In today’s installment in our series of Conversations with the Candidates, we speak with Tekesha Martinez, the Mayor of Hagerstown, Maryland.

The Democrat is one of 16 candidates running for U.S. Congress in the 6th Congressional District this year. The incumbent in that seat, Rep. David Trone, is running for the Senate against Prince George’s County Executive Angela Alsobrooks.

District 6, in the northwest part of our state, includes all of Garrett, Allegany, Frederick, and Washington counties as well as part of Montgomery County.

Mayor Martinez was born in Hagerstown. According to her campaign website, she grew up in the foster care system and experienced occasional homelessness. A spoken word artist and trained mediator, at age 45 she is now the first Black Mayor of her hometown.