Shaneka Henson

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Shaneka Henson
Image of Shaneka Henson
Maryland State Senate District 30
Tenure

2025 - Present

Term ends

2027

Years in position

0

Predecessor
Prior offices
Maryland House of Delegates District 30A
Successor: Dylan Behler
Predecessor: Michael Busch

Compensation

Base salary

$54,437/year

Per diem

$115/day for lodging, $63/day for meals

Elections and appointments
Appointed

January 4, 2025

Education

Bachelor's

Coppin State University, 2006

Law

University of Baltimore School of Law, 2010

Personal
Birthplace
Annapolis, Md.
Religion
Christian
Profession
Attorney
Contact

Shaneka Henson (Democratic Party) is a member of the Maryland State Senate, representing District 30. She assumed office on January 8, 2025. Her current term ends on January 13, 2027.

Henson (Democratic Party) ran for re-election to the Maryland House of Delegates to represent District 30A. She won in the general election on November 8, 2022.

Henson completed Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey in 2021. Click here to read the survey answers.

Gov. Larry Hogan (R) appointed Henson to the Maryland House of Delegates to replace Michael Busch on May 6, 2019.[1]

Gov. Wes Moore (D) appointed Henson to the Maryland State Senate District 30 on January 8, 2025 to replace Sarah Elfreth.[2]

Biography

Shaneka Henson was born in Annapolis, Maryland. She received a bachelor's degree from Coppin State University in 2006 and a J.D. from the University of Baltimore School of Law in 2010. Henson's professional experience includes founding a law firm in 2020 and working as an attorney for the Maryland Office of Attorney General and the YWCA of Annapolis and Anne Arundel County.[3]

The following table lists bills this person sponsored as a legislator, according to BillTrack50 and sorted by action history. Bills are sorted by the date of their last action. The following list may not be comprehensive. To see all bills this legislator sponsored, click on the legislator's name in the title of the table.


Elections

2022

See also: Maryland House of Delegates elections, 2022

General election

General election for Maryland House of Delegates District 30A (2 seats)

Incumbent Shaneka Henson and incumbent Dana Jones defeated Doug Rathell and Rob Seyfferth in the general election for Maryland House of Delegates District 30A on November 8, 2022.

Candidate
%
Votes
Image of Shaneka Henson
Shaneka Henson (D) Candidate Connection
 
32.1
 
20,364
Image of Dana Jones
Dana Jones (D)
 
31.1
 
19,710
Doug Rathell (R)
 
20.4
 
12,948
Rob Seyfferth (R)
 
16.3
 
10,366
 Other/Write-in votes
 
0.1
 
66

Total votes: 63,454
Candidate Connection = candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
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Democratic primary election

Democratic primary for Maryland House of Delegates District 30A (2 seats)

Incumbent Shaneka Henson and incumbent Dana Jones advanced from the Democratic primary for Maryland House of Delegates District 30A on July 19, 2022.

Candidate
%
Votes
Image of Shaneka Henson
Shaneka Henson Candidate Connection
 
52.2
 
8,665
Image of Dana Jones
Dana Jones
 
47.8
 
7,925

Total votes: 16,590
Candidate Connection = candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey.

Do you want a spreadsheet of this type of data? Contact our sales team.

Republican primary election

Republican primary for Maryland House of Delegates District 30A (2 seats)

Doug Rathell and Rob Seyfferth advanced from the Republican primary for Maryland House of Delegates District 30A on July 19, 2022.

Candidate
%
Votes
Doug Rathell
 
53.1
 
3,883
Rob Seyfferth
 
46.9
 
3,434

Total votes: 7,317
Candidate Connection = candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey.

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Withdrawn or disqualified candidates

Campaign themes

2022

Ballotpedia survey responses

See also: Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection

Candidate Connection

Shaneka Henson completed Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey in 2021. The survey questions appear in bold and are followed by Henson's responses. Candidates are asked three required questions for this survey, but they may answer additional optional questions as well.

Expand all | Collapse all

Shaneka Henson is a Democratic member of the Maryland House of Delegates appointed in May 2019 to follow the late Michael E. Busch. In October 2019 House Speaker Adrienne A. Jones assigned Henson to serve on the Appropriations Committee.

Henson was previously a member of the Annapolis City Council representing Ward 6 from December 4, 2017 to April 29, 2019. In June 2017 Henson was endorsed by the Maryland League of Conservation Voters followed by a coveted endorsement from the Sierra Club in October 2017.

In 2020, Henson sponsored a bill that took effect October 1, 2020 that would allow incarcerated parents to have their child support order frozen while imprisoned if they are serving a jail sentence of 180 days or more. Prior to the law's passing, the threshold was 18 months. Henson introduced a bill that took effect October 1, 2020 to close a loophole in state law allowing the City of Annapolis to avoid the responsibility for inspecting and licensing public housing units like other rentals in the city.

In June 2020, during the coronavirus pandemic, Henson accepted an appointment to Attorney General Brian Frosh's Access to Justice Housing Affordability Task Force to combat the anticipated surge in evictions and foreclosures resulting from job losses. In January 2021 Speaker Adrienne Jones appointed Henson to the Maryland Sexual Assault Evidence Kit Policy and Funding Committee ("SAEK Committee").

