Local Delegation Selects Holmes, Wren for Leadership

Montgomery County’s legislative delegation in the House of Representatives elected its leadership for the next four years Wednesday.

State Rep. Alvin Holmes, a Democrat, will serve as the delegation’s chairman and state Rep. Greg Wren, a Republican, will serve as vice chairman. In the last quadrennium, Holmes served as chairman for the first two years and Wren served as chairman for the last two.

The Montgomery County committee is one of the few standing House Committees headed by a Democrat. The House has seven other standing House committees that mainly handle local legislation for counties in the major metropolitan areas of the state.

Republicans took majorities in both the House and the Senate for the first time in 136 years during the 2010-election cycle. Republican leadership decided to keep the same rules as their predecessors by making a Republican the head of most of the major committees. Democrats hold no major chairmanships.

Holmes, who also is the current longest serving member of the House of Representative and the Dean of the House, said that the delegation’s selection of leadership was by design a bipartisan structure. He said he also believes that the structure would best serve the needs of residents of the city and the county.

Montgomery’s House delegation is made up of four Democrats and two Republicans. In addition to Holmes and Wren, state Reps. Jay Love (R), Thad McClammy (D), Joe Hubbard (D) and John Knight (D) all represent Montgomery County. State Sens. Quinton Ross, a Democrat, and Dick Brewbaker, a Republican, also represent Montgomery County.

— Markeshia Ricks