Will Smith (Maryland state senator)

Will Smith

Democratic Party

Maryland State Senate District 20

Tenure

2016 - Present

Term ends

2027

Years in position

Prior offices

Maryland House of Delegates District 20

* * *

Compensation

Base salary

$52,343/year

Per diem

$108/day for lodging. $63/day for meals

Elections and appointments

Last elected

November 8, 2022

Appointed

December 13, 2016

Contact

Official website

Personal LinkedIn

Will Smith (Democratic Party) is a member of the Maryland State Senate, representing District 20. He assumed office on December 21, 2016. His current term ends on January 13, 2027.

Smith (Democratic Party) ran for re-election to the Maryland State Senate to represent District 20. He won in the general election on November 8, 2022.

Smith served in the Maryland House of Delegates, representing District 20 from 2015 to 2016.

## Contents

* 1 Committee assignments
* 1.1 2020 legislative session
* 1.2 2015 legislative session
* 2 Sponsored legislation
* 3 Elections
* 3.1 2022
* 3.2 2018
* 3.3 2014
* 4 Campaign themes
* 4.1 2022
* 5 Campaign finance summary
* 6 Scorecards
* 6.1 2023
* 6.2 2022
* 6.3 2021
* 6.4 2020
* 6.5 2019
* 6.6 2018
* 6.7 2017
* 6.8 2016
* 6.9 2015
* 7 See also
* 8 External links
* 9 Footnotes

## Committee assignments[edit]

#### 2023-2024

Smith was assigned to the following committees:

* Executive Nominations Committee
* Judicial Proceedings Committee, Chair
* Rules Committee
* Administrative, Executive and Legislative Review Committee

#### 2021-2022

Smith was assigned to the following committees:

* Administrative, Executive and Legislative Review Committee
* Executive Nominations Committee
* Judicial Proceedings Committee, Chair
* Rules Committee

#### 2019-2020

Smith was assigned to the following committees:

* Executive Nominations Committee
* Judicial Proceedings Committee, Vice Chair

### 2020 legislative session[edit]

At the beginning of the 2020 legislative session, Smith served on the following committees:

Maryland committee assignments, 2020

• Judiciary, Chair

### 2015 legislative session[edit]

At the beginning of the 2015 legislative session, Smith served on the following committees:

Maryland committee assignments, 2015

• Judiciary

## Sponsored legislation[edit]

The following table lists bills this person sponsored as a legislator, according to BillTrack50 and sorted by action history. Bills are sorted by the date of their last action. The following list may not be comprehensive. To see all bills this legislator sponsored, click on the legislator's name in the title of the table.

## Elections[edit]

### 2022[edit]

See also: Maryland State Senate elections, 2022

#### General election

##### General election for Maryland State Senate District 20

Incumbent Will Smith won election in the general election for Maryland State Senate District 20 on November 8, 2022.

Candidate

Votes

|
|
|

| Will Smith (D) |

98.8

| 34,113
|  | Other/Write-in votes|

1.2

| 422

* * *

Incumbents are bolded and underlined. The results have been certified. Source

| Total votes: 34,535

|
|

= candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey.

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#### Democratic primary election

#####  Democratic primary for Maryland State Senate District 20

Incumbent Will Smith defeated Enoch Bevel in the Democratic primary for Maryland State Senate District 20 on July 19, 2022.

Candidate

Votes

|
|
|

| Will Smith|

89.0

| 17,121

| Enoch Bevel|

11.0

| 2,124

* * *

Incumbents are bolded and underlined. The results have been certified. Source

| Total votes: 19,245

|
|

= candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey.

Do you want a spreadsheet of this type of data? Contact our sales team.

### 2018[edit]

See also: Maryland State Senate elections, 2018

#### General election

##### General election for Maryland State Senate District 20

Incumbent Will Smith defeated Dwight Patel and Vardley St. Preux in the general election for Maryland State Senate District 20 on November 6, 2018.

Candidate

Votes

|
|
|

| Will Smith (D) |

90.8

| 42,069

| Dwight Patel (R) |

9.1

| 4,236

| Vardley St. Preux (Unaffiliated) |

0.0

| 5
|  | Other/Write-in votes|

0.1

| 35

* * *

Incumbents are bolded and underlined. The results have been certified. Source

| Total votes: 46,345

|
|

= candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey.

