Since 2022, bills proposed in the Maryland General Assembly with a Democratic lead sponsor were 72% more likely to pass than those with a Republican lead sponsor.
While 28% of the legislature is Republican, only 16% of the bills that passed in the 2026 session came from a Republican lead sponsor.
Over the past five years, 15% of Republican bills have passed, compared to 26% of Democrat-led bills.
Delegate LaToya Nkongolo, R – Anne Arundel, who served as the deputy minority whip this session, passed more bills than any other Republican in the House of Delegates — four bills total.
“Even though our bills reaching the finish line naturally will be lower, that doesn’t mean that the work isn’t happening,” Nkongolo said. “It really speaks to us needing more balance in Annapolis.”
Challenging the Supermajority
Even with Republicans in the superminority, meaning that Democrats have the 3/5 majority needed to override a veto or pass emergency bills, they still challenge bills they deem detrimental to Marylanders, Nkongolo said. However, their ability to do so is inherently limited by the Democratic supermajority.
“This session in particular was more about party and about the priorities of the majority party, not the priorities of Marylanders,” said Nkongolo. “…We have to do three times the amount of work to craft arguments to challenge the supermajority.”
Nkongolo said that Republicans simply don’t have the resources and connections that Maryland Democrats have.
“We’re outnumbered 102 to 39 [in the House], so if I want a bill to pass, it’s going to have to be very watered down,” said Delegate Brian Chisholm, R – Anne Arundel.
He said that Republicans are proportionately outnumbered in most committees. None of the committees has Republican chairs or vice chairs, and haven’t for some time.
He said Democrats often leverage their bills to get Republican support, and in return, Republicans will get to go back to their districts with money for various initiatives.
Even so, Republicans still struggle to pass bills.
Delegate Jay Jacobs, R – Caroline, Cecil, Kent and Queen Anne’s, said that Republicans already typically don’t put a lot of bills in. While many Republicans sponsored several bills that were passed, only 18 of the 52 Republicans in the General Assembly were lead sponsors on bills passed during the 2026 session.
“We don’t get gridlock, we just get stepped on,” Jacobs said. “We get overridden because of the minority that we’re in.”
Struggling against polarization for wins
Maryland Republicans are still finding some success. Nkongolo highlighted Delegate Mike Griffith’s Kanaiyah’s Law, which will establish more protections for foster children, which was signed into law by Gov. Wes Moore at the end of April.
In spite of the numbers, Chisholm, Nkongolo and Jacobs didn’t seem particularly worried about polarization, especially when compared to the national level.
Nkongolo and other House Republicans said the climate is still very civil and professional.
She and Chisholm said that while both parties have a lot of the same goals, they don’t see eye to eye on how to achieve them.
Chisholm said that some Maryland Republicans have found success with cross-filing, like Delegate Bryan Simonaire, R – Anne Arundel, who often puts in bipartisan bills to help military veterans.
He mentioned that some Republicans, especially Freedom Caucus members like himself and Delegate Mark Fisher, R – Calvert, fight back. Others are more limited by reelection campaigns, age and party lines.
Even while “fighting back,” none of the five main bills that Chisholm sponsored passed.
“It’s tough to say that to be a good legislator, you have to pass bills,” he said. “No, to be a good legislator, you have to make sure that people are held accountable.”
Alternatively, Jacobs passed three out of the six bills he proposed through both chambers. He said that, unlike some legislators who put in 20 to 25 bills, he puts in bills related to his expertise in fisheries and natural resources that really serve his district.
Jacobs, who just finished his 16th session, said this past session was probably the most contentious he’s been part of. Since his first term in 2011, he said that voting has become much more party-line.
In response to the polarization, Delegate Nkongolo responded with a plea to consider local and state-level Republican candidates.
“If we don’t have balance in power, it is going to get more and more extreme,” Nkongolo said.
Looking Outside of Maryland
Delaware, like New York, New Jersey and California, has a general assembly in a similar position to Maryland. The state’s House of Representatives is just one legislator away from a Democratic supermajority.
Delaware state Rep. Lyndon Yearick considers himself the “last man standing.”
He spoke about a Republican bill that a representative tried to pass for eight years to make Delaware the 49th state to allow the direct shipment of wine. This year, another representative picked it up, tweaked it and was able to get it passed. Yearick called it an “occasional win.”
He also said that a lot of the new legislators come in pushing bills banning cooperation with ICE, restricting gun ownership and targeting various climate issues.
“They think they know everything,” he said. “They’re not willing to work with someone who has been doing this a while.
Yearick has had four main pieces of legislation this session. Out of the four, only one has gotten out of committee, he said. He said he thinks it only has a 10% chance of getting through both chambers.
Back in 2022, Yearick hosted a picnic in his backyard, and half of the legislators who attended were Republicans and the other half were Democrats. Generally, he said, legislators get along when they’re off the floor.
“We see things differently, but if it ever got as bad as D.C., God help us all,” Yearick said. “It would be just a terrible disservice for Delawareans, or Maryland or Jersey, wherever you might be.
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