Chris West

He is a member of the Maryland Senate from the 42nd district, representing Central and Northern Baltimore County.

He was previously a member of the Maryland House of Delegates from District 42B.

Christopher R. West (born April 7, 1950) is an American politician from Maryland from the Republican party.

West was born on April 7, 1950, in Baltimore, Maryland.

He attended Williams College, where he earned a B.A. degree in 1972, and the University of Pennsylvania School of Law, where he earned a J.D. degree in 1975.

He was admitted to the Maryland Bar in 1975.

West became involved in politics by working as an attorney for the Maryland Republican Party from 1982 to 1996, and again from 1998 to 2003 after serving as the executive director of the Republican State Central Committee for two years.

In 1988, he filed to run for Delegate to the Republican National Convention, representing Jack Kemp.

He came in tenth place in a field of 13 candidates, receiving one percent of the vote.

During the 1994 Maryland gubernatorial election, West represented the Maryland Republican Party in a lawsuit challenging the results of the election.

In 1997, Semmes, Bowen & Semmes named West as a resident counsel in its Baltimore offices.

He operated the commercial lending practice of the firm's banking, corporate, and securities practice group.

In 1998, West was seen as a possible candidate to succeed Joyce Lyons Terhes, who had announced that she would not seek re-election as the state's GOP chairman after a series of key losses across the state.

He was once again considered a possible candidate for the seat after chairman Richard D. Bennett announced his resignation at the end of the year.

He sought election as Chairman of the Maryland Republican Party that year, but was defeated by Michael Steele, the party's first vice chairman.

In February 2003, Governor Robert Ehrlich appointed West to the Maryland State Arts Council.

He served as the council's vice-chair from 2006 to 2007.

In April 2013, West filed to run for the Maryland House of Delegates in District 42B.

During the primary, there were attempts to recruit West to switch to the Senate race and challenge James Brochin, but he refused, saying that he had "no plans to switch over and run for State Senate."

He won the Republican primary with 35.2 percent of the vote, coming second to Susan L. M. Aumann.

He defeated Democrats Robert Leonard and Craig J. Little in the general election, receiving 33.3 percent of the vote.

West was sworn into the Maryland House of Delegates on January 14, 2015.

After Senator Jim Brochin announced that he would run to replace Baltimore County Executive Kevin Kamenetz, West announced he would run to succeed Brochin in the Senate.

He ran on a slate with Republican Nino Mangione, who was running for House of Delegates.

He defeated Robbie Leonard in the general election with 51.0 percent of the vote.

West raised the third most funds out of every other Senator for his 2018 campaign, raking in a total $443,282.80 during the 2018 election cycle.

West was sworn into the Maryland Senate on January 9, 2019.

In 2019, following the legislature's vote on a bill that would raise the state's minimum wage to $15 an hour by 2025, West agreed to participate in a work group proposed by Democratic Senator Katie Fry Hester that looked to study ways to help small businesses in the years leading up to the bill's full effective date.

Since 2020, he has served as the caucus parliamentarian of the Maryland Senate GOP caucus.

In August 2023, West announced that he would not run for re-election in 2026.

West has a reputation for being "far and away the most moderate Republican in the General Assembly."

Although he represents a conservative district, he often works as a man of compromise.

In January 2020, the American Conservative Union gave West a score of 40 percent on its annual legislative scorecard, the lowest score among Republicans.

West supports banning abortions after a fetus reaches fetal viability unless the mother's life is at risk.

In December 2020, the Maryland Free Enterprise Association gave West a score higher than 70 percent, making him the only senator to earn such a high score.

In August 2021, West signed onto a letter calling on the Maryland State Board of Education to issue a universal masking mandate for students and teachers across the state in response to the COVID-19 pandemic.

He was the only Republican to sign onto the letter.

West introduced legislation in the 2020 legislative session that would end the practice of suspending drivers licenses for unpaid court fines and fees.

The bill passed unanimously and became law on May 8, 2020.

West introduced legislation in the 2021 legislative session that would abolish life without parole for those who committed crimes as juveniles and allow those who have served 20 years or more to petition to a judge for release.