Skip to main content
Election 2020 Government & Politics

Here Are Maryland’s Potential Electors For 2020

Getty Images.

The next president of the United States will ultimately be chosen by the 538-member Electoral College when it convenes in December, including 10 electors from Maryland. The number of electors is equal to the number of Senators and U.S. Representatives from each state.

In Maryland, political parties and independent candidates submit their chosen electors to the state’s top election official, according to the State Board of Elections website. Democratic and Republican electors are usually chosen at the parties’ state conventions, while third parties and other candidates usually just submit a list.

Electors need to be submitted to the State Board of Elections 30 days before the Nov. 3 election, and they’ll be required to take an oath before the Clerk of the Court of Appeals before casting their votes for the candidates for whoever wins the plurality of Maryland’s votes.

A candidate needs 270 of the 538 Electoral College votes to win the Presidential election.

Democratic Electors

At Large: Kathleen Matthews

Matthews chaired the Maryland Democratic Party from 2017 to 2019, and was a candidate in the 2016 primary election for the state’s 8th congressional district. Prior to leading the state party, Matthews was a journalist and Marriott executive.

At Large: Peter E. Perini, Sr.

Perini is the former chair of the Washington County Democratic Central Committee and a former Hagerstown City Councilman. Perini was also a candidate for Maryland House District 2B in 2018.

Congressional District 1: Del. Sheree Sample-Hughes

Sample-Hughes, who represents Dorchester and Wicomico counties in the House of Delegates, has been a member of the state legislature since 2015. She is speaker pro-tempore of the House of Delegates, and previously led the General Assembly’s women’s caucus.

Congressional District 2: Sachin Hebbar

Hebbar unsuccessfully ran for election to the House of Delegates in 2018, and serves on the Baltimore County Pedestrian and Bicycle Advisory Committee, according to his website. He also serves on the MTA Citizens Advisory Committee.

Congressional District 3: Catalina Rodriguez-Lima

Rodriguez-Lima leads the Mayor’s Office of Immigrant Affairs in Baltimore City, and was previously named “Professional of the Year” by The Maryland Hispanic Chamber of Commerce. She also spearheaded a legal fund to protect immigrant families from deportation.

Congressional District 4: Gloria Lawlah

Lawlah was Maryland’s Secretary of Aging from 2007 to 2015. Prior to that, she represented Prince George’s County in the House of Delegates from 1987 to 1991, and as a state senator from 1991 to 2007.

Congressional District 5: Kent Roberson

Roberson is a Prince George’s County resident and member of the county’s Democratic Central Committee. He’s also the vice chair of the Parent Teacher Student Association in the county, according to his website.

Congressional District 6: Patrick Hunt

Hunt is the vice chair of the Garrett County Democratic Party.

Congressional District 7: Dr. Thelma T. Daley

Daley is the National Director of Women in NAACP, and was the first-ever first African American president of The American Counseling Association. She was also the first woman to lead the National Advisory Council on Career Education.

Congressional District 8: Corynne Courpas

Courpas is the treasurer of the Carroll County Democratic Central Committee. She’s also the president of The Arc of Carroll County, a non-profit that advocates for people with intellectual and developmental disabilities.

Winner-Take-All

Maryland is a winner-take-all state, meaning whoever wins the plurality of the state’s votes in the Nov. 3 election will receive all of the state’s 10 electoral votes. If President Trump carries the state’s vote, for example, only Republican-nominated electors will cast their ballots.

Republican electors haven’t cast ballots since 1988, when the state’s 10 electoral votes went for President George H.W. Bush and Vice President Dan Quayle.

In 2007, Maryland joined a compact that could eventually lead the state to give its electoral votes to the winner of the national popular vote, but that won’t take effect until it’s enacted by enough states to hold a majority of electoral votes, or 270 votes of 538. Fifteen states and the District of Columbia have already signed on, amounting to a total of 196 electoral votes.

