W. Gregory Wims

William Gregory Wims (born September 2, 1949) is an American politician, businessman, and community volunteer who is currently a member of the Maryland House of Delegates from District 39.

Early life and education Wims was born in Bethesda, Maryland on September 2, 1949, to mother Rachel Stewart Wims and father Earl Alexandir Wims, a laborer. He was raised in Stewart Town, a historically Black community near Montgomery Village, Maryland, in a home purchased by his ancestors after slavery.

Wims graduated from Gaithersburg High School in 1968, and later attended Montgomery College until 1970, when he transferred to Howard University.

Career

Wims worked in the prison ministry at the county jail when he was 17 years old.

In the early 1970s, Montgomery County Executive James P. Gleason appointed Wims to the Montgomery County Maryland Human Rights Commission, where he was its youngest member. In 1974, he became the first male Head Start teacher in Montgomery County. In 1976, Wims joined the congressional campaign of U.S. Representative Newton Steers, eventually becoming his chief legislative officer and the first African American from Montgomery County to work on Capitol Hill until 1978. Afterwards, he worked as a legislative assistant to U.S. Representative Melvin H. Evans. From 1997 to 1998, Wims worked as a liaison to Montgomery County's minority community for the Montgomery County Police Department. In September 2000, he was named executive director of the Montgomery Business Alliance and membership director of the Montgomery County Chamber of Commerce.

In January 2000, Wims announced that he would form an exploratory committee to consider a run in the special election for the Montgomery County Council seat in District 1, following the resignation of Republican councilmember Betty Ann Krahnke.

In 2018, Wims unsuccessfully ran for the Montgomery County Democratic Central Committee in District 15, receiving 42.4 percent of the vote. He later served on the transition team of Montgomery County Executive-elect Marc Elrich in November 2018. In July 2021, Elrich appointed Wims to serve as a director for the Montgomery County Regional Service.

As of July 2021, Wims has served on over 30 non-profit boards, including Holy Cross Hospital, the Alliance for the Chesapeake Bay, and Adventist Hospital. He is also the founder of the Victims' Rights Foundation and the Sniper Victims' Fund, and has raised over $2 million for various causes.

In the legislature

In April 2023, Wims applied to fill a vacancy left by the resignation of state delegate Kirill Reznik to serve as the Assistant Secretary for Inter-Departmental Data Integration for the Maryland Department of Human Services. He won the nomination by a vote of 17–6 on April 18, 2023. He was sworn in on May 2, 2023, and is the first descendant of enslaved people elected to the Maryland House of Delegates.

Political positions In 1991, Wims identified as a "moderate conservative" member of the Republican Party. He supported the Supreme Court nomination of Clarence Thomas. In 2020, Wims unsuccessfully ran for delegate to the Democratic National Convention, pledged to former Vice President Joe Biden.

During the 2026 legislative session, Wims supported a bill to raise the minimum wage of Maryland from $15 to $25 an hour and eliminate all subminimum wages. He also introduced the Voting Rights Act, which creates state protections for minority voters in local elections and allows the attorney general of Maryland to sue over practices that weaken minority voting power.

Personal life Wims has a daughter named Rachel Wims, who took over as CEO of the Victims' Rights Foundation in January 2019.