Do you want a spreadsheet of this type of data? Contact our sales team.

#### Democratic primary election

#####  Democratic primary for Maryland State Senate District 20

Incumbent Will Smith advanced from the Democratic primary for Maryland State Senate District 20 on June 26, 2018.

Candidate

Votes

|
|
|

| Will Smith|

100.0

| 16,896

* * *

Incumbents are bolded and underlined. The results have been certified.

| Total votes: 16,896

|
|

= candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey.

Do you want a spreadsheet of this type of data? Contact our sales team.

#### Republican primary election

#####  Republican primary for Maryland State Senate District 20

Dwight Patel advanced from the Republican primary for Maryland State Senate District 20 on June 26, 2018.

Candidate

Votes

|
|
|

| Dwight Patel|

100.0

| 711

* * *

There were no incumbents in this race. The results have been certified.

| Total votes: 711

|
|

= candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey.

Do you want a spreadsheet of this type of data? Contact our sales team.

### 2014[edit]

See also: Maryland House of Delegates elections, 2014

Elections for the Maryland House of Delegates took place in 2014. A primary election took place on June 24, 2014. The general election was held on November 4, 2014. The filing deadline for candidates wishing to run in this election was February 25, 2014. Incumbent Sheila E. Hixson, David Moon, and Will Smith defeated Justin W. Chappell, D'Juan Hopewell, William Jawando, Jonathan Shurberg, Darian Unger and George Zokle in the Democratic primary. Daniel S. Robinson ran as a Green Party candidate. Hixson, Moon and Smith defeated Robinson for three seats in the general election.[1][2][3]

Maryland House of Delegates District 20, General Election, 2014 Party | Candidate | Vote % | Votes

|
|
|

| Democratic  | Sheila Hixson Incumbent | 31.8% | 23,519
| Democratic  | Will Smith | 29.7% | 21,989
| Democratic  | David Moon | 29.3% | 21,646
| Green  |  Daniel S. Robinson  | 9.2% | 6,801
Total Votes | 73,955

Maryland House of Delegates, District 20 Democratic Primary, 2014 Candidate | Vote % | Votes
Sheila Hixson Incumbent | 24.5% | 9,135
David Moon | 18.7% | 6,959
Will Smith | 16.1% | 6,006
William Jawando  | 15.1% | 5,620
Darian Unger  | 11.5% | 4,296
Jonathan Shurberg  | 8% | 2,997
Justin W. Chappell  | 2.9% | 1,076
D'Juan Hopewell  | 2.1% | 778
George Zokle  | 1.1% | 397
Total Votes | 37,264

## Campaign themes[edit]

### 2022[edit]

#### Ballotpedia survey responses

See also: Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection

Will Smith did not complete Ballotpedia's 2022 Candidate Connection survey.

## Campaign finance summary[edit]

* * *

Note: The finance data shown here comes from the disclosures required of candidates and parties. Depending on the election or state, this may represent only a portion of all the funds spent on their behalf. Satellite spending groups may or may not have expended funds related to the candidate or politician on whose page you are reading this disclaimer. Campaign finance data from elections may be incomplete. For elections to federal offices, complete data can be found at the FEC website. Click here for more on federal campaign finance law and here for more on state campaign finance law.

* * *

Will Smith campaign contribution history Year| Office| Status| Contributions| Expenditures

|
|
|
|

2022| Maryland State Senate District 20| Won general| $424,804|  $355,131
2014| Maryland House of Delegates, District 20| Won | $83,877|  N/A**
Grand total| $508,681|  $355,131
Sources: OpenSecrets, Federal Elections Commission ***This product uses the openFEC API but is not endorsed or certified by the Federal Election Commission (FEC).
** Data on expenditures is not available for this election cycle
Note: Totals above reflect only availabale data.

## Scorecards[edit]

See also: State legislative scorecards and State legislative scorecards in Maryland

A scorecard evaluates a legislator’s voting record. Its purpose is to inform voters about the legislator’s political positions. Because scorecards have varying purposes and methodologies, each report should be considered on its own merits. For example, an advocacy group’s scorecard may assess a legislator’s voting record on one issue while a state newspaper’s scorecard may evaluate the voting record in its entirety.