Republican Electors 

At Large: David Bossie

Bossie was Trump’s deputy campaign manager in 2016, and is the longtime leader of Citizens United, a conservative political advocacy group. He is also the Maryland Republican Party National committeeman.

At Large: Ellen Sauerbrey

Sauerbrey is the former head of the U.S. Department of State’s Bureau of Population, Refugees and Migration. President George W. Bush appointed Sauerbrey to the United Nations Commission on Human Rights in 2001 and 2002, and she was the minority leader of the Maryland House of Delegates for eight of her 16 years as a delegate. She was the GOP nominee for governor in 1994 and 1998.

Congressional District 1: Nicole Beus Harris

Harris a conservative political consultant and the wife of Rep. Andrew P. Harris (R-Md.). She wrote that her selection as an elector was “an honor and a privilege.”

Congressional District 2: Kathleen Smero

Smero is the head of the Baltimore County Republican Party Central Committee, and is also the co-founder and former president of Club Conservative, a local conservative group.

Congressional District 3: Shannon Wright

Wright is the Republican nominee for Baltimore mayor, and currently chairs the city’s Republican Party Central Committee. She’s the former third vice chair of the Maryland Republican Party and was a 2016 Trump delegate at the Republican National Convention.

Congressional District 4: James Wass

Wass is a retired naval officer, and currently chairs the Prince George’s County Republican Central Committee. He was previously an alternate delegate to the Republican National Convention in 2016 and 2020, and got his start in politics while campaigning for Bush in 2004.

Congressional District 5: James Crawford

Crawford was the Maryland co-organizer for Trump’s 2016 campaign, and served on the rules committee at the Republican National Convention.

Congressional District 6: Virginia Bigelow

Bigelow was an alternate delegate for the Republican National Convention in 2016 and 2020, and campaigns for Trump in Washington County.

Congressional District 7: Kimberly Klacik

Klacik is challenging Rep. Kweisi Mfume in Maryland’s 7th Congressional District. She has attracted national attention to her campaign to unseat Mfume in recent months, particularly after she released a controversial ad titled “Black Lives Don’t Matter to Democrats.” Klacik is a nonprofit founder and member of the Baltimore County Republican Central Committee.

Congressional District 8: Ruth Melson

Melson was a delegate to the Republican National Convention for Trump in 2016 and 2020. She is also the bylaws co-chair and parliamentarian for the Montgomery County Federation of Republican Women.

Third parties

The electors for the Bread and Roses Party, which was established in Maryland in 2019, are Helen Clark, Rogen Clark, Michael Greene, Roy Kahn, Eva Kaplan, Mary Liepold, Michael Neuschatz, Norman Oslik, Peter Roemer and Judy Rosenthal.

The Libertarian Party electors are Dean Ahmad, Eric Blitz, Muir Boda, Phil Dassing, Paul Eads, Chris Gannon, Robert Glaser, Brian Krahling, Doug Stanley and Kyle Walker.

Green Party electors for 2020 are William Barry, Renaud Brown, Woody Caceres, Jon Cook, Steven Andrew Ellis, Margaret Flowers, George Gluck, Samuel Hobbs, Virginia Rodino and Tim Willard.

For a trip back in time, the Maryland State Archives has compiled a list of the state’s presidential electors since 1789 here.

Danielle E. Gaines contributed to this report. 

[email protected]

Did someone send you this story? Sign up to have our daily newsletter sent to your email in-box six mornings a week. Free. 

REPUBLISHING TERMS

Our stories may be republished online or in print under Creative Commons license CC BY-NC-ND 4.0. We ask that you edit only for style or to shorten, provide proper attribution and link to our website. Please see our republishing guidelines for use of photos and graphics.

If you have any questions, please email [email protected].

To republish, copy the following text and paste it into your HTML editor.

License

Creative Commons License AttributionCreative Commons Attribution
Here Are Maryland’s Potential Electors For 2020