your voice in the senate

First elected in 2018 to represent Annapolis and southern Anne Arundel County, Senator Sarah Elfreth is the youngest woman ever elected to the Maryland Senate. She is passionately committed to serving her constituents both in the State House and in the community. Sarah worked with colleagues across the aisle and around the State to pass 84 bills - all with bipartisan votes - she sponsored in her first five years in office. These new laws range from implementing the largest investment in Maryland’s State Parks, creating Maryland’s first Office of Statewide Broadband, providing treatment to veterans living with PTSD, expanding critical prenatal care for healthy Maryland mothers, and protecting forests, oysters, and clean water. 

Sarah serves on the Budget & Taxation Committee where she Chairs the Subcommittee on Public Safety, Transportation, and Environment Subcommittee and is responsible for balancing and overseeing the budgets of over 20 departments and agencies. As one of two senators representing Maryland on the multi-state Chesapeake Bay Commission, Sarah works with colleagues in Pennsylvania and Virginia to build regional consensus and implement policy solutions to protect and restore the Bay. She also serves as the Senate Chair of the Joint Committee on Program Open Space & Agricultural Land Preservation and the Joint Committee on the Chesapeake & Atlantic Coastal Bays Critical Area.

As a member of the Budget committee, Sarah fights to secure tens of millions in funding every year to support local projects and nonprofit organizations serving District 30. These include investments in the Thomas Point Lighthouse, the historic Stanton Center, Wellness House, the Woodland Beach Fire Department, the Brewer Hill Cemetery, Arundel Lodge, Annapolis Maritime Museum, both the Annapolis and Mayo American Legions, and the YWCA’s safe house for survivors of youth trafficking.

Sarah graduated, magna cum laude, from Towson University and holds a master’s degree in Public Policy from The Johns Hopkins University. Prior to being elected, Sarah spent her educational and professional career as a tireless advocate for protecting the environment and expanding education opportunities. As a student at Towson, she was appointed by the Governor to serve on the University System of Maryland Board of Regents and published a book, The Young Guardians: Students as Stewards of the Past, Present, and Future of American, about her experience and research on students serving on university governing boards.

After earning a master’s degree in Public Policy from the Johns Hopkins University, Sarah spent four years as the Government Affairs Director of the National Aquarium in Baltimore, working on legislation to protect our natural resources and increase public support for one of Maryland’s largest nonprofit organizations. She then worked in the private sector as Director of University Projects for Margrave Strategies where she focused on economic development in university towns. 

Growing up, Sarah learned the values of hard work and public service from her union-member parents and with the benefit of an excellent public school education. Expanding opportunity and access for all - from our natural resources, to quality education, and economic opportunities - are at the center her public service and have been a consistent theme throughout her work.

Outside of the Senate, Sarah teaches public policy at Towson University’s Honors College and works as a senior advisor on conservation and fisheries management campaigns. Despite receiving the “Baby Senator” trophy in 2019 for joining the chamber as its youngest member, Sarah’s success in passing legislation has earned her numerous “Legislator of the Year” awards from community and statewide groups, including: the Maryland Military Coalition, the Park Rangers, the Maryland Affordable Housing Coalition, Preservation Maryland, the Maryland Library Association, among others. She lives in downtown Annapolis.