Senator Jim Rosapepe Contact information

James Carew Rosapepe was born on May 20, 1951, in Rome, Italy, where his parents were working as American journalists. His grandparents migrated to the United States from Russia in the early 20th century. Rosapepe grew up in New York before moving to Arlington County, Virginia, in the late 1960s. He attended Yale University as an undergraduate, but did not graduate, and later attended Georgetown University.

Rosapepe has been involved in politics since he was 17 years old. While living in Arlington, he served as the president of the Arlington Youth Council. Rosapepe took a year off from attending Yale to work as an intern to the President’s Council on Youth Opportunity within the Nixon administration. During his internship, he was the subject of multiple White House memos that questioned whether he should have a voice in the Youth Conference, citing his activism and anti-Nixon views. Despite these memos, White House aide Steve Hess, who hired Rosapepe, said that he would not consider discharging him as the council also included members of the right-wing Young Americans for Freedom organization, and that having “some radical liberals” in the Youth Conference gave it credibility.

Afterwards, Rosapepe worked as a policy assistant to various congressmembers, for whom he worked on macroeconomic and competition issues. From 1979 to 1981, he served as a member of the National Petroleum Council. Rosapepe worked for the Maryland Committee on Federal Income Tax Conformity in 1982, and afterwards chaired the Economic Development Committee for the city of College Park, Maryland, until 1986. He also served as a member of the Maryland Democratic State Central Committee from 1985 to 1992, and later as the treasurer of the Maryland Democratic Party from 1985 to 1989 and as its deputy chair 1989 to 1992.

Rosapepe served in the Maryland House of Delegates from 1987 to 1997 and as the U.S. Ambassador to Romania from 1998 to 2001. He has been a member of the Maryland Senate representing District 21 since 2007. He is a member of the Democratic Party.