Luke Clippinger

Luke H. Clippinger (born September 24, 1972) is an American politician and lawyer who has served as a member of the Maryland House of Delegates, representing the state's 46th district in Baltimore, since 2011.

Clippinger was born in Baltimore on September 24, 1972.

While attending Earlham, Clippinger conducted polls for various elections in Wayne County, Indiana, served as the communications director for the Wayne County Democratic Party from 1992 to 1994, and ran unsuccessfully for Wayne Township assessor in 1994.

He graduated from the Baltimore Polytechnic Institute and attended Earlham College, where he served as the manager of the WECI radio station and earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in politics in 1994, and the University of Louisville, where he earned a Juris Doctor degree in 2005.

After graduating, he interned for Indiana state senators Lindel Hume and Joe O'Day during the 1995 legislative session, afterwards working as an office manager for Baltimore mayoral election candidate Mary Pat Clarke.

In 1996, Clippinger worked as an intern and was later named to manage the re-election campaign of U.S. Representative Lee Hamilton.

He worked as a community development specialist for the Indiana Department of Commerce until 1998, when he was named to manage the campaign of congressional candidate Baron Hill and, following his election to Congress, became Hill's district director until 2005.

In 2006, Clippinger was named as the campaign manager for Tom Perez's short-lived campaign for Attorney General of Maryland.

He was admitted to the Maryland State Bar Association in 2007.

Clippinger says he has been involved in politics since he was seven years old as a worker in Mary Pat Clarke's city council campaign.

Afterwards, he worked as a spokesperson for Stephanie Rawlings-Blake's mayoral campaign and as an assistant state's attorney in Anne Arundel County since 2007.

Clippinger served as a member of the platform committee at the 2008 Democratic National Convention.

In 2010, Clippinger ran for the Maryland House of Delegates in District 46, seeking to succeed retiring state delegate Carolyn J. Krysiak.

He won the Democratic primary election in September, placing third with 18.7 percent of the vote.

Clippinger was sworn into the Maryland House of Delegates on January 12, 2011.

He was a member of the Judiciary Committee from 2011 to 2015, afterwards serving in the Economic Matters Committee before returning to the Judiciary Committee as its chair in 2019.

The bill was named for Jake Owen, a five-year-old boy who was killed in a 2011 crash caused by a driver who was talking on his phone.

The bill passed and was signed into law by Governor Martin O'Malley.

During the 2014 legislative session, Clippinger introduced "Jake's Law", a bill that would increase penalties for drivers who cause fatal accidents while texting and driving.

Clippinger served as the chair of the Democratic Party Caucus from 2015 to 2018.

Clippinger is openly gay.

He attends the Brown Memorial Presbyterian Church in Baltimore.

In April 2016, Clippinger said that he experienced "significant fatigue" at the end of the 2016 legislative session, and in June he was diagnosed with a rare form of leukemia.

In January 2017, he said that the cancer was in remission.

Maryland Matters has described Clippinger as a "leader of the progressive wing" in the House.

In July 2017, Clippinger and other lawmakers from District 46 released an "anti-violence plan" that called for increased funding for social programs and strengthened gun laws.

During the 2018 legislative session, Clippinger supported the Reform on Tap Act, a bill backed by Comptroller Peter Franchot to deregulate the state's craft beer industry.

In 2022, Clippinger supported legislation that would require companies on The Block in Baltimore to close at 10 p.m. nightly.

During the 2019 legislative session, Clippinger introduced a bill that would require police trial boards to release audio from their hearings under the state Open Meetings Act.

The bill passed the House of Delegates, but died in the Senate Judicial Proceedings Committee.

In August 2019, Clippinger signed onto a letter calling for the Maryland State Department of Education to add lessons on LGBT and disability rights movements into social studies curriculum.

The Department of Education agreed to update its curriculum to include this material two weeks after it was sent.

During the 2022 legislative session, Clippinger supported a bill to ban privately made firearms.

He also defended a bill that would require firearms dealers to install security devices, including 24-hour burglary alarm systems and security bars.

In 2023, Clippinger introduced legislation to increase the requirements and fees to obtain a handgun permit.

The bill passed and was signed into law by Governor Wes Moore.

In May 2020, Clippinger expressed disappointment with Governor Larry Hogan's veto of a bill to increase funding for the Baltimore Police Department for 10 high-crime "microzones" in the city.

During the 2021 legislative session, Clippinger introduced a bill to remove the governor of Maryland from the state's parole board.

The bill passed, but was vetoed by Hogan.

In 2023, Clippinger supported legislation that would give the attorney general of Maryland sole prosecutorial power over cases involving police-involved deaths.