Shaneka Henson won her Maryland Senate seat outright on Tuesday, and Anne Arundel County has, for the first time, a Black senator it elected itself. With all 42 precincts reporting, Henson, a Democrat, had about 57% of the vote in District 30 to 43% for Republican Jessica Haire, a former county councilmember, according to Maryland Matters.
Henson, 43, did not arrive by ballot. She got the seat in January 2025 when the county Democratic Central Committee nominated her on a 10-9 vote, after Sarah Elfreth left the Senate for Congress. Tuesday was the first time voters in the district got to decide whether she should keep it. They said yes by 14 points.
The race was harder than the margin suggests. Henson had to fight on two fronts. Haire attacked her on ethics, citing a 2024 letter from the Joint Committee on Legislative Ethics about Henson’s involvement in funding requests for a religious organization. Henson disputed the committee’s findings. Some fellow Democrats were angry at her votes against certain reproductive rights and LGBTQ+ rights bills.
The party closed ranks anyway. The Maryland Democratic Senate Caucus Committee put roughly $488,399 of in-kind support behind her campaign, and Democratic leaders publicly backed her in late October. Democrats also pointed to Haire’s 2022 association with a consultant tied to the Proud Boys, a connection Haire said she ended when she learned of it.
Henson is an attorney who once worked in the Anne Arundel County State’s Attorney’s office. She served on the Annapolis City Council from 2017 to 2019 and represented District 30A in the House of Delegates from 2019 to 2025. Her legislation has covered criminal justice, housing, education and elections, including bills on child support for incarcerated parents and housing inspections.
“I am truly humbled and honored by the trust placed in me to continue representing my hometown in the Maryland Senate,” Henson said after the result.
The win matters beyond a title. Until Tuesday, no Black senator from Anne Arundel County had been chosen by the county’s voters. The person who holds the seat votes on school construction money, police accountability rules and housing law for Black residents who had never had one of their own elected to speak for them in the state Senate.
Henson now has a four-year term to show what she does with it. Her critics on the left will be watching her votes on reproductive rights and LGBTQ+ protections. The next test is the General Assembly session that opens in January.
Have your say