A partner at the law firm of Ivey & Levetown, he served as the state's attorney for Prince George's County, Maryland, from 2002 to 2011.[1] Ivey won the 2022 Democratic primary for the 4th congressional district over Donna Edwards, who previously represented the district for four terms, and then defeated the Republican nominee. According to the Cook Partisan Voting Index, his district is tied with California's 12th for the most Democratic in the country, with an index rating of D+40.[2][3]
After graduating from Harvard Law School in 1986, Ivey worked for the Baltimore law firm of Gordon-Feinblatt.[4] From 1987 to 1988, he worked on Capitol Hill as an aide to U.S. representative John Conyers,[6] after which he returned to law, working for Preston, Gates, Ellis & Rouvelas.[4]
In March 1998, Governor Parris Glendening named Ivey to serve as chairman of the Maryland Public Service Commission.[12] As chairman, Ivey oversaw the deregulation of Maryland's electric power industry and helped the PSC determine how to monitor telephone services and foster competition in the telecommunications industry. On October 18, 2000, Ivey announced that he would resign from the PSC by the end of the month to become a partner at the K&L Gates law firm, and said he was contemplating a 2002 run for Prince George's county state's attorney.[7]
Ivey ran for Prince George's county state's attorney in 2002, seeking to succeed outgoing state's attorney Jack B. Johnson. In the primary, he was endorsed by U.S. representative Albert Wynn,[13] U.S. senator Paul Sarbanes,[14] and The Washington Post.[15] He defeated deputy state's attorney Mark Spencer in the primary with 60.0% of the vote.[16] He ran unopposed in the general election.[17]
Following the end of his second term as state's attorney, Ivey became a partner at Venable LLP[18] before moving to a position as a partner at Leftwich & Ludaway, in Washington, D.C., from 2012 to 2017.[4][9] Afterward, he was a partner at the District-based law firm Price Benowitz.[19] In 2020, Ivey opened his own law firm, Ivey & Levetown, in Greenbelt, Maryland.[20]
Ivey taught trial advocacy at Harvard Law School during winter sessions from 2013 to 2021 and was an adjunct professor at the University of Maryland School of Law from 1995 to 2014.[4][21] He is a past president of the D.C. chapter of the Harvard Law School Association,[22] a former chair of the Maryland Legal Services Corporation,[23] and a former member of the D.C. Bar Association's board of governors.[4]
In July 2020, Prince George's county executive Angela Alsobrooks appointed Ivey to serve as the chair of the county's police reform task force.[24] During committee meetings, Ivey scrutinized policies surrounding pretextual traffic stops, which experts say can enable racial profiling and precipitate a police shooting.[25][26] The committee released its final report on December 3, which included recommendations relating to community engagement, employee hiring and retention, police department finances, internal oversight, and standards and regulations.[27][28]
Ivey ran and was elected twice as state's attorney for Prince George's county and served from January 2003 to January 2011.[31][6][8] In November 2009, he declined to run for Prince George's county executive or for a third term as state's attorney, instead forming an exploratory committee to look at challenging U.S. representative Donna Edwards in the 2010 elections.[32][33] In January 2010, he decided against running for a third term or against Edwards, saying he wanted to return to the private sector after the end of his term.[34]
When Ivey took office in December 2002, Prince George's county had the second-highest crime rate in Maryland. During his two terms as state's attorney, he oversaw reductions in crime and led reform measures that put cameras in police interrogation rooms and prosecuted officers accused of excessive force.[35] He sought to involve community groups in crafting policies and strategies for tackling crime in the county[36] and partnered with faith leaders to assist domestic violence survivors and to gain tougher sentences for convicted offenders.[37]
In October 2002, following the arrest of D.C. snipersLee Boyd Malvo and John Allen Muhammad, Ivey declined to prosecute them in his county because of their murder convictions in both Maryland and Virginia.[38]
In July 2008, Ivey's office faced intense public scrutiny to hold someone accountable following the strangulation death of 19-year-old Ronnie White, who was accused of killing a police officer.[6][40] In December, the grand jury involved in the death investigation had concluded its deliberations, determining that it had insufficient evidence to bring down indictments in the case.[41] After a yearlong investigation, Ivey announced that there was no evidence to support murder charges against jail employees.[42] The Department of Justice also reviewed the case[43] and concluded that there was insufficient evidence to charge anyone with murder or manslaughter.[44]
In August 2010, Ivey endorsed Angela Alsobrooks, the executive director of the Prince George's county revenue authority, to succeed him as Prince George's county state's attorney.[45][46]
U.S. House of Representatives (2023–present)
Ivey was sworn into the United States House of Representatives on January 3, 2023, succeeding Anthony Brown.
