and is the wealthiest African-American majority county in the nation....

 and Anne Arundel

Anne Arundel County, Maryland

Anne Arundel County is a county located in the U.S. state of Maryland. It is named for Anne Arundell , a member of the ancient family of Arundells in Cornwall, England and the wife of Cæcilius Calvert, 2nd Baron Baltimore. Its county seat is Annapolis, which is also the capital of the state...

 Counties.

Background

Rosapepe was born in Rome, Italy. He was first 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 1986, serving 2 full and one partial terms before being appointed as Ambassador

Ambassador

An ambassador is the highest ranking diplomat who represents a nation and is usually accredited to a foreign sovereign or government, or to an international organization....

 to Romania

Romania

Romania is a country located at the crossroads of Central and Southeastern Europe, on the Lower Danube, within and outside the Carpathian arch, bordering on the Black Sea...

 during the Clinton administration. Upon his recall from Romania, Rosapepe was appointed to serve on the Board of Regents of the University System of Maryland

University System of Maryland

The University System of Maryland is a public corporation and charter school system comprising 12 Maryland institutions of higher education. It is the 12th-largest university system in the United States, with over 125,000 undergraduate, 43,000 graduate and roughly 13,000 combined full-time and...

. He left that board to run against incumbent Senator John Giannetti

John A. Giannetti, Jr.

John A. Giannetti, Jr. is an American politician and attorney from Maryland. As a Democrat, Giannetti was elected to the Maryland House of Delegates in 1998 for District 13B and served from 1999 to 2003. In 2002 he was elected into the State Senate for District 21, which covers parts of Anne...

in District 21.

In the legislature

Rosapepe defeated the incumbent Senator, John Giannetti, in the 2006 election. Giannetti had been accused of being too conservative by many Democrats, specifically for his position against an assault weapons ban in Maryland. After his defeat in the primary election, Giannetti switched parties to run against Rosapepe as a Republican, and was again defeated. Rosapepe currently sits on the Education, Health, and Environmental Affairs Committee and serves as a Deputy Majority Whip.