General Assembly has Grown More Representative of Maryland’s Demographics over Past Decade
Each year, 188 lawmakers spend three months in Annapolis as the Maryland General Assembly.
The legislators in the 2023 session were more representative of the state in terms of race, gender, party affiliation, and age than a decade ago.
Race and Ethnicity
Roughly 58% of Maryland residents are White, according to the 2022 U.S. Census. With its 61% of White legislators in 2023, the Assembly is much closer than its 75% in 2014.
The percent of Black lawmakers is closer to the general population: 33% of the legislature identifies as Black, as does 31% of the public.
The nine Asian lawmakers in 2023 make up 5% of the General Assembly, but 7% of Maryland’s population identifies as Asian.
The Department of Legislative Services breaks down race into Caucasian, African-American, Asian, and other. It does not take ethnicity or Hispanic origin into account.
The Maryland Legislative Latino Caucus, however, keeps track. Its membership has fluctuated throughout its nine years of existence but remained under 10, with seven in the current year — 4% of the General Assembly.
The Census reports that 11% of the Maryland population identifies as Hispanic or Latino.
The Latino Caucus’s executive director, Madelin Martinez, says the underrepresentation doesn’t stop at the legislative level, but is present in local government and schools as well.
Education and healthcare access are the caucus’ top priorities. To pass legislation, members look for similarities across cultures.
“Poverty is across all races,” Martinez told Capital News Service. “It’s a common denominator for a lot of our communities, so just try to find that common ground.”
Gender
The number of women in the Maryland General Assembly has increased by almost 13% over the last decade, with 80 women now serving in both chambers compared to 56 in 2014.
Although they’re 51% of Maryland’s population, women were only 43% of the 2023 legislature.
Valerie Graham, executive director of Women Legislators in Maryland, said women lawmakers tend to introduce more bills about issues relating to women, and that underrepresentation in the General Assembly makes it harder to advocate for those concerns.
“The women that are here have to work really hard just to get their priorities through,” said Graham, adding that her caucus had three main policy areas for this year’s session: economic issues, health care, and criminal justice reform.
“The Women’s Caucus in Maryland is now over 50 years old,” said Graham. “There’s been incredible, extraordinary growth in what women do on the state level and how they make their impact and advocate for themselves and for their constituents.”
Party
In 2014, the Republican party saw gains in both chambers of the General Assembly, when Larry Hogan was elected as Maryland’s second Republican governor since 1970.
Compared to its voter registration over the past decade, the GOP has been slightly overrepresented in the legislature, but the 2022 election changed that.
With Republicans representing only 24% of voters in the state, in 2023, the percent of GOP lawmakers in the General Assembly fell below 31% for the first time since 2014, to a total of 52 — the lowest number of Republicans since 2010. Republicans haven’t held a majority in either chamber in more than a century.
House Minority Leader Jason Buckel (R-1B) said it’s now even harder for the Republican party to pass legislation relating to its priorities, such as crime and the economy, with the decline in GOP lawmakers and the absence of a Republican governor.
“There are issues and moments where we work well and work towards compromise with the Democratic supermajority and their leadership, and there are moments and issues where we feel like there’s not enough attention given to compromise,” said Buckel.
Age
There are more General Assembly members under age 50 in 2023 than any other year in the past decade.
Delegates Joe Vogel (D-17) and Jeffrie Long Jr. (D-27B) made history last November when they became the first Gen Z politicians in the General Assembly.
Both men turned 26 between Election Day and the start of the 2023 session.
Vogel is the youngest member of the General Assembly. He said he sees his age as an asset and ran on a campaign with multigenerational support.
“I’m not just fighting for young people, I’m fighting for people of all ages,” he told Maryland Matters.
During the previous election cycle, Sen. Sarah Elfreth (D-39) was the youngest woman to serve in the upper chamber at age 30.
She called age diversity a “definite strength” to the state legislature because it brings about different perspectives and experiences.
“The whole point of the General Assembly is to have a representative body,” Elfreth told Maryland Matters.
Capital News Service is a student-powered news organization run by the University of Maryland Philip Merrill College of Journalism. For 26 years, they have provided deeply reported, award-winning coverage of issues of import to Marylanders.
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