The Montgomery County Democratic Central Committee (MCDCC) is seeking nominations to fill a General Assembly Senate seat being vacated by Sen. Ariana Kelly (D-Dist. 16), the committee announced in an email release Thursday.
Kelly announced in March that she would be leaving the General Assembly to become executive director of the Maryland Commission for Women.
Her resignation from the Senate will be effective May 5, according to the MCDCC. The state constitution requires the MCDCC to nominate a person to fill the vacancy within 30 days after it occurs and submit the nominee’s name to the governor. Gov. Wes Moore (D) is expected to appoint the committee’s nominee, who will serve the rest of Kelly’s unexpired term ending in January 2027.
District 16 includes most of the Bethesda and North Bethesda area and is also currently represented by Democrats Del. Marc Korman, Del. Sara Love and Del. Sarah Wolek.
Love has publicly stated that she plans to apply for the Senate seat. Korman has posted on social media that he supports Love’s candidacy.
If Love were to be appointed, her departure from the House of Delegates would create another vacancy for the central committee to fill.
While Kelly was elected to her initial General Assembly seat as a delegate in 2010, she was appointed by the MCDCC to her Senate seat in 2023 after departing Sen. Susan Lee was appointed by Moore as Maryland secretary of state.
Wolek was appointed in 2023 to fill Kelly’s delegate seat after Kelly was appointed to the vacant Senate seat.
The proportion of Montgomery County’s legislative delegation placed by the appointment process skyrocketed from about 25% (nine members) to more than 40% (14 members of the 35-seat delegation) in 2023. The MCDCC was tasked with filling five vacancies after Moore appointed several General Assembly members to his cabinet.
While constitutional, the appointment process has been criticized by some state legislators and good-governance advocates as undemocratic. It also offers entry into office without the months of fund-raising, coalition building, campaigning or scrutiny of a traditional electoral effort. Several measures that would have reformed the process were introduced during this year’s General Assembly session, but most of them didn’t make it out of committee.
Anyone interested in applying for the vacancy is asked to submit a resume, cover letter and any other supporting materials to the MCDCC by emailing office@mcdcc.org with the subject line D16 Senate Vacancy Application no later than 5 p.m. May 16.
To be eligible, applicants must be at least 25 years old and a registered Democratic voter in Maryland. They also must provide proof of continuous residency in District 16 for the past six months.
Eligible applicants will be invited to speak before the MCDCC at the June 3 selection meeting.
The District 16 Democratic Club will host a public Zoom forum for residents to ask questions of the candidates at 7 p.m. May 23. All attendees must register in advance at bit.ly/d16-forum-05-23-24.
