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Del. Edith J. Patterson (D-Charles) is set to take over as president of the Women Legislators of Maryland caucus after the legislative session ends. Photo by Danielle E. Gaines.

When Del. Lesley J. Lopez (D-Montgomery), outgoing president of the Women Legislators of Maryland, rises on the House floor Friday to announce the new line-up of the womens caucus executive board, the list will, for the second year in a row, contain only Democrats.

Last year, in an acrimonious split, the caucus elected Lopez as its leader even though informal caucus rules dictated that a Republican, Harford County Del. Lauren Arikan, was next in line. Democrats said they were uncomfortable elevating a vocal conservative like Arikan with an acerbic rhetorical style to the top job of the traditionally bipartisan caucus, even though she had promised to keep partisan politics out of caucus deliberations. All 11 Republican women in the General Assembly at the time resigned in protest.

Del. Lelsey Lopez (D-Montgomery) outlines priorities of the Womens Caucus during the 2023 General Assembly session. Photo by Danielle E. Gaines.

Lopez quickly vowed to try to heal the wounds, and even sent handwritten notes to each of the Republican women in the legislature, but did not encounter much success. A few Republicans have attended some caucus events over the past year and dont make a big production of it, Lopez said. These included a Womens History Month breakfast with Gov. Wes Moore (D) at Government House last month.But no Republican has paid the $150 annual membership dues, so they werent eligible to vote this week in the caucus leadership elections, she said.

More significantly, Republicans and Democrats say, women lawmakers seem unable to come together at the moment and suggest the fissures may be more than just ideological.The legislature currently has 72 Democratic women and just eight Republican women.

I think this has been the most dramatic thing that Ive experienced in my time here, and thats saying something, said Del. Rachel Muoz (R-Anne Arundel), who joined the House in late 2021. I think there are some long-term grudges and theresbias and theres a lack of trust. So the two sides are unable to come together and even have a conversation. And its sad.

In an apparent effort to heal wounds, Muoz was nominated for a position on the womens caucus executive board, at the suggestion of Del. Shaneka Henson (D-Anne Arundel), who represents a nearby district and has an adjoining office in the Lowe House Office Building. Lopez and other Democrats then encouraged Muozto seek the position.

I saw it as sort of an olive branch and perhaps an opportunity, Muoz said.

But when the lawmaker checked in with her Republican colleagues, they advised her not to seek the slot. She reluctantly complied.

Rachel Muoz. Campaign photo.

Its a very sensitive topic and people are highly charged, Muoz said.

Lopez said she didnt understand why some Republican women were pressuring their colleagues to avoid participating in the caucus, especially when conservative Republicans lost many of their races in Maryland last year and when the next election is so far off.

Were four years away from the Republican primary, Lopez said. The extremists who ran in the [last] primary, like [GOP gubernatorial nominee] Dan Cox, didnt win.

The Women Legislators of Maryland is a 51-year-old organization the oldest womens caucus in any state legislature and has traditionally been bipartisan, though it has been dominated by Democrats given the partisan lean of the state and the General Assembly.

Usually in the womens caucus, board members have worked their way up the leadership ladder and for the past several years, the group has informally agreed that a Republican could serve as president every three years though thats not written in stone. Still, when the caucus last year bypassed Arikan, who had been elected vice president in 2021, in favor of Lopez, who was first vice president and by tradition would not have been expected to take over until this year, Republicans were incensed.

It was a lot over the years, said Del. Teresa E. Reilly (R-Harford). We asked for certain things and they never came about. It all just came to a head.

Del. Kathy Szeliga (R-Baltimore County), a leading conservative and close ally of Arikans, said theres no reason for Republicans to rejoin the caucus and that GOP members have occasionally discussed setting up their own.

The process was so disrespectful last year and the agenda is very partisan, she said.

Del. April Rose (R-Carroll) said she makes womens issues a priority in her legislative work but also did not see value in re-engaging with the womens caucus.

We fight over a lot of issues already on the [House] floor, so I dont feel the need to fight it out in the caucus, she said.

With an all-Democratic membership, the womens caucus advanced a notably progressive agenda for this legislative session a dramatic contrast to many years when women lawmakers came together publicly over family law, workplace and health issues but tended to avoid more politically divisive matters like abortion rights. This year, the caucus leaned into abortion rights, an issue that became magnified after the U.S. Supreme Court struck down decades-old abortion protections in the 1973 Roe v. Wade case.

Abortion has been considered settled law in Maryland since voters overwhelmingly approved a ballot measure preserving reproductive rights in state law in 1992, but the erosion of federal abortion protections compelled many state lawmakers to work to make the laws even stronger here and to offer protections to women from out of state who seek abortions in Maryland.

Several Democratic women said theyve detected more belligerence and name-calling from their GOP colleagues this year over abortion and a raft of other issues not just during legislative debates but on social media posts.

There may be no more branches left on the olive tree, Lopez said.

Now, the Maryland Republican Party is getting in on the act. The state GOP released a statement Thursday from Chair Nicole Beus Harris and two other Republican leaders accusing the Maryland House of turning its month-long Womens History Month celebration into Democrat Womens History Month.

When the Maryland House of Delegates is in session in March, a female delegate highlights a notable woman at the end of each session. It is a lovely tradition. But we were disappointed to learn that the Maryland House of Delegates did not ask even one Republican woman to participate last month! Harris, Republican National Committeewoman Nicolee Ambrose and former state chair Diana Waterman wrote in the statement.

They went on to blast what they characterized as Democratic womens extreme agenda and called excluding Republicans from Womens History Month speeches in the House a new low (Szeliga did in fact offer a tribute on the House floor to Ellen R. Sauerbrey, the former House minority leader and two-time GOP nominee for governor, and received warm bipartisan applause for her speech, even though she had not been invited by House leaders to speak).

With all due respect, please change the name of the Womens Caucus to the Maryland Democrat Womens Legislative Caucus, Harris, Ambrose and Waterman concluded.

The caucus going forward: Its a wait and see situation

Its obvious that as centrists depart the legislature, as the Democratic caucuses in the House and Senate move to the left while the Republican caucuses move to the right, the same trends are evident among women lawmakers in their respective parties.

Weve had wonderful relationships [across party lines] in the past, said Del. Edith J. Patterson (D-Charles), who is set to take over as womens caucus president from Lopez after the legislative session ends.

Besides Patterson, the new womens caucus leadership roster that will be announced Friday features Del. Nicole A. Williams (D-Prince Georges) as vice president, Del. Dana Jones (D-Anne Arundel) as first vice president, Del. Michele Guyton (D-Baltimore County) as second vice president, Del. Brooke Grossman (D-Washington) as secretary, and Dels. Jennifer White (D-Baltimore County) and Linda Foley (D-Montgomery) as at-large board members.

The caucus is also changing its bylaws, so that board members wont automatically advance up the leadership ladder. In other words, its no longer assumed that Williams will take over in 2024.

For her part, Patterson said she absolutely believes Republicans and Democrats can find harmony in the womens caucus.

It will take a decision of Republican women, she said. Its a wait and see situation.

Bryan P. Sears contributed to this report.

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