Maryland’s newest congressman is also the newest member of his family to hold elected office, though politics wasn’t quite supposed to be the family business — it just turned out that way.
Cheverly’s Glenn Ivey is beginning his first term representing Maryland’s 4th Congressional District. His wife, Jolene, who he met years ago while working on Capitol Hill, has just begun her second term representing District 5 on the Prince George’s County Council.
Later this month, their son Julian, who, like his parents, also lives in Cheverly, begins his second term representing District 47A in Maryland’s House of Delegates.
But Jolene said politics isn’t necessarily what drew her and Glenn together — it was just something they both had in common.
“I think Glenn really led the way in the family as far as showing us the best way to be in politics,” said Jolene. “He has a level of integrity that can actually be annoying if you’re married to him, but it’s really the best kind of person you want to represent you.”
Through the years, Glenn has served two terms as the Prince George’s County State’s Attorney. Jolene served two terms in Maryland’s House of Delegates, where Julian serves now. She also ran for lieutenant governor of Maryland in 2014, aligned with former Attorney General Doug Gansler, before getting back into politics at the county council level.
Julian began his political career on the Cheverly Town Council before getting elected to the House of Delegates.
“When I first ran for office, there were zero Iveys currently elected,” he said, adding that it was his friends, not his parents, who got him to run for office in Cheverly.
“I grew up watching politics, but it’s not like I was drawn toward getting into it. This is the last thing I expected to do. But they just made such a huge impact as I’ve watched them go about their professional lives that it at this point as I look back, it looks like a seamless transition.”
Glenn said when friends will tease them about all the elected offices they hold, he’ll jokingly describe the family as “like the Kennedys but without the money.”
But, Julian said, there was never really an expectation or push for him to follow in his parents’ footsteps.
“That’s not their style of parenting,” said Julian. “They want us to find our passions and to go explore those.”
Glenn and Jolene credit Julian with running Glenn’s campaign for Congress, praising his strategic decisions in a contested primary. Now, the three of them see a unique opportunity to deliver for their overlapping districts in Prince George’s County.
“Collectively, there’s a huge opportunity for us to impact Prince George’s County in a way that we haven’t really seen,” said Julian.
There have already been joint meetings between family and staffers to work toward that: “It’s important that we actually get the work done,” he added.
His dad echoed that, saying, “We’ve got the opportunity to have multiple ways to try and bring things back to the community.”
Combined, the three Iveys garnered over 175,000 votes this past November. But life is about more than just campaigns and policy.
“We do have regular dinner conversations,” said Julian.
There’s a reason for that.
“We certainly have family members that hear about politics more than they care to,” added Glenn. “I’ve got six kids altogether. There’s a lot of folks doing great things in our family that aren’t in politics, and we’re cheering them on and supporting them as well.”
Asked about who his favorite elected leader was, Glenn went diplomatic, while Jolene and Julian listened carefully as everyone laughed.
“We all have different styles and different skill sets,” and it was quickly clear that since there was no right answer, there wasn’t really going to be an answer.
“You knew you weren’t going to get that answer, right?” he asked with a smile, turning it back on the reporter.
And whose campaign sign gets the prime spot in the front yard?
“It depends on whose name is on the ballot and has an opponent,” joked Jolene.
In 2022, she and Julian ran unopposed, while Glenn had to get through a primary.
“Julian and I both kind of stepped back and just supported him,” she said. “We didn’t really do a lot for ourselves because we were so focused on helping him.”
