Handful of legislative seats up for grabs, but General Assembly overall unchanged

The balance of power in the Maryland General Assembly will not change as a result of Tuesday’s voting, with Democrats all but guaranteed to maintain firm control of both the Senate and House of Delegates.

But a handful of seats were in play from both parties, in both the House and Senate. While no senator was unseated, despite come close calls, it appears the Democrats may have picked up two seats in the House.

The most contentious was the race for the District 30 Senate seat, where Sen. Shaneka Henson (D-Anne Arundel) faced a robust challenge from former Anne Arundel County Councilmember Jessica Haire, a Republican. With all 42 precincts reporting, however, Henson had about 57% of the vote to Haire’s 43%.

“Obviously, I’m disappointed to see that voters could be so deceived by a campaign of such obvious lies and deception,” Haire said in a text message Tuesday night. “I’m grateful to all the volunteers across party lines who put so much time and effort into our campaign — a campaign based on ideas to strengthen our communities!”

Henson, who was appointed to the seat in 2025, was running to become the first elected Black senator from Anne Arundel County. But her potentially historic campaign was dogged by attacks from some fellow Democrats, who were unhappy with Henson’s votes against some reproductive rights and LGBTQ+ rights bills.

Haire, meanwhile, challenged Henson’s ethics, pointing to a letter from the Joint Committee on Legislative Ethics from 2024, when Henson was still in the House. It urged Henson to apologize to the public and to legislative leaders for her involvement as a delegate in funding requests for a religious organization to which she belonged.

Still, Haire faced an uphill climb in a district Democrats have held for at least 44 years. And the Maryland Democratic Senate Caucus Committee sought to keep it what way, sending a reported $488,399.10 of in-kind contributions to Henson’s campaign.

Democrats also dredged up an incident from 2022, when Haire ran unsuccessfully for county executive. She was criticized then for contracting with Rory McShane, a Republican consultant whose firm was associated with the neo-fascist and racist group The Proud Boys. Haire said at that time she ended her association with the group when she found out about the connection.

Two other Anne Arundel races were in the spotlight, including the race for the District 31 seat left open by the retirement of Sen. Bryan Simonaire (R-Anne Arundel). Republicans appeared to be on their way to retaining that seat, however. With all 46 precincts reporting, Del. Nic Kipke (R-Anne Arundel), who was elected to the House in 2006 and who served as minority leader between 2013 to 2021, had 57% of the vote to Democrat Brent Mulrooney’s 43%.

The same cannot be said for District 33B, where first-term Del. Stuart Schmidt (R-Anne Arundel) was unseated by Democratic challenger Chuck Cook, a senior adviser to Maryland Secretary of Housing and Community Development Jake Day. Schmidt, part of the informal “basketball caucus” of members who play during the 90-day session, had 48% of the vote to Cook’s 52% in unofficial results.

In District 38B on the Lower Shore, which Vice President Kamala Harris (D) carried by 7 points in the 2024 presidential election, another Republican freshman appears to have been ousted. Del. Barry Beauchamp (R-Lower Shore) was trailing Wicomico County Councilmember Josh Hastings, a Democrat, with all 21 precincts reporting. Hastings had 58% of the vote to Beauchamp’s 42%.

A national political entity called the American Future PAC, which is connected to the internet gaming industry and supports Democratic legislative candidates, spent at least $202,630 to defeat Beauchamp and an additional $38,687 to boost Hastings.

Democrats appeared to hold on to an open seat in Southern Maryland. District 29B, a Democratic seat in St. Mary’s County sandwiched between two Republican subdistricts, was widely seen as a possible pickup for the GOP when Del. Brian Crosby (D-St. Mary’s) said he would not run for reelection. But Democrat Adrianne Mathis cruised to a comfortable 57-43 win over Republican BJ Hall in the district.

And Republicans managed to hold onto two Senate seats, one open and one occupied by what was thought to be an entrenched incumbent.

In District 42, Democrats were not able to capitalize on the retirement of Sen. Chris West (R-Baltimore and Carroll), with GOP nominee Kevin Ford, a local business owner, getting 58% of the final vote to 42% for Democrat Stephanie Popescu, a public school teacher.

And in one of the closest legislative races of the night, Sen. William G. “Bill” Folden (R-Frederick) was able to come from behind in early returns and notch a 52-48 win over Democratic challenger Lara Westdorp to retain seat that covers most of Frederick County outside the city of Frederick.