Eastern Shore Del. Sample-Hughes asked to step down from leadership position

The only representative from the Eastern Shore in the state’s legislative leadership has been asked to step down after voting against several controversial bills backed by House Speaker Adrienne Jones, D-Baltimore County.

Del. Sheree Sample-Hughes, D-Wicomico/Dorchester, who has served as the Speaker Pro Tempore for the last four years and was re-elected by the House of Delegates in January, was informed of Jones’ plan to select a new Speaker Pro Tempore during a small meeting in the speaker’s office on Tuesday morning.

The Eastern Shore delegate maintains she still holds the position due to House rules despite the speaker announcing Baltimore County delegate, Dana Stein, as the nominee for the post.

“It requires us reconvening, and that didn’t happen on Tuesday,” said Sample-Hughes, in a phone interview on Thursday. “I don’t know if I’ll be welcome to meetings or anything. I’m certainly going to continue to do my best and represent until the next election in January.”

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Gun legislation one of a few differences in voting

The meeting with Sample-Hughes happened hours before Gov. Wes Moore sat next to Jones in the State House on Tuesday, and signed gun safety legislation, SB1, into law. That law has already been the subject of litigation. Sample-Hughes was one of a few Democrats who voted against the legislation in April.

In a State House interview with a Daily Times reporter, minutes after voting against the bill on April 10, Sample-Hughes questioned the legislation.

“Are we setting ourselves up for unnecessary challenges in this space as it relates to people that are legally carrying guns?” she said. In a late April letter to the governor, the state’s Attorney General Anthony Brown said, “Senate Bill 1 is legally sufficient and is not clearly unconstitutional.”

Jones did not bring up the gun bill specifically in the Tuesday meeting also attended by Jones' chief of staff, according to Sample-Hughes, but the former Wicomico County Council member said it was one of several pieces of legislation where she differed from Jones.

“There’s probably three or four bills out of 810 bills that we passed that, for me, as a representative of the Eastern Shore, I knew it didn’t match up with the people I represent,” she said.

In addition to the gun bill, SB1, Sample-Hughes also referred to voting against a bill that allows for the use state funds for transgender treatment and a virtual learning education bill as legislation where she differed with Jones.

The virtual learning bill was the subject of a tense exchange on the last day of the legislative session with Eastern Shore delegates advocating for an amendment to the bill, backed by the Eastern Shore of Maryland Educational Consortium, to allow for school systems to continue using a private provider for virtual education services. A handful of delegates from the Eastern Shore, all Republican, rose to speak for the amendment, which failed, and the bill passed.

No representation from Eastern Shore in proposed leadership

Sample-Hughes, who voted against the virtual learning bill with her Republican Eastern Shore counterparts, this week called for representation from across Maryland in the state’s leadership.

“It is my firm belief that geographical diversity has a place,” said Sample-Hughes, in a news release sent on Wednesday night.

A May 17 news release from Jones announcing several leadership changes, due in part to the resignation of House Environment and Transportation Committee Chair Del. Kumar Barve from the Legislature to join the Public Service Commission, said: “Delegate Dana Stein (Baltimore County, District 11B) will be the Speaker’s nominee for Speaker Pro-Tem when the General Assembly returns in 2024.”

None of the announced leadership selections are from the Eastern Shore or from Western Maryland, a region whose three western most counties only have one Democrat in the state Legislature.

Jones’ statement, in the release, had an air of finality to Stein’s nomination, which must be voted on when the Legislature returns for its scheduled session in January.

“I’m pleased (Stein) has agreed to take on a new role with an expanded portfolio as Speaker Pro-Tem,” said Jones, who became speaker in 2019.

Jones did not respond to a request for comment Thursday regarding the proposed change in the Speaker Pro Tempore position.

Eastern Shore Republican lauds Sample-Hughes

During the Thursday morning phone interview, Sample-Hughes expressed her disappointment in the announcement and relayed conversations that she had at the meeting of the Democratic Caucus in Wicomico County on Tuesday night about the Eastern Shore’s loss in leadership after finding out about the Speaker’s decision earlier that day.

“For once, they feel like they have a voice,” she said. “I’m only one Democrat out of nine counties on the whole Eastern Shore.

“Even the Republicans felt like I’ve always been fair and helpful,” said Sample-Hughes. “They know I don’t agree with policies from the Republican Party, but they know I have always been willing to listen and try to help.”

In a phone interview on Thursday, Republican Del. Jefferson Ghrist, who represents an Eastern Shore district that comprises of parts of Caroline, Cecil, Kent and Queen Anne’s Counties, said Sample-Hughes has been a “tremendous asset” to the Eastern Shore.

“She’s the only voice that our Eastern Shore delegation has in the Democrat caucus,” Ghrist said. He said she “led the charge” legislatively to expand broadband access to the Eastern Shore through Choptank Electric.

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The Democrat, who represents Dorchester and Wicomico counties and has served in the state Legislature since 2015, said she has made tough votes before.

“I do also understand there’s been some tough votes. That has to happen sometimes, and I have taken tough votes over the years,” she said. “I’ve never not been true to who I am and who I represent.”

Dwight A. Weingarten is an investigative reporter, covering the Maryland State House and state issues. He can be reached at dweingarten@gannett.com or on Twitter at @DwightWeingart2.

This article originally appeared on The Herald-Mail: Eastern Shore Del. Sample-Hughes asked to step down from leadership