Representative Courtney Watson Contact information

Mary Courtney Watson was born on September 8, 1962, in Baltimore, Maryland. She attended Howard County public schools and graduated from Atholton High School in Columbia, Maryland. She furthered her education at Howard Community College and Loyola College in Maryland, where she earned a B.A. degree in business in 1984 and an M.B.A. degree in 1986.

After graduating, she started her own business, which she operated until 1991. Afterwards, she became the vice-president of sales at Rossmann-Hurt-Hoffman, a local insurance company. In 1997, after finding out about crowding at Ilchester Elementary School, Watson joined a local parents committee to lobby for strengthening county laws that limit development around crowded schools. She later co-founded County-Wide Citizens for the 12th High School, which lobbied for the opening of a new elementary school near Waterloo and a 12th high school in northwest Howard. The elementary school, Bellows Spring Elementary School, opened in 2003 and the high school, Marriotts Ridge High School, opened in 2005.

Watson was eventually appointed to Howard County’s Adequate Public Facilities Ordinance Committee by county executive James N. Robey. In April 2002, Watson filed to run for the Howard County Board of Education, seeking to succeed board chairwoman Jane B. Schuchardt. She won the nonpartisan primary election in September, receiving 62 percent of the vote. At the time of her election, Watson was the youngest person on the Board of Education and was the only member with a child in the county school system. She won the general election with 67.6 percent of the vote.

In December 2005, Watson announced her candidacy for the Howard County Council in District 1, seeking to succeed county council chairman Christopher J. Merdon. She won the general election with 52.3 percent of the vote. In September 2013, Watson announced her candidacy for Howard County executive, seeking to succeed Ken Ulman. She was defeated by state Senator Allan Kittleman, receiving 48.7 percent of the vote in the general election.

In March 2015, Watson launched Bridge to Give, a charitable organization. The organization did not collect any money or donations, instead using Facebook as a tool to bring awareness of need in different areas of the community.

Currently, Mary Courtney Watson is a Democratic member of the Maryland House of Delegates. She was previously a member of the Howard County Council from 2006 to 2014, and she was a member of the Howard County Board of Education from 2002 to 2006.