In 2020, Henson founded a law firm based in Annapolis, MD.
  • As an elected official since 2017, Shaneka Henson entered the Maryland House of Delegates after the passing of Maryland's beloved former Speaker Mike Busch. Her bold and passionate leadership is here to pave the way and change the narrative in Annapolis.
  • In 2019, Annapolis native Shaneka Henson joined Maryland's House of Delegates succeeding the late former Speaker Michael E. Busch. Learn more about the trial attorney and former Alderwoman who's family values make her a passionate and bright leader. Visit www.shanekahenson.com
  • Our Delegate Fights for Us!
Housing

Shaneka Henson believes that safe, affordable, and non-discriminatory housing for all is a human right. Henson fights for public and private expansion of affordable housing implemented with sustainable, smart growth strategies.

Health Care
Shaneka Henson is a passionate advocate for open and equitable access to health and wellness resources/services. Delegate Henson fights for health education, growth and preservation of public parks, workplace safety, and preventative care. She pushes for expansions to public healthcare and access to healthcare for all.

Environment
Shaneka Henson is proud to support and push for the use of clean & renewable energy, water quality regulations aligned with the Chesapeake Bay "pollution diet" and air quality standards (indoor and atmospheric) that sustain healthy communities. Henson believes supporting a healthy environment is critical to civilization worldwide.

Education
Shaneka Henson fights for every student's opportunity to access high quality education regardless of their zip-code and family status. Henson tackles opportunity gaps in the education system head-on and fights to ensure that all students are prepared for success.

Public Safety

Shaneka Henson is committed to getting guns and other dangerous weapons out of places they don't belong and supporting survivors and communities impacted by violence. Henson fights for community-based public safety solutions that effectively respond to crime but increasingly preve

Note: Ballotpedia reserves the right to edit Candidate Connection survey responses. Any edits made by Ballotpedia will be clearly marked with [brackets] for the public. If the candidate disagrees with an edit, he or she may request the full removal of the survey response from Ballotpedia.org. Ballotpedia does not edit or correct typographical errors unless the candidate's campaign requests it.

Campaign finance summary


Note: The finance data shown here comes from the disclosures required of candidates and parties. Depending on the election or state, this may represent only a portion of all the funds spent on their behalf. Satellite spending groups may or may not have expended funds related to the candidate or politician on whose page you are reading this disclaimer. Campaign finance data from elections may be incomplete. For elections to federal offices, complete data can be found at the FEC website. Click here for more on federal campaign finance law and here for more on state campaign finance law.


Shaneka Henson campaign contribution history
YearOfficeStatusContributionsExpenditures
2022Maryland House of Delegates District 30AWon general$142,811 $129,496
Grand total$142,811 $129,496
Sources: OpenSecretsFederal Elections Commission ***This product uses the openFEC API but is not endorsed or certified by the Federal Election Commission (FEC).

Committee assignments

Note: This membership information was last updated in September 2023. Ballotpedia completes biannual updates of committee membership. If you would like to send us an update, email us at: editor@ballotpedia.org.

2023-2024

Henson was assigned to the following committees:

2021-2022

Henson was assigned to the following committees:


Scorecards

See also: State legislative scorecards and State legislative scorecards in Maryland

A scorecard evaluates a legislator’s voting record. Its purpose is to inform voters about the legislator’s political positions. Because scorecards have varying purposes and methodologies, each report should be considered on its own merits. For example, an advocacy group’s scorecard may assess a legislator’s voting record on one issue while a state newspaper’s scorecard may evaluate the voting record in its entirety.

Ballotpedia is in the process of developing an encyclopedic list of published scorecards. Some states have a limited number of available scorecards or scorecards produced only by select groups. It is Ballotpedia’s goal to incorporate all available scorecards regardless of ideology or number.

Click here for an overview of legislative scorecards in all 50 states.  To contribute to the list of Maryland scorecards, email suggestions to editor@ballotpedia.org.


2024


2023


2022


2021


2020


2019






See also


External links

Footnotes

Political offices
Preceded by
Sarah Elfreth (D)
Maryland State Senate District 30
2025-Present
Succeeded by
-
Preceded by
Michael Busch (D)
Maryland House of Delegates District 30A
2019-2025
Succeeded by
Dylan Behler (D)


Current members of the Maryland State Senate
Leadership
Senate President:William Ferguson
Majority Leader:Guy Guzzone
Minority Leader:Stephen Hershey
Senators
District 1
District 2
District 3
District 4
District 5
District 6
District 7
District 8
District 9
District 10
District 11
District 12
District 13
District 14
District 15
District 16
Sara Love (D)
District 17
District 18
District 19
District 20
District 21
District 22
District 23
District 24
District 25
District 26
C. Muse (D)
District 27
District 28
District 29
District 30
District 31
District 32
District 33
Dawn Gile (D)
District 34
District 35
District 36
District 37
District 38
District 39
District 40
District 41
District 42
District 43
District 44
District 45
District 46
District 47
Democratic Party (34)
Republican Party (13)