Maryland is typically considered a progressive state, but when it comes to women in elected office, the record is mixed.
Women hold about 40 percent of the seats in the General Assembly, but that proportion ranks only 15th nationally.
House Speaker Jocelyn Peña-Melnyk, who succeed a woman in the post, has named women to six of eight committee chairs. Women are poised to lead four of the seven biggest central Maryland counties, and Angela Alsobrooks has gone from Prince George’s County executive to the U.S. Senate. All of that is worth noting.
But it wasn’t that long ago, after the retirment of Barbara Mikulski, the the congressional delegation was entirely male. Baltimore County’s council currently has no women. And in the last governor’s race, the leading Democratic candidates were all men.
The challenges facing women in politics in Maryland, and how they’ve made gains but where they’ve fall short, is the subject of the latest episode of the Maryland Now podcast.
Fittingly, there are no men speaking in this episode. Host Dori Henry is joined by a panel of political experts that includes:
- Martha McKenna, partner in McKenna Media, a Democratic media consulting firm and board chair of Emerge Maryland, which trains women seeking state and local office
- Sophia Silbergeld, the president of the poltical division of Adeo and one of the top politcal fundraisers in Maryland; and
- Alex Hughes, the president and founder of Blended Public Affairs who was chief of staff to the first female House Speaker in Maryland.
The title of the episode — “Walk again” — borrows from an infamouse statement made by then-Comptroller William Donald Shaefer to a young woman aide during a crowded Board of Public Works meeting, which drew sustained outcry across the state. Dori Henry discusses being a young intern sitting in the meeting, and how culture has changes – or hasn’t – since then.
From the episode
Here are some sample quotes from Season 2, Episode 8 of the Maryland Now podcast:
“Emerge [the training organization] is powerful not just in helping to recruit and train women to run for state and local office, but it built a network of women who say, ‘No, no, no. I will brag on you. I will tell you to run for that. I will help fund you. I will tell my friends about you.’ It’s an informal network of people, many of whom are unafraid to brag on themselves and on each other, so as to increase women’s political power as a whole in Maryland. It’s a network that says, ‘We’re not going to accept what people say about women’s reticence anymore. We are not going to need to be asked seven times. We’re just going to do it our way and do it differently.'” — Martha McKenna
“People aren’t just going to give you money. They have to have heard about what you plan to do, what you are doing now, and what you’ve done in the past. It’s important for women running for and holding office to understand that the communication of their successes and priorities is just as important as the actual successes and priorities.” — Sophia Silbergeld
“There’s a tendency to feel like repeating things I’ve done well is fluff, or that it’s calling too much attention to me, that it’s not really me, it’s the whole operation… We all need to get over it, frankly.” — Alex Hughes
The guests also address:
- How to sustain the pipeline of women candidates past a first wave;
- How Sarah Elfreth, now the youngest member of Maryland’s congressional delegation, was motivated to run for state Senate, and how the 2016 election helped spark the wave of women who ran and won in 2018;
- How Annapolis’s culture has changed, and hasn’t, since the early 2000s;
- Why personal brand and storytelling matter as much as a resume, and what that means for women candidates specifically;
- Advice for any woman considering running, volunteering, or getting more involved.
Connect With the Show: Questions, comments, or story ideas marylandnow@blendedpublicaffairs.com
Maryland Now is brought to you by Blended Public Affairs and produced by Carper Cre8tive.
