Senator Steve Hershey Contact information

Stephen S. Hershey Jr. was born on May 2, 1964, in Washington, D.C. He was raised in Prince George’s County, Maryland, where he graduated from Bowie High School. Hershey later attended James Madison University and graduated from Catholic University of America in 1987, earning a Bachelor of Civil Engineering degree. He also earned a Master of Business Administration degree from George Washington University in 2002.

Hershey moved to Queen Anne’s County in 1996. He worked as a vice president for project management for the Trammell Crow Company from 1993 to 2003. Afterwards, he served as a member of the Queen Anne’s County Economic Development Commission until 2006. Following the election of Governor Bob Ehrlich, he worked as an assistant secretary for the Maryland Department of Planning from 2003 to 2004, and the Maryland Department of Natural Resources from 2004 to 2006. Since 2006, Hershey has served as the vice president of Jones Lang LaSalle.

Hershey first got involved in politics in 2002 as the president of the Queen Anne’s County Republican Club. That year, he unsuccessfully ran for the Queen Anne’s County Board of Commissioners in District 2. In 2010, Hershey filed to run for the Maryland House of Delegates in District 36, seeking to succeed retiring state delegate Mary Roe Walkup. He won the Republican primary in September 2010, edging out incumbent state delegate Richard A. Sossi by 124 votes, or a margin of 1.2 percent, and ran unopposed in the general election.

Hershey has served as a member of the Maryland Senate from District 36 since 2013, and as the minority leader of the Maryland Senate since January 11, 2023. A member of the Republican Party, he previously represented the district in the Maryland House of Delegates from 2011 to 2013.