Ballotpedia is in the process of developing an encyclopedic list of published scorecards. Some states have a limited number of available scorecards or scorecards produced only by select groups. It is Ballotpedia’s goal to incorporate all available scorecards regardless of ideology or number.

Click here for an overview of legislative scorecards in all 50 states.  To contribute to the list of Maryland scorecards, email suggestions to editor@ballotpedia.org.

### 2023

To view all the scorecards we found for this legislator in 2023, click [show].

In 2023, the Maryland State Legislature was in session from January 11 to April 10.

* Maryland Free Enterprise Foundation

Legislators are scored on their votes on bills related to business issues.

* Maryland Humane Scorecard

Legislators are scored on their votes on bills related to animal issues.

* Maryland League of Conservation Voters

Legislators are scored on their votes on bills related to environmental issues.

* Maryland Legislative Coalition

Legislators are scored their voting record, committee efficiency, and individual initiative.

### 2022

To view all the scorecards we found for this legislator in 2022, click [show].

In 2022, the Maryland State Legislature was in session from January 12 to April 11.

* Maryland Community Solar Now

Legislators are scored on their votes on bills related to the support and expansion of the state's solar pilot program.

* Maryland Free Enterprise Foundation

Legislators are scored on their votes on bills related to business issues.

* Maryland Humane Scorecard

Legislators are scored on their votes on bills related to animal issues.

* Maryland League of Conservation Voters

Legislators are scored on their votes on bills related to environmental issues.

* Maryland Legislative Coalition

Legislators are scored their voting record, committee efficiency, and individual initiative.

* National Federation of Independent Business

Legislators are scored on their votes on bills related to business issues.

### 2021

To view all the scorecards we found for this legislator in 2021, click [show].

In 2021, the Maryland State Legislature was in session from January 13 to April 12.

* Maryland Community Solar Now

Legislators are scored on their votes on bills related to the support and expansion of the state's solar pilot program.

* Maryland Free Enterprise Foundation

Legislators are scored on their votes on bills related to business issues.

* Maryland League of Conservation Voters

Legislators are scored on their votes on bills related to environmental issues.

* Maryland Legislative Coalition

Legislators are scored their voting record, committee efficiency, and individual initiative.

* The American Conservative Union

Legislators are scored on their votes on conservative issues.

### 2020

To view all the scorecards we found for this legislator in 2020, click [show].

In 2020, the Maryland State Legislature was in session from January 8 to March 18.

* Maryland Free Enterprise Foundation

Legislators are scored on their votes on bills related to business issues.

* Maryland League of Conservation Voters

Legislators are scored on their votes on bills related to environmental issues.

* Maryland Public Interest Research Group

Legislators are scored on their votes on issues related to consumer interests.

* National Federation of Independent Business

Legislators are scored on their votes on bills related to business issues.

* The American Conservative Union

Legislators are scored on their votes on conservative issues.

### 2019

To view all the scorecards we found for this legislator in 2019, click [show].

In 2019, the Maryland General Assembly was in session from January 9 through April 8.

* Maryland Free Enterprise Foundation

Legislators are scored on their votes on bills related to business issues.

* Maryland League of Conservation Voters

Legislators are scored on their votes on bills related to environmental issues.

* Maryland Public Interest Research Group

Legislators are scored on their votes on issues related to consumer interests.

* The American Conservative Union

Legislators are scored on their votes on conservative issues.

### 2018

To view all the scorecards we found for this legislator in 2018, click [show].

In 2018, the Maryland General Assembly was in session from January 10 through April 9.

* Maryland Business for Responsive Government

Legislators are scored on their votes on bills related to business issues.

* Maryland League of Conservation Voters

Legislators are scored on their votes on bills related to environmental issues.

* Maryland Public Interest Research Group

Legislators are scored on their votes on issues related to consumer interests.

* NARAL Pro-Choice Maryland

Legislators are scored on their votes on bills related to reproductive health.

* The American Conservative Union

Legislators are scored on their votes on conservative issues.

### 2017

To view all the scorecards we found for this legislator in 2017, click [show].

In 2017, the Maryland General Assembly was in session from January 11 through April 10.

