The small town of Colmar Manor, which borders Bladensburg and Cottage City, recently elected its first Latina mayor, another sign of the changing demographics along the Route 1 corridor.

After a heated race against a two-term incumbent, Monica Casañas was elected mayor earlier this month and sworn in on Tuesday.

She joins Mount Rainier Mayor Celina Benitez, who was also the town’s first Latina mayor, and Brentwood Mayor Rocio Treminio-Lopez, who was the first Latina mayor not only in that town but also in the entire state of Maryland.

One of the issues Casañas ran on was allowing non-citizens to vote for local offices, which is already allowed in Hyattsville, Mount Rainier and College Park.

The Route 1 corridor’s political leadership has become increasingly diverse in recent years, with Essence magazine highlighting four black women who served as mayors of North Brentwood, Edmonston, Colmar Manor and Bladensburg in 2018.

Hyattsville, Mount Rainier and College Park have also both elected LGBTQ mayors and Hyattsville and Mount Rainier have also elected their first African-American mayors.

Located just off Route 1, Colmar Manor’s most notable landmark is the gold-domed Medhane Alem Eritrean Orthodox Church south of the Anacostia River on Bladensburg Road.

The town of around 1,500 is named for a combination of Columbia and Maryland.

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