Maryland's Legislative District 38 is one of 47 districts in the state for the

Maryland General Assembly The Maryland General Assembly is the state legislature of the U.S. state of Maryland that convenes within the State House in Annapolis. It is a bicameral body: the upper chamber, the Maryland Senate, has 47 representatives and the lower chamb ...

. It covers Somerset County, Worcester County and part of

Wicomico County Wicomico County () is located in the southeastern part of the U.S. state of Maryland, on the Delmarva Peninsula. As of the 2020 census, the population was 103,588. The county seat is Salisbury. The county was named for the Wicomico River, whic ...

. The district is divided into three sub-districts for the

Maryland House of Delegates The Maryland House of Delegates is the lower house of the legislature of the State of Maryland. It consists of 141 delegates elected from 47 districts. The House of Delegates Chamber is in the Maryland State House on State Circle in Annapolis, ...

: District 38A, District 38B and District 38C.

Demographic characteristics

As of the

2020 United States census The United States census of 2020 was the twenty-fourth decennial United States census. Census Day, the reference day used for the census, was April 1, 2020. Other than a pilot study during the 2000 census, this was the first U.S. census to of ...

, the district had a population of 131,889, of whom 107,520 (81.5%) were of voting age. The racial makeup of the district was 90,597 (68.7%)

White White is the lightest color and is achromatic (having no hue). It is the color of objects such as snow, chalk, and milk, and is the opposite of black. White objects fully reflect and scatter all the visible wavelengths of light. White on ...

, 26,691 (20.2%)

African American African Americans (also referred to as Black Americans and Afro-Americans) are an ethnic group consisting of Americans with partial or total ancestry from sub-Saharan Africa. The term "African American" generally denotes descendants of ens ...

, 472 (0.4%) Native American, 3,239 (2.5%)

Asian Asian may refer to: * Items from or related to the continent of Asia: ** Asian people, people in or descending from Asia ** Asian culture, the culture of the people from Asia ** Asian cuisine, food based on the style of food of the people from Asi ...

, 32 (0.0%)

Pacific Islander Pacific Islanders, Pasifika, Pasefika, or rarely Pacificers are the peoples of the list of islands in the Pacific Ocean, Pacific Islands. As an ethnic group, ethnic/race (human categorization), racial term, it is used to describe the original p ...

, 3,547 (2.7%) from some other race, and 7,303 (5.5%) from two or more races.

Hispanic The term ''Hispanic'' ( es, hispano) refers to people, Spanish culture, cultures, or countries related to Spain, the Spanish language, or Hispanidad. The term commonly applies to countries with a cultural and historical link to Spain and to Vic ...

Latino Latino or Latinos most often refers to: * Latino (demonym), a term used in the United States for people with cultural ties to Latin America * Hispanic and Latino Americans in the United States * The people or cultures of Latin America; ** Latin A ...

of any race were 6,890 (5.2%) of the population. The district had 87,103 registered voters as of October 17, 2020, of whom 16,196 (18.6%) were registered as unaffiliated, 36,708 (42.1%) were registered as

Republicans Republican can refer to: Political ideology * An advocate of a republic, a type of government that is not a monarchy or dictatorship, and is usually associated with the rule of law. ** Republicanism, the ideology in support of republics or agains ...

, 32,749 (37.6%) were registered as Democrats, and 879 (1.0%) were registered to other parties.

Political representation

The district is represented for the 2023–2027 legislative term in the

State Senate A state legislature in the United States is the legislative body of any of the 50 U.S. states. The formal name varies from state to state. In 27 states, the legislature is simply called the ''Legislature'' or the ''State Legislature'', whil ...

Mary Beth Carozza Mary Beth Carozza (born February 13, 1961) is an American politician who is a Republican member of the Maryland State Senate, representing District 38. She previous represented District 38C in the Maryland House of Delegates from 2015 to 2019. ...

(R) and in the House of Delegates by Charles J. Otto (R, District 38A), Carl L. Anderton Jr. (R, District 38B) and Wayne A. Hartman (R, District 38C).

History

1994 redistricting

On January 14, 1994, Maryland was ordered to submit a plan for a new

majority district on the

Eastern Shore Eastern Shore may refer to: * Eastern Shore (Nova Scotia), a region * Eastern Shore (electoral district), a provincial electoral district in Nova Scotia * Eastern Shore of Maryland, a region * Eastern Shore of Virginia, a region * Eastern Shore (Al ...

following ''Marylanders for Fair Representation, Inc. v. Schaefer''. The U.S. District Court approved a plan to alter the boundaries of former legislative districts 36, 37, and 38, beginning with the 1994 general election. Following this, Somerset County, Worcester County and part of

were provisioned for district 38.

References

{{Maryland legislative districts Somerset County, Maryland Worcester County, Maryland Wicomico County, Maryland 38