By SHARON O’MALLEY
The University of Maryland (UMD) chaplain who won the election to fill the vacant District 3 College Park City Council seat took the oath of office on March 18.
Ray Ranker, who tallied 344 out of 512 votes cast in the March 11 special election, took his seat on the dais after College Park Mayor Fazlul Kabir swore him in. His wife, Karin Brown, their children David and Lucia, and his mother, Cindy Ranker, stood with him.
Ranker thanked the residents of District 3 “for your trust and this responsibility to be a good steward of your resources.”
Ranker beat lifelong Old Town resident Michael Meadow, who won 99 votes, and UMD student Gannon Sprinkle, who took 69, according to the Board of Elections Supervisors.
After his victory, Ranker told College Park Here & Now, “There are just a lot of amazing people who are, in so many different ways, making our community stronger, more connected, better. I’m excited to build on that.”
Ranker, a longtime College Park Estates resident who leads UMD’s Lutheran Campus Ministry, said he expects to dive right into city budget planning during the first month or so of his term, which will end in November. He may choose to run for re-election during the city’s regular council election, which occurs every two years.
At that time, voters will select a mayor and fill all eight city council seats. None of the incumbent councilmembers has declared as a candidate for that election yet.
Ranker filled the seat left vacant by former District 3 Councilmember Stuart Adams, who resigned in January, citing family responsibilities.
“I can really advocate for the kinds of changes that folks in [District 3] want to see reflected in the annual budget that’s coming up,” Ranker said.“It’s one of the best opportunities to help reflect our city’s values and hopes through how we spend our money, [and] to be good stewards of that process.”
Ranker said he plans to reach out to Meadow, a federal government engineer, and Sprinkle, a junior government and politics major, “to help move College Park forward together.”
In a post-election interview, Meadow said he will make himself available.
“I’m happy to help out in any way I can to help him succeed,” Meadow said. “If we have a successful city councilmember, that benefits us all. If he succeeds, we all succeed in College Park.”
Meadow, whose campaign for city council was his first foray into politics, said he has not decided if he will run again in November.
Ranker’s District 3 colleague, Councilmember John Rigg, said Ranker ran “a great campaign.”
Rigg said he has known Ranker for some time and noted, “He has an excellent reputation in the community.”
Ranker, 42, previously served for seven years as the president of the College Park Estates Civic Association and on a city commission tasked with recommending term lengths for elected officials. He made an unsuccessful run for the Maryland House of Delegates in 2018, and ran for city council on a platform of inclusivity and citizen involvement.
Mayor Fazlul Kabir said having a councilmember from Ranker’s neighborhood, which is near the College Park Airport, will be “a good thing for the entire District 3. … He’ll be a good asset to the College Park City Council.”
