Nino Mangione

Antonino D. Mangione ( ; born April 1, 1987) is an American politician and radio host who has been a member of the Baltimore County Council for the 3rd district since 2026. A member of the Republican Party, he served in the Maryland House of Delegates from 2019 to 2026, representing District 42B from 2019 to 2023 and District 42A from 2023 to 2026.

Mangione has described himself as a conservative Republican.

Early life and education Mangione was born in Baltimore County, Maryland, He graduated from Calvert Hall College High School, where he played as a sweeper for the school's soccer team, and afterwards attended Towson University, where he earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in political science in 2009. After graduating, Mangione worked as an intern, and later a show host from 2017 to 2018, with WCBM 680, a talk radio station owned by his family. His family has close ties to Baltimore's Italian-American community, with his grandfather, Joseph N. Zannino Jr., having been a member of the Order Sons of Italy in America and the steering committee for the first Columbus Day national holiday celebration.

Political career In July 2017, Mangione filed to run for Maryland House of Delegates. He won the general election alongside Democrat Michele Guyton with 28.6 percent of the vote.

Baltimore County Council In June 2023, Mangione announced that he would run for the Maryland Senate in District 42 in 2026, challenging incumbent state senator Chris West, who later announced he would not seek re-election. Mangione later announced that he would instead run for the Baltimore County Council, seeking to succeed Wade Kach, who was retiring. During the Republican primary, he ran on a "Strong Republican Leadership" slate with Baltimore County Executive candidate Patrick Dyer and Maryland General Assembly candidates Kevin Ford, Jeff McDonald, and Chuck Murphy. Mangione won the Republican primary election on June 23, 2026, defeating riverkeeper Theaux Le Gardeur. He faces Democratic nominee Shawn McIntosh in the general election.

In May 2026, after Kach suddenly resigned from the county council, Mangione applied to serve the remainder of Kach's term. The District 3 Republican Central Committee voted to appoint Mangione to the Baltimore County Council on May 30, and he was sworn in on June 1.

Political positions During his tenure in the Maryland House of Delegates, Mangione described himself as a conservative Republican. He criticized policies that he claimed has led to increased crime, added bureaucratic burdens to the state's education system, and shifted tax dollars toward "woke" social policies. Mangione has cited Donald Trump as the person he admires most both inside and outside of politics.

During the 2024 legislative session, Mangione introduced a bill that would sentence people convicted of first-degree murder to death.

During the 2026 legislative session, Mangione opposed proposals to restrict housing of children charged as adults inside adult jails, arguing that adult facilities are likely better equipped to deal with children accused of committing serious offenses.

Development issues Mangione is a vocal critic of the Maryland Piedmont Reliability Project, a proposed 70-mile power line that would go through Baltimore, Carroll, and Frederick counties. In March 2026, Mangione said he opposed moving the Urban-Rural Demarcation Line, which strictly limits development in rural parts of Baltimore County.

During the 2021 legislative session, Mangione cosponsored legislation that would ban convicted sex offenders from being students at Maryland public schools.

In July 2021, Mangione called for the firing of Baltimore City school administrators after an investigation by WBFF found that 41 percent of all Baltimore City high school students earned less than a 1.0 grade-point average.

In 2022, Mangione signed a pledge to Moms for Liberty. During the 2024 legislative session, Mangione introduced a bill to ban "sexually explicit" material in public school libraries and unsuccessfully sought to add the bill onto the Freedom to Read Act, which prohibits public and school libraries from banning books based on partisan, ideological, or religious reasons, or based an author's origin, background, or views.

Immigration During his 2018 campaign, Mangione was a vocal opponent to illegal immigration and said that he would not support legislation that would turn Maryland into a sanctuary state. During the 2025 legislative session, after a man who had entered the United States illegally was arrested in connection with the murder of Rachel Morin in June 2024, Mangione introduced the Rachel Morin Act, which would prohibit counties and towns from adopting sanctuary city policies and require jurisdictions to fully cooperate with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents.

During the 2026 legislative session, Mangione opposed bills that would ban 287(g) program agreements between Maryland counties and ICE and prohibit Maryland State Police from hiring anyone who worked for ICE during the second presidency of Donald Trump. In February 2026, he wrote an open letter to Baltimore County Public Schools superintendent Myriam Rogers in which he described student protests against ICE operations as an "insurrection", urging school officials to "take any and all actions necessary to prevent any disruption of BCPS operations" and asking if there was anything he could do to prevent the protests.

Policing During the 2026 legislative session, Mangione opposed a bill that would prohibit law enforcement officers from wearing face coverings while on duty, questioning how the state could regulate federal immigration agencies who are constitutionally allowed to operate throughout the U.S.

Social issues During protests against the murder of George Floyd in June 2020, protesters in the Little Italy neighborhood of Baltimore tore down and threw a statue of Christopher Columbus into the Jones Falls canal of the Baltimore Harbor. Following this incident, Mangione and state delegate Kathy Szeliga wrote to Governor Larry Hogan calling on him to deploy the Maryland National Guard to protect the statue. He later introduced legislation that would prohibit any person from destroying, damaging, vandalizing or desecrating a monument, memorial, or statue of historical significance.

In 2023, Mangione voted against the Trans Health Equity Act, a bill that would require the state's Medicaid program to cover gender-affirming treatment. He later criticized the legislature for passing the bill, saying that he was upset about the direction of the legislative session: "We've promoted issues like trans equity but we haven't really done anything about crime." During the 2025 legislative session, Mangione introduced a bill to ban "sexually explicit" books in public school libraries.

Personal life Mangione is a cousin of Luigi Mangione, a Towson man who in December 2024 was arrested and later charged with first-degree murder in connection with the killing of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson. Following his arrest, Nino released a statement on behalf of the Mangione family expressing shock with Luigi's arrest and sympathy toward the Thompson family, and asked the public for prayers for everyone involved. Mangione also postponed a campaign fundraising event that was to be held at Hayfields Country Club, which is owned by the Mangione family, in light of Luigi's arrest. He has since refused to answer questions about Luigi.

Electoral history