List of current members of the Maryland Senate

Party Composition of Maryland State Senate districts.

The Maryland Senate is the upper house of the Maryland General Assembly, the state legislature of the U.S. State of Maryland. One Senator is elected from each of the state's 47 electoral districts. As of January 2019, 32 of those seats are held by Democrats and 15 by Republicans. The leader of the Senate is known as the President, a position currently held by Bill Ferguson, who represents Baltimore City. In addition, senators elect a President Pro Tempore, and the respective party caucuses elect a majority and minority leader and a majority and minority whip.

Senators are elected in even-numbered years when the President of the United States is not being elected, similar to most other state offices in Maryland. The most recent election was in November 2018. Senators are not term-limited. Should a Senator resign from office before his or her term expires, the local central committee of the party to which the retiring senator belonged makes a recommendation to the Governor for whom to appoint to the open seat. It is tradition for the Governor to appoint the recommended person.^[1] Nine of the current members of the Maryland State Senate were originally appointed, all of whom have since been elected in their own right.^[2] Newly elected senators are sworn in and begin work on the second Wednesday of the January following their election.^[3]

Each Senator has at least one standing committee assignment. The first is to one of the four legislative committees: Budget and Taxation; Education, Health, and Environmental Affairs (listed in this table as Education, Health, and Environment); Finance; or Judicial Proceedings. A number of senators have secondary committee assignments, most prominently to the Executive Nominations Committee, which oversees the constitutional responsibility of the Senate to approve nominations by the Governor. Assignment to the Rules or Executive Nominations committees or to any Ad Hoc committees is not noted.

Current party composition[]

Composition as of the beginning of the 2019–2022 term on January 9, 2019:

During the 2015–2018 term, the State Senate was made up of 33 Democrats and 14 Republicans. Republicans gained two seats (District 38 in Worcester, Wicomico and Somerset counties and District 42 in Baltimore County), while losing one seat (District 9 in Howard and Carroll counties) in the elections held on November 6, 2018.^[4] Democrats maintain a super-majority in the chamber. Article II, Section 17(a) of the Maryland Constitution specifies it takes a three-fifths vote of both chambers to override a veto,^[5] which is 29 votes in the State Senate. The rules of the Senate also permit members to limit debate by a three-fifths majority vote, meaning Republicans would need to gain four additional seats, for a total of 19, in order to sustain a veto or filibuster legislation.

Current leadership[]

The below table reflects the current leadership of the Maryland State Senate as of October 4, 2021.^[6]

Current state senators[]

