Politics: Maryland State Senator Jill P. Carter
Today begins the annual 90-day Maryland General Assembly (MGA) session.
I just learned that my longtime friend, Jill Carter, stepped down after her last month on the Maryland Board of Contract Appeals, having served as a Delegate for 14 years (2003–2017) and as a Senator for 6 years (2018–2025).
Read her MGA biography.
I wrote a commentary about Carter for Maryland Matters five years ago (November 6, 2019) (see below) to inform you about my relationship with her.
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A Republican’s View: The Best Democratic Candidate
“You just flew from Italy to testify here today?”
State Sen. Jill P. Carter yanked at me in the Senate Judicial Proceedings Committee room lobby after I delivered my furious three-minute presentation on child support guidelines to her committee last March [2019]. I laughed and said no; I had returned to the USA two months earlier. But I knew she had followed me on Facebook during my four-month trip to Italy.
My bond with her has grown stronger each year since 2003.
Immediately after the sudden death of U.S. Rep. Elijah Cummings, Maryland Matters Editor Josh Kurtz wrote a list of possible candidates to replace Cummings. His list puzzled me, so I emailed him that he might have forgotten Jill P. Carter. He replied, “Smart thought,” and immediately added Carter’s name.
A few days later, the senator announced her exploratory committee for Maryland’s 7th Congressional District.
Flashback: In 2003, I attended the Maryland House Judiciary Committee hearings a few times and studied all committee members’ body language. [I have been deaf since birth.] My purpose was to find a legislator who might be willing to sponsor a bill that would overturn provisions of the Maryland child support court decision, Drummond v. State, 714 A.2d 163 (1998), which dealt with child support and disability benefits. Based on their body language, I narrowed the list to the following lawmakers: my state delegate, Carmen Amedori (R); Anthony Brown (D), the vice chairman; Jill P. Carter (D); Susan C. Lee (D); Susan McComas (R); Tony O’Donnell (R); and Bobby Zirkin (D).
Except for Sen. McComas, the other delegates are no longer serving in the MGA today.
When I left the Judiciary Committee room in 2003, Delegate O’Donnell stopped me in the hall and told me he had read my email. He said he would love to introduce my proposed bill on child support but could not because he would lose female votes. I had to find a female legislator to sponsor my potential legislative proposal.
On the Senate side, Sen. Norman Stone Jr. took my request in March 2004 and engineered his bill into law (Chapter 491 of the Acts of 2004).
Read about how Stone’s 2004 bill passed - Politics: Maryland State Senator Norm R. Stone, Jr.
Since then, I have testified orally before Carter’s Judiciary Committee on the child support issue every year, and I have noted that she took my testimony very seriously. In return, I learned that she advocates for civil rights for children through parental engagement and custodial equality and pushes for more rights for non-custodial parents in the child support situation.
Carter hid, smiling when I clashed with Del. Kathleen Dumais (D) over the child support bills. She has always supported my legislative proposals and amendments on the matter.
One day in 2011 or 2012, the Judiciary Committee had a few bills on a hot topic. It attracted administration aides and judges to testify ahead of public witnesses. The start time for public witnesses was delayed by over two hours, so an interpreter for the deaf that had been provided for me had to leave for another assignment.
Carter was puzzled, so she walked toward me. She wrote to ask whether I would testify orally without the interpreter's presence. I nodded and explained that I would use body language for the committee. Then she whispered to Chairman Joseph F. Vallario Jr. (D). He agreed to let Carter read some yellow highlights from my written testimony to her committee. It was very kind of her.
In November 2015, Jill Carter emailed me, seeking advice. My advice??
She explained that she loved her first cousin, who is deaf, but was concerned about his ability to adequately care for himself and handle his life responsibilities since his mom had dementia and was in a facility. After exchanging messages, I referred Carter to the Office for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing for further advice.
At the end of the conversation, she asked me to look at the picture of her cousin on Facebook. I did and yelled, “Gregg Richardson!” I’ve known him since he twice tried to make the USA Deaf Tennis Team, though he did not make it to the Deaflympics.
As you probably know, Carter is the daughter of the late civil rights activist, leader, and visionary Walter P. Carter. Like Hillary Rodham Clinton’s Republican parents, my parents were Republican conservatives who supported the civil rights movement during the 1960s.
If Carter is elected to Congress, she will push legislation to improve deaf and disability rights. Because she has a deaf cousin, she would participate in the Congressional Deaf Caucus.
Yes, I am a registered Republican, and I used to work for the National Republican Congressional Committee and the Republican National Committee. No matter my political philosophy, Maryland’s deep-blue 7th Congressional District needs the best Democratic candidate: Jill P. Carter.
NOTE: Carter lost the special 2020 Democratic primary election, finishing third among 24 candidates. The winner was Kweisi Mfume, who served in Congress from 1987 to 1996 and then resigned to become the president of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People. Mfume was re-elected last November for the 119th U.S. Congress (2025-2026).
— HOWARD L. GORRELL
The writer is an advocate for the rights of deaf and disabled individuals.