Sarah Elfreth

Sarah Kelly Elfreth (born September 9, 1988) is a Democratic member of the Maryland Senate representing the 30th district.

Elfreth was born and raised in Barrington, New Jersey, where her stepfather worked as a locomotive engineer and her mother worked as a probation officer.

She graduated from Haddon Heights High School in 2006, and attended Towson University, where she received her Bachelor of Arts degree in political science in 2010 and submitted a thesis on how having students participate in governing boards can make them more effective.

In 2009, Maryland governor Martin O'Malley appointed Elfreth to be the student member of the University System Board of Regents.

She didn't become involved with electoral politics until her senior year at Towson, after hearing a speech by former Vermont Governor Madeleine Kunin.

She briefly served in the office of House Minority Whip Steny Hoyer before working as the Government Affairs Director at the National Aquarium of Baltimore.

After moving to Annapolis, Elfreth became involved with local politics, becoming a member of the Ward 1 Residents Association and serving on the District 30 Democratic Club.

In 2012, Elfreth earned her Master of Science degree in public policy from Johns Hopkins University, where she worked as a research assistant in the Office of Government and Community Affairs from 2010 to 2012.

Elfreth serves as an adjunct professor for Towson University's Honors College.

Elfreth became active in politics while attending Towson University, when she became involved with student government and began traveling to Annapolis to lobby the Maryland General Assembly.

In June 2017, Elfreth filed to run for Maryland Senate, seeking to succeed state Senator John Astle, who did not seek re-election to run for Mayor of Annapolis.

During the Democratic primary, she ran on a slate with House Speaker Michael E. Busch.

Elfreth was elected to the Maryland Senate with 53.8 percent of the vote against former Delegate Ron George.

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

She is currently the youngest woman ever to serve in the Maryland Senate.

Elfreth is a member of the Budget and Taxation Committee, Joint Committee on Ending Homelessness, Education, Business, and Administration Subcommittee of the Budget and Taxation Committee, Capital Budget Subcommittee of the Budget and Taxation Committee, and Special Joint Committee on Pensions.

She is Senate chair of the Joint Committee on the Chesapeake and Atlantic Coastal Bay Critical Areas.

In 2022, Elfreth served as the chair of the Chesapeake Executive Council.

On November 4, 2023, Elfreth announced that she would run for the U.S. House of Representatives in Maryland's 3rd congressional district to succeed John Sarbanes, who had announced his retirement a week before.

During debate on a bill to give the attorney general of Maryland prosecutorial power in police-involved deaths, Elfreth voted for amendments that would allow states attorneys' to decide first whether to prosecute a case, and another to appoint a director of the investigations division.

Both amendments were rejected in largely party-line votes.

In June 2023, following a shooting in Annapolis that left three dead and another three injured, Elfreth attended a vigil to honor the victims of the attack and endorsed calls for accountability from state legislators.

During her tenure as the student member of the University System of Maryland Board of Regents, Elfreth voted against a three percent tuition increase and spoke in support of Governor Martin O'Malley's four-year tuition freeze.

She also voted for a resolution recommending against a policy on pornographic films following the screening of Pirates II: Stagnetti's Revenge at the University of Maryland, College Park.

During the 2021 legislative session, Elfreth introduced the "Student and Military Voter Empowerment Act", which would require higher education institutions to create websites to provide students with voting information and allow military members to register to vote using their Department of Defense Common Access Card.

The bill passed and became law without Governor Larry Hogan's signature on May 30, 2021.

During the 2019 legislative session, Elfreth introduced legislation to expand the Board of Regents' membership and implement additional oversight reforms.

The bill passed both chambers unanimously and was signed into law by Governor Hogan on April 30, 2019.

During the 2021 legislative session, Elfreth introduced legislation to create an "Office of Digital Inclusion" in the Maryland Department of Housing and Community Development.

The bill passed and was signed into law by Governor Hogan on April 13, 2021.

She also introduced legislation that would require the state's Commission on Environmental Justice and sustainable Communities to "reflect the racial, gender, ethnic, and geographic diversity of the state".

The bill passed and became law on May 30, 2021.

Elfreth condemned the January 6 United States Capitol attack, saying that those who participated in the attack should be referred to as terrorists.

During the 2020 legislative session, Elfreth proposed legislation to allow jurisdictions to create Resilience Authorities to provide funding to large infrastructure projects related to sea level rise, nuisance flooding, and erosion.

She also co-sponsored legislation to expand the public's role in rehabilitation projects in the Chesapeake Bay Bridge resurfacing project.

During the 2021 legislative session, Elfreth introduced various environmental bills, including:

During the 2022 legislative session, Elfreth introduced legislation that would require the Maryland State Retirement and Pensions System to consider climate change as a financial factor when making investment decisions.

The bill passed and became law on April 9, 2022.

In 2023, Elfreth introduced a bill to establish a State Disaster Recovery Fund to help jurisdictions recover from natural disasters.

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