The former mayor of Ocean City, Maryland, was born on September 2, 1951 in Baltimore, Maryland. During his childhood, he lived in Baltimore City, Baltimore County and Carroll County, Maryland. He attended high school at Calvert Hall College in Towson, graduating in 1969. In 1974, Jim Mathias graduated from the University of Maryland, Baltimore County, with a Bachelor of Arts degree in Political Science. Mathias first came to Ocean City as a child, with his parents for summer vacations and it was then that he first fell in love with Ocean City, Maryland. His first Ocean City summer job was at Ponzetti's Pizza on the Boardwalk in 1972. Jim and his father established a business in downtown Ocean City and built an amusement and arcade operation. In 1978 he married Kathleen "Kathy" Arlee Petry, who died in August 2011. They had two children. Mathias currently works as the Director of Governmental Affairs for the University of Maryland Eastern Shore.
Community affiliations
Jim has been active in the Ocean City community. He served as Chairman of the Worcester County Ambulance Service Committee and was Chairman of the Ocean City Humane Society Commission. He is a member of the Knights of Columbus #9053, St. Mary's Star of the Sea Parish, and the Ocean City Volunteer Fire Company Engine 703. From 2002 to 2006 Jim represented the Coastal Bays Watershed, Ocean City and Worcester County, on the State of Maryland Critical Area Commission. In 2004 he served as State Chairman for WalkAmerica for the March of Dimes. Jim was the President of the Lower Eastern Shore Mayors Association in 2004 and was the Honored Chairperson for the Light the Night Walk and The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society in 2004.
Political career
Mathias began his political career in Ocean City in 1987 when he was appointed to the Ocean City Board of Zoning Appeals, where he served until 1990. In October 1990, he was elected as an Ocean City Councilman and was re-elected to that post in 1994. In October 1996, Mathias was elected Mayor of Ocean City, Maryland. He was re-elected in 1998, 2000, 2002, and 2004. In 2006, Mathias was elected to the Maryland House of Delegates for District 38B, along with fellow Democrat Norman Conway of Salisbury, where he would serve for one term before running to replace retiring State Senator J. Lowell Stoltzfus. Mathias went on to defeat Michael James, general manager of Ocean City's Carousel Hotel and Resort, in the 2010 general election by less than 700 votes. Mathias won re-election in 2014 over Republican state delegate and former mayor of Pocomoke CityMike McDermott. In the 2018 general election, Mathias lost his re-election bid to Republican state delegate and former Ehrlich administration official Mary Beth Carozza, also of Ocean City.
Legislative notes
Voted against in-state tuition for illegal immigrants in 2007
Voted for the Maryland Gang Prosecution Act of 2007, subjecting gang members to up to 20 years in prison and/or a fine of up to $100,000
Voted for Jessica's Law, eliminating parole for the most violent child sexual predators and creating a mandatory minimum sentence of 25 years in state prison.
Voted for Public Safety – Statewide DNA Database System – Crimes of Violence and Burglary – Post conviction, helping to give police officers and prosecutors greater resources to solve crimes and eliminating a backlog of 24,000 unanalyzed DNA samples, leading to 192 arrests.
Voted for Vehicle Laws – Repeated Drunk and Drugged Driving Offenses – Suspension of License, strengthening Maryland's drunk driving laws by imposing a mandatory one year license suspension for a person convicted of drunk driving more than once in five years.
Voted for HB 102, creating the House Emergency Medical Services System Workgroup, leading to Maryland's budgeting of $52 million to fund three new Medevac helicopters to replace the State's aging fleet.