* Food and Water Watch

Legislators are scored on their votes on environmental issues.

* Maryland Business for Responsive Government

Legislators are scored on their votes on bills related to business issues.

* Maryland League of Conservation Voters

Legislators are scored on their votes on bills related to environmental issues.

* Maryland Public Interest Research Group

Legislators are scored on their votes on issues related to consumer interests.

* Maryland State Education Association

Legislators are scored on their votes on bills related to education.

* The American Conservative Union

Legislators are scored on their votes on conservative issues.

### 2016

To view all the scorecards we found for this legislator in 2016, click [show].

In 2016, the Maryland General Assembly was in session from January 13 through April 11.

* Maryland Business for Responsive Government

Legislators are scored on their votes on bills related to business issues.

* Maryland League of Conservation Voters

Legislators are scored on their votes on bills related to environmental issues.

* Maryland Right to Life

Legislators are scored on their votes on bills supported or opposed by the organization.

* National Federation of Independent Business

Legislators are scored on their votes on bills related to business issues.

* The American Conservative Union

Legislators are scored on their votes on conservative issues.

### 2015

To view all the scorecards we found for this legislator in 2015, click [show].

In 2015, the Maryland General Assembly was in session from January 14 through April 13.

* Maryland Business for Responsive Government

Legislators are scored on their votes on bills related to business and jobs in Maryland.

* Maryland League of Conservation Voters

Legislators are scored on environmental issues.

* The American Conservative Union

Legislators are scored on their votes on conservative issues.

## See also[edit]

2022 Elections

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## External links[edit]

* Search Google News for this topic

Officeholder

Maryland State Senate District 20

* Website

Personal

* LinkedIn

|

## Footnotes[edit]

1. ↑ Maryland Secretary of State, "Official primary election candidate list," accessed March 3, 2014
2. ↑ Maryland State Board of Elections, "Official 2014 Gubernatorial Primary Election results for House of Delegates," accessed December 5, 2014
3. ↑ Maryland State Board of Elections, "2014 Official General Election Results," accessed April 30, 2015

Political offices

Preceded by
\-  |  Maryland State Senate District 20
2016-Present | Succeeded by

Preceded by
\-  |  Maryland House of Delegates District 20
2015-2016 | Succeeded by

[show]

Current members of the Maryland State Senate

Leadership

Senate President:William Ferguson

Majority Leader:Guy Guzzone

Minority Leader:Stephen Hershey

Senators

District 1

Mike McKay (R)

District 2

Paul Corderman (R)

District 3

Karen Young (D)

District 4

William Folden (R)

District 5

Justin Ready (R)

District 6

Johnny Salling (R)

District 7

J.B. Jennings (R)

District 8

Katherine Klausmeier (D)

District 9

Katie Hester (D)

District 10

Benjamin Brooks (D)

District 11

Shelly Hettleman (D)

District 12

Clarence Lam (D)

District 13

Guy Guzzone (D)

District 14

Craig Zucker (D)

District 15

Brian Feldman (D)

District 16

Sara Love (D)

District 17

Cheryl Kagan (D)

District 18

Jeff Waldstreicher (D)

District 19

Benjamin Kramer (D)

District 20

Will Smith (D)

District 21

Jim Rosapepe (D)

District 22

Alonzo Washington (D)

District 23

Ron Watson (D)

District 24

Joanne Benson (D)

District 25

Nick Charles (D)

District 26

C. Muse (D)

District 27

Michael Jackson (D)

District 28

Arthur Ellis (D)

District 29

Jack Bailey (R)

District 30

Sarah Elfreth (D)

District 31

Bryan Simonaire (R)

District 32

Pamela Beidle (D)

District 33

Dawn Gile (D)

District 34

Mary-Dulany James (D)

District 35

Jason Gallion (R)

District 36

Stephen Hershey (R)

District 37

Johnny Mautz (R)

District 38

Mary Carozza (R)

District 39

Nancy King (D)

District 40

Antonio Hayes (D)

District 41

Jill Carter (D)

District 42

Chris West (R)

District 43

Mary Washington (D)

District 44

Charles Sydnor (D)

District 45

Cory McCray (D)

District 46

William Ferguson (D)

District 47

Malcolm Augustine (D)

Democratic Party (34)

Republican Party (13)

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