Craig Lamont Rice (born September 27, 1972) is an American politician and former member of the Montgomery County Council, serving from 2010 to 2022. Elected in 2006 to the

Maryland House of Delegates The Maryland House of Delegates is the lower house of the Maryland General Assembly, legislature of the U.S. state of Maryland. It consists of 141 delegates elected from 47 districts. The House of Delegates Chamber is in the Maryland State House ...

, he served one four-year term and represented District 15 in western and northern

Montgomery County Montgomery County may refer to: Australia * The former name of Montgomery Land District, Tasmania United Kingdom * The historic county of Montgomeryshire, Wales, also called County of Montgomery United States * Montgomery County, Alabama * Montg ...

Early life and education

Rice was born in a

Washington, D.C. Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly known as Washington or D.C., is the capital city and federal district of the United States. The city is on the Potomac River, across from Virginia, and shares land borders with ...

hospital but raised in the suburbs of

Montgomery County, Maryland Montgomery County is the most populous County (United States), county in the U.S. state of Maryland. As of the 2020 United States census, the county's population was 1,062,061, increasing by 9.3% from 2010. The county seat is Rockville, Maryland ...

. He graduated from

Montgomery Blair High School Montgomery Blair High School (MBHS) is a State school, public Secondary school, high school in the Four Corners, Maryland, Four Corners neighborhood of Silver Spring, Maryland, United States. It is operated by Montgomery County Public Schools (M ...

. He attended the

University of Illinois The University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign (UIUC, U of I, Illinois, or University of Illinois) is a public university, public land-grant university, land-grant research university in the Champaign–Urbana metropolitan area, Illinois, United ...

, majoring in

aerospace engineering Aerospace engineering is the primary field of engineering concerned with the development of aircraft and spacecraft. It has two major and overlapping branches: aeronautical engineering and astronautical engineering. Avionics engineering is s ...

. Following a family tragedy, Rice returned home and transferred to

University of Maryland The University of Maryland, College Park (University of Maryland, UMD, or simply Maryland) is a public land-grant research university in College Park, Maryland, United States. Founded in 1856, UMD is the flagship institution of the Univ ...

, where he majored in

computer science Computer science is the study of computation, information, and automation. Computer science spans Theoretical computer science, theoretical disciplines (such as algorithms, theory of computation, and information theory) to Applied science, ...

. Prior to entering politics, Rice was a senior sales manager for

Marriott International Marriott International, Inc. is an American multinational corporation, multinational company that operates, franchises, and licenses lodging brands that include hotel, residential, and timeshare properties. Marriott International owns over 37 ho ...

Personal life

He is married to Tineshia "Tia" Rice, the owner of AnaLyn Studio Salon located in downtown Bethesda. He is father of three children, Alex, Anaiya, and Caelyn.

Political career

Rice was elected in 2006 to serve in the state house with incumbents Kathleen Dumais and Brian Feldman, defeating incumbent Jean Cryor, Montgomery County's lone Republican representative. He served on the House Ways and Means Committee and the Montgomery County delegation's Land Use and Transportation Committee. While in the legislature, Rice worked as a business development consultant for the government of Puerto Rico. In 2010, Rice won a five-way Democratic primary for Montgomery County Council, District 2. He defeated Republican

Robin Ficker Robin Keith Annesley Ficker (born April 5, 1943) is an American political activist, real estate broker, former attorney (disbarred), former state legislator, infamous sports heckler, and perennial political candidate from Maryland. Ficker ser ...

in the General Election. This, at the time, made him the youngest African American to serve on the Council and only the second African American man to serve in that role. Rice served on the Council's Education Committee and the Health and Human Services Committee, becoming Chair of the Education Committee in 2013. In 2013, Rice was elected the Council President, succeeding

Nancy Navarro Nancy Navarro (born August 15, 1965) is a Venezuelan-American politician and the first Latina county council member in Montgomery County, Maryland. She served on the county council from 2009 to 2022, representing District 4, the largest and most ...

. Rice was re-elected to the County Council in 2014. In 2015, Rice began organizing Education Budget Forums throughout the County. Rice was appointed to the Kirwan Commission on public education in Maryland, where he chairs the commission’s work group on early childhood education. Rice was re-elected to a third term on the County Council in 2018. Rice has received many awards over the course of his career. In 2018 he received the 2018 Metropolitan Kappa Youth Foundation Cornerstone Award for Education and Leadership. In 2019, Rice received The Montgomery County Board of Education’s Award for Distinguished Service to Public Education Community Individual.

Election results

*2018 Race for Montgomery County Council – District 2 ::Voters to choose one: : *2014 Race for Montgomery County Council – District 2 ::Voters to choose one: : *2010 Race for Montgomery County Council – District 2 ::Voters to choose one: : *2006 Race for Maryland House of Delegates – District 15 ::Voters to choose three: :

References

External links

Maryland Manual Online
(

Maryland State Archives The Maryland State Archives serves as the central depository for government records of permanent value. Its holdings date from Maryland's founding in 1634, and include colonial and state executive, legislative, and judicial records; county pro ...

) {{DEFAULTSORT:Rice, Craig L. Democratic Party members of the Maryland House of Delegates African-American state legislators in Maryland Living people 1972 births People from Germantown, Maryland Members of the Montgomery County Council (Maryland) 21st-century African-American politicians County commissioners in Maryland 21st-century members of the Maryland General Assembly