Donna Edwards

Political Party: Democratic
Current Position: Public interest advocate; community activist; lawyer; Executive director of The Arca Foundation, 2000 – present
District: Four
Political Experience: First executive director of the National Network to End Domestic Violence; executive director for the Center for a New Democracy

This is not original reporting. All information has been compiled from Edwards's campaign web site and The Washington Post. Silver Chips Online posts this news summary to provide readers with a forum for discussion.

After losing to Albert Wynn in the Democratic primary in 2006 by just over three percent, Donna Edwards came back this year to win the primary for the House of Representatives seat. A previous supporter of Wynn, Edwards now believes that Wynn has abandoned the Democrats in favor of Republican views and policies of the Bush Administration, according to Edwards's campaign web site. A well-known civic activist, Edwards is an extreme Democrat with a distinguished record in liberal causes, according to The Washington Post.

Edwards is a strong opponent of the war in Iraq and believes that the United States should start a diplomatic offensive to begin to withdraw troops. Instead of focusing on Iraq, Edwards wants to turn America's attention and resources towards Al Qaeda and the Taliban, who are regrouping in Afghanistan and Pakistan. On an issue closer to home, Edwards claims that after growing up in a military family, she can understand the hardships and sacrifices military members and their families make. She plans to provide quality medical and compensatory services to veterans and military family members.

Edwards draws on her experience as a mother to focus on educational issues. While she agrees with the goals of the No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB), Edwards supports corrective action such as revising the measurements of Adequate Yearly Progress for schools and providing full funding to all schools. Edwards is also a supporter of federal funding for vocational and technical training schools, believing that they provide critical opportunities for students who choose to not attend college.

Edwards has also volunteered in local shelters, worked on 24-hour emergency hotlines and improved community awareness of domestic violence. She wants to offer more to communities to fight domestic violence by funding services and by providing training to personnel to help them better respond to both victims and abusers.