Antonio’s service to Baltimore began 25 years ago, when he became an officer in his community association. That spirit of service goes hand-in-hand with his commitment to action, a commitment Antonio learned by watching his great grandmother usher neighbors to the grocery store from his childhood home in Penn North. Antonio’s grandmother taught him that being present is important, but that delivering is what makes a difference.  Over the next two and half decades of Antonio’s career as a Community Organizer, Legislative Director, and Assistant Deputy Mayor, he has delivered time and again for Baltimore.

Antonio’s career began as a Community Organizer for the State of Maryland’s HotSpots program, where he worked to combat crime in our communities. He then served as Legislative Director for Baltimore’s City Council President, helping guide legislation that advanced our schools, improved our housing, and created jobs.  His next challenge was serving as Assistant Deputy Mayor for the City of Baltimore, overseeing the City’s public safety agencies. During his tenure crime decreased every year, with arrests also decreasing. We took action, and that action delivered results.

Today Antonio serves as the Chief of Staff for the Baltimore City Department of Social Services, where he helps children who have been abused or neglected, and low-income families in need of public assistance. His job is to do the most, for those who have the least.  During his time at the Department of Social Services, Antonio’s team has reduced the number of children in foster care by over 58%. They achieved that success by improving the children’s rate of placement with long-term families.

His job is to do the most, for those who have the least.

After two decades of working in our neighborhoods, Antonio’s neighbors sent him to continue his service in the House of Delegates. As a legislator, he remains steadfast in his commitment to act on behalf of our neighbors: In just two years his team spurred local business by investing $1.3 million in Coppin State’s business school, his team fought alcoholism by doubling the fine for liquor stores that sell to minors, his team cared for our children by investing $300,000 in Morrell Park Little League and $300,000 in James Mosher Baseball- the first state support its received in 57 years- and his team began addressing mental illness and addiction by fighting to keep Medicaid on par with the cost of living.  Real results like these led Antonio to be named one of the 10 most effective freshman delegates in the State of Maryland

You’ll notice that when Antonio talks, he uses the word “we” a lot. That’s because his office has worked tirelessly with the community at every turn, which includes empowering neighborhood leaders to run his office’s scholarship committee. These community relationships are incredibly important, and sustaining them depends on real results– not hot air and big promises. That’s why Antonio began a newsletter letting folks know what his office has accomplished - Voting is an investment in leadership, and every voter deserves to know whether their investment has paid off.

Antonio currently occupies the 40th District’s Senate seat, because our neighborhoods deserve a leader who will deliver. Antonio grew up watching politicians make big promises to his family and his neighbors about what they’d do for the community, about how hard they were working for us, about how we’d turn the corner tomorrow - We just needed to give them one more chance to get it right today. For too many in Baltimore, that long promised tomorrow has yet to come.

Our neighborhoods deserve a leader who will deliver.

The greatest guarantee of what will happen tomorrow is what takes place today, and today Antonio stands before our community with a track record of success you can see, rooted in a fierce commitment to the urgency of now. The ideas and inaction of the past must be left in the past, as a reminder that our legacy lays ahead of us– not in the shadows of a setting sun, but in the bright light of a new day. Antonio is committed to that new day, and the future it holds for the 40th District. He is committed to delivering for the district, just like his grandmother taught him to as a child, and just like he has done in the decades since.