In September 2015, Ivey announced that he would again run for the House of Representatives in Maryland's 4th congressional district, seeking to succeed Edwards, who unsuccessfully ran for United States Senate in 2016.[37]
The primary was held on April 26, 2016. Brown defeated Ivey, 41.6% to 34.0%, a margin of 8,712 votes out of 114,623 cast. Peña-Melnyk took 19.0%.[60] Ivey worked as an attorney in private practice following his loss.[61]
On October 26, 2021, Ivey again declared his candidacy for the House of Representatives in Maryland's 4th congressional district, seeking to succeed outgoing Representative Anthony Brown, who ran for attorney general of Maryland in 2022.[61][62]
Ivey turned a 13-point deficit into a five-point lead over Edwards by early June,[72] weeks before United Democracy Project began running TV ads on June 17.[73][74]
The primary was held on July 19, 2022. Ivey defeated Edwards, 51.8% to 35.2%, a margin of 13,677 votes out of 82,662 cast. Former state delegate Angela Angel took 5.7% of the vote.[75][76][77]
Ivey won the general election on November 8, 2022, defeating Republican nominee Jeff Warner.[78]
Political positions
Capital punishment
When Ivey first took office as state's attorney in 2002, he said he believed in using the death penalty.[79] He sought the death penalty several times during his tenure as state's attorney,[80][81][82] and said in November 2007 that he filed notice of his intent to seek death in case about once a year.[83]
In February 2009, Ivey testified before the Maryland House of Delegates' Judicial Proceedings Committee that he had had a change of heart during his time as state's attorney, particularly because of the effect the process had on victims' families.[79] In January 2012, he called the death penalty a "political tool".[84] Ahead of the 2013 legislative session, Ivey pushed for a bill that would repeal the death penalty in Maryland, which became law.[85][86]
Ivey opposes the Iran nuclear deal negotiated by the Obama administration in 2015. In December 2021, he said he wanted a commitment to "full and neutral inspections [of Iranian nuclear sites]" and an end to Iran's funding of Hamas and Hezbollah before the U.S. reenters the deal.[21]
Israel
In 2006, Ivey traveled to Israel with other local elected officials on a Jewish Community Relations Council trip.[88] He took two trips between September 2023 and October 2024 organized by AIPAC.[89]
Ivey supports a two-state solution to the Israeli–Palestinian conflict and "Israel's right to exist and defend itself".[68][21] In December 2021, he said he would vote to fund Israel's Iron Dome missile-defense system and opposed placing conditions on U.S. foreign aid to Israel to leverage components of negotiations about a two-state solution.[21]
Ivey received $807,215 in campaign contributions from pro-Israel sources.[92]
Gun policy
As state's attorney, Ivey sought increased sentences for gun offenders, targeting those who carry or store guns illegally, regardless of whether the weapon is used in crimes or if the person charged is a first-time offender. He also said he supported the "Boston Strategy" for youth violence, which involves targeting gangs and prosecuting all offenders tied to a crime to get long sentences.[93][94] In March 2008, Ivey joined an amicus curae brief in the U.S. Supreme Court case District of Columbia v. Heller in support of the District of Columbia's handgun ban.[95] In March 2010, he signed onto an amicus curae written by the Association of Prosecuting Attorneys for the U.S. Supreme Court in McDonald v. Chicago.[96]
In April 2023, Ivey introduced his first bill, the Raise The Age Act, which would raise the legal age to buy a semi-automatic rifle or shotgun from 18 to 21.[98][99]
During his 2022 campaign, Ivey said he would seek to tie federal police funding to departments serious about rethinking policing tactics.[103] He also said he would be willing to work with police to fight crime while "holding accountable" officers engaged in misconduct.[64] He does not support the "Defund the Police" movement, arguing that it damaged Democrats electorally and served as a "distraction" from real issues.[21]
In November 2022, Ivey said he supported bringing the new Federal Bureau of Investigation headquarters to Prince George's County, later citing it as one of his top priorities.[105][106] In March 2023, Ivey joined other Democratic members of Maryland's congressional delegation, Governor Wes Moore, and Prince George's County Executive Angela Alsobrooks in co-signing a letter to President Joe Biden asking him to get involved in the FBI's headquarters selection process.[107] In November 2023, the General Services Administration announced that it would locate the FBI's new headquarters in Greenbelt, Maryland.[108]
Electoral history
Prince George's County State's Attorney Democratic primary election, 2002[109]
Ivey met his future wife, Jolene Stephenson, through a mutual friend who attended Stephenson's high school and Ivey's law school. They have been married since 1988, have five children—including Maryland delegate Julian Ivey—and live in Cheverly, Maryland. Ivey also has another daughter from a previous relationship.[118] He is a Protestant.[119]
In February 2004, Ivey took a leave of absence of several weeks to undergo surgery to remove a bean-sized cancertumor on his kidney. His doctors told him that the cancer was detected early and his chances of a full recovery were good.[120] He has been cancer-free since.[121]