Kathy Szeliga

Kathy Szeliga (born October 10, 1961) is an American politician who has served as a Republican member of the Maryland House of Delegates since January 12, 2011, and as Minority Whip from 2013 to 2021.

Szeliga was born in Baltimore, Maryland, in October 1961.

She is of Polish descent.

She was raised in a military family, her father being a lieutenant colonel in the United States Army.

Szeliga married her husband in 1980, and the couple struggled financially at first.

Szeliga worked as a dishwasher, a maid, and a housekeeper.

She entered college in her 30s, enrolling at Towson State University and graduating summa cum laude with a Bachelor of Arts degree in elementary education.

She began working as a teacher in Baltimore City Public Schools and started a construction business with her husband.

Szeliga first got involved with politics in the mid-1990s, organizing opposition against the Maryland School Performane and Assessment Program, a controversial test used to assess schools.

She became involved with state politics after a family friend, James M. Kelly, was elected to the Maryland House of Delegates.

She worked as a legislative aide to Kelly, then for Delegate John G. Trueschler, and eventually became chief of staff for then-State Senator Andy Harris.

She decided to run for Delegate after Del.

J. B. Jennings decided to run for the State Senate.

She was elected and immediately placed on the Appropriations Committee.

Szeliga was sworn into the Maryland House of Delegates on January 11, 2011.

From 2013 to 2021, she served as the House Minority Whip, making her the highest-ranking elected Republican woman in Maryland.

Szeliga announced in November 2015 that she would be running for the Republican nomination to replace Senator Barbara Mikulski in the 2016 US Senate election in Maryland.

Szeliga was the Republican nominee for the United States Senate in 2016 to replace Barbara Mikulski, who retired.

She was the first Republican in the 2016 Senate primary to release ads on television.

On April 15, Citizens United announced they had bought $25,000 worth of radio airtime to promote Szeliga ahead of the April 26 primary.

Szeliga won the primary on April 26, 2016, and faced Representative Chris Van Hollen in the general election on November 8, 2016, in which she was defeated by a landslide 61% – 36% spread.

Maryland Matters has described Szeliga as one of the most vocal conservatives in the Maryland House of Delegates.

In September 2017, Szeliga joined delegates Richard Impallaria and Pat McDonough in signing a letter to Harford County Executive Barry Glassman urging him to stop issuing permits for homes being built in Joppatowne, Maryland, after an auxiliary men's organization of the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community said that its builders would only sell homes in the community to Ahmadi Muslims.

Shades and Springs Inc., the company building the homes, denied that they would only sell to Ahmadi Muslims, saying that its homes would be open to all.

In April 2023, Szeliga wrote to the Maryland Department of the Environment to express concerns with a proposal to convert the LaFarge quarry in Middle River, Maryland into an industrial park, asking the agency to study the property before allowing development.

In June 2018, Szeliga accused state delegate Richard Impallaria of sending out campaign mailers attacking Szeliga by calling her a closet Democrat.

Impallaria initially declined responsibility for this, but after Szeliga emailed him to say she would inform their GOP colleagues about the fliers targeting her, he forwarded the email to every member of the House Republican caucus in which he referred to himself as the "evil genius" responsible for the attacks on Szeliga.

The calls misleadingly claimed that Szeliga was a supporter of the transgender community and had voted in favor of a bill that would make it illegal to discriminate against someone on the basis of gender identity.

In February 2022, Szeliga filed a lawsuit against the state's newly enacted congressional maps, arguing that the maps violated the Maryland Constitution's requirement that districts be compact and respect natural boundaries.

On March 26, 2022, Judge Lynne A. Battaglia ruled that the congressional maps were unconstitutional, calling them a "product of extreme partisan gerrymandering".

Shortly after the ruling, House Speaker Adrienne A. Jones released a statement on Twitter expressing disappointment in the ruling against the maps.

Szeliga responded profanely to this statement, in a now-deleted tweet saying "Bitches!! The court is not gonna like to see that. The seven judges that get to see this and make a final decision will not like this press release. That is even better for us".

She later apologized for the tweet, saying it was intended to be private and was inappropriate.

In April 2020, Szeliga co-signed a letter calling on the Maryland Department of Health to share data on the 2,000 inmates released during the COVID-19 pandemic.

In August 2020, Szeliga condemned Montgomery County Health Officer Travis Gayles's decision to block private schools from holding in-person classes during the pandemic, calling it a "blatant abuse of power by an unelected bureaucrat".

In June 2021, Szeliga celebrated Governor Larry Hogan's decision to end early the $300 supplemental weekly unemployment insurance provided by the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021.

In 2020, Szeliga introduced a raft of anti-crime bills, including bills that would make gun theft a felony and another requiring individuals incarcerated for violent crimes to serve 90 percent of their term before they're eligible for parole.

In 2021, Szeliga opposed Anton's Law, a bill that would allow certain officer misconduct records to be available for public inspection, arguing that the bill would allow the disclosure of unfounded claims against police officers.

She also opposed the Police Reform and Accountability Act, an omnibus police reform bill.

During the 2023 legislative session, Szeliga introduced a bill to repeal the Juvenile Justice Reform Act, a bill that was introduced and passed in the previous year's legislative session that restricted the state's ability to charge juveniles for most offenses.