The House of Delegates is one vacancy shy of a full chamber following the swearing-in Monday of a new delegate from Montgomery County.
Newly minted Del. Teresa Saavedra Woorman (D-Montgomery) was sworn-in during a ceremony in the House chamber. The aide to Montgomery County Executive Marc Elrich (D) is just the most recent in a string of vacancy-related appointments to the legislature over the last two years.
“Today is the second greatest honor in my life, and I’ll explain why. I was born in Mexico, and as many of you guys know, I moved here when I was 9,” Woorman, 32, said following Monday’s ceremony. “I went to these awesome schools like Northwest High School and Montgomery College and University of Maryland, and those were great honors.
“But the first great honor of my life was to become a U.S. citizen,” she said. “I was jumping up and down at my naturalization ceremony. I’m jumping up and down inside right now because my ankle is still healing.”
Woorman was appointed by Gov. Wes Moore (D) roughly a week ago, after the Montgomery County Democratic Central Committee nominated her to fill the open seat in the three-member District 16 delegation on July 12.
She fills the vacancy created when Del. Sara Love was tapped to fill the district’s seat in the state Senate that was vacated by Sen. Ariana B. Kelly (D) – who, herself, moved from the House to the Senate to fill the vacancy left by District 16 Sen. Susan Lee, who was chosen by Moore to serve as secretary of State. Love was sworn into the Senate on June 13.
One opening currently remains in the House, a vacancy created in District 38B by the departure of Del. Carl Anderton (R-Wicomico), who recently accepted a job with the Moore administration.
Last week, the Wicomico County Republican Central Committee nominated Salisbury businessman and county GOP Chair Barry Beauchamp, to replace Anderton. That nomination awaits final approval by Moore.
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