District	Jurisdiction(s) represented	Image	Senator	Party	First elected	Primary committee
1	Allegany, Garrett, and Washington[8]		George C. Edwards[9]	Republican[9]	2006[9]	Budget and Taxation[9]
2	Washington[8]		Paul D. Corderman	Republican[10]	Appointed and sworn in on September 1, 2020
3	Frederick[8]		Ronald N. Young[11]	Democratic[11]	2010[11]	Judicial Proceedings[11]
4	Carroll and Frederick[8]		Michael Hough[12]	Republican[12]	2014[12]	Judicial Proceedings[12]
5	Carroll[8]		Justin Ready[13]	Republican[13]	Appointed and sworn in on February 2, 2015[13]	Judicial Proceedings[13]
6	Baltimore County[8]		Johnny Ray Salling[14]	Republican[14]	2014[14]	Budget and Taxation[14]
7	Baltimore County and Harford[8]		J. B. Jennings[15]	Republican[15]	2010[15]	Finance[15]
8	Baltimore County[8]		Katherine A. Klausmeier[16]	Democratic[16]	2002[16]	Finance[16]
9	Carroll and Howard[8]		Katie Fry Hester[17]	Democratic[17]	2018[17]	Education, Health and Environmental Affairs[17]
10	Baltimore County[8]		Delores G. Kelley[18]	Democratic[18]	1994[18]	Finance (Chair)[18]
11	Baltimore County[8]		Shelly L. Hettleman[19]	Democratic[19]	Appointed January 30, 2020 and sworn in on February 3, 2020[19]	Judicial Proceedings[19]
12	Baltimore County and Howard[8]		Clarence K. Lam[20]	Democratic[20]	2018[20]	Education, Health and Environmental Affairs[20]
13	Howard[8]		Guy Guzzone[21]	Democratic[21]	2014[21]	Budget and Taxation (Chair)[21]
14	Montgomery[8]		Craig Zucker[22]	Democratic[22]	Appointed February 3, 2016 and sworn in on February 4, 2016[22]	Budget and Taxation[22]
15	Montgomery[8]		Brian Feldman[23]	Democratic[23]	Appointed September 12, 2013 and sworn in on September 17, 2013; first elected 2014[23]	Finance (Vice Chair)[23]
16	Montgomery[8]		Susan C. Lee[24]	Democratic[24]	2014[24]	Judicial Proceedings[24]
17	Montgomery[8]		Cheryl Kagan[25]	Democratic[25]	2014[25]	Education, Health and Environmental Affairs (Vice Chair)[25]
18	Montgomery[8]		Jeff Waldstreicher[26]	Democratic[26]	2018[26]	Judicial Proceedings (Vice Chair)[26]
19	Montgomery[8]		Benjamin F. Kramer[27]	Democratic[27]	2018[27]	Finance[27]
20	Montgomery[8]		William C. Smith Jr.[28]	Democratic[28]	Appointed December 13, 2016 and sworn in on December 21, 2016[28]	Judicial Proceedings (Chair)[28]
21	Anne Arundel and Prince George's[8]		James Rosapepe[29]	Democratic[29]	2006[29]	Budget and Taxation (Vice Chair)[29]
22	Prince George's[8]		Paul G. Pinsky[30]	Democratic[30]	Appointed August 1, 1994 and sworn in on August 2, 1994; first elected November 1994[30]	Education, Health and Environmental Affairs (Chair)[30]
23	Prince George's[8]		Douglas J. J. Peters[31]	Democratic[31]	2006[31]	Budget and Taxation[31]
24	Prince George's[8]		Joanne C. Benson[32]	Democratic[32]	2010[32]	Finance[32]
25	Prince George's[8]		Melony G. Griffith[33]	Democratic[33]	2018[33]	Budget and Taxation[33]
26	Prince George's[8]		Obie Patterson[34]	Democratic[34]	2018[34]	Education, Health and Environmental Affairs[34]
27	Calvert, Charles and Prince George's[8]		Michael A. Jackson[35]	Democratic[36]	2021[36]	Budget and Taxation[36]
28	Charles[8]		Arthur Ellis[37]	Democratic[37]	2018[37]	Education, Health and Environmental Affairs[37]
29	Calvert, and St. Mary's[8]		Jack Bailey[38]	Republican[38]	2018[38]	Education, Health and Environmental Affairs[38]
30	Anne Arundel[8]		Sarah K. Elfreth[39]	Democratic[39]	2018[39]	Budget and Taxation[39]
31	Anne Arundel[8]		Bryan Simonaire[40]	Republican[40]	2006[40]	Education, Health and Environmental Affairs[40]
32	Anne Arundel[8]		Pamela Beidle[41]	Democratic[41]	2018[41]	Finance[41]
33	Anne Arundel[8]		Edward R. Reilly	Republican	Appointed June 22, 2009; first elected 2010[a]	Finance
34	Harford[8]		Robert Cassilly	Republican	2014	Judicial Proceedings
35	Cecil and Harford[8]		Jason C. Gallion	Republican	2018	Education, Health and Environmental Affairs
36	Caroline, Cecil, Kent, and Queen Anne's[8]		Stephen S. Hershey Jr.	Republican	Appointed September 18, 2013 and sworn in on October 1, 2013; first elected 2014	Finance
37	Caroline, Dorchester, Talbot, and Wicomico[8]		Adelaide C. Eckardt	Republican	2014	Budget and Taxation
38	Somerset, Wicomico, and Worcester[8]		Mary Beth Carozza	Republican	2018	Education, Health and Environmental Affairs
39	Montgomery[8]		Nancy J. King	Democratic	Appointed and sworn in on September 5, 2007; first elected 2010	Budget and Taxation
40	Baltimore City[8]		Antonio Hayes	Democratic	2018	Finance
41	Baltimore City[8]		Jill P. Carter	Democratic	Appointed and sworn in on April 30, 2018	Judicial Proceedings
42	Baltimore County[8]		Chris West	Republican	2018	Judicial Proceedings
43	Baltimore City[8]		Mary L. Washington	Democratic	2018	Education, Health and Environmental Affairs
44	Baltimore City and Baltimore County[8]		Charles E. Sydnor III	Democratic	2019	Judicial Proceedings
45	Baltimore City[8]		Cory V. McCray	Democratic	2018	Budget and Taxation
46	Baltimore City[8]		Bill Ferguson	Democratic	2010	President of the Senate[b]
47	Prince George's[8]		Malcolm L. Augustine	Democratic	2018	Finance

Notes[]

^a This Senator was originally appointed to office by the Governor to fill an open seat.

^b The President of the Senate does not serve on any of the four standing legislative committees. He does, however, serve on both the Executive Nominations and the Rules Committees.

See also[]

• List of current members of the Maryland House of Delegates

References[]

General

• "Maryland at a Glance: Government". Maryland Manual On-line. Maryland State Archives. Retrieved 2009-05-15.
• "Maryland Senate – Committees". Maryland Manual On-line. Maryland State Archives. Retrieved 2009-05-15.

Specific

External links[]

• Maryland General Assembly