Montgomery County Democratic Committee picks Woorman for District 16 vacancy

Teresa Saavedra Woorman, center, nominated Thursday to fill a vacancy in District 16 in the House of Delegates, is flanked by one of the district's delegates, Marc Korman, and the district's state senator, Sara Love. Photo courtesy of Del. Korman's Facebook page.

Members of the Montgomery County Democratic Central Committee picked one of their own Thursday to fill a vacancy in the House of Delegates.

The central committee voted to forward the name of Teresa Saavedra Woorman, a 32-year-old aide to Montgomery County Executive Marc Elrich (D) with a wealth of Annapolis experience, to Gov. Wes Moore (D) for approval. Woorman prevailed over eight other Democrats who had applied for the open House seat in District 16.

Assuming Moore goes along with the recommendation, Woorman will take the seat that was held until recently by Sara Love (D), who was elevated from the House to the Senate last month.

The vote to recommend Woorman came during a central committee meeting that lasted almost three hours Thursday night, with all nine applicants for the seat making their pitches for the nomination and answering questions from committee members.

Woorman, who was Elrich’s campaign manager in 2022 and works in the Montgomery County Public Information Office, won on the third ballot, taking 14 votes to 10 votes for Melissa Bender, a board member of the Women’s Democratic Club of Montgomery County and former aide to two Annapolis lawmakers. Bender was also the runner-up a year ago when the central committee recommended now-Del. Sarah Wolek (D) for a House seat.

“Any one of you could have done an amazing job of representing District 16,” said Saman Qadeer Ahmad, chair of the Montgomery County Democratic Central Committee, after the final tally was announced.

Woorman pitched herself as a young, dynamic political up-and-comer who had seven years of legislative experience under her belt.

“I’ve worked for a number of Montgomery County elected officials and I’ve learned a lot from each of them,” she said. “But people who know me know I also stand on my own two feet.”

An immigrant from Mexico who moved to Maryland at age 9, she also suggested that she could reach and relate to residents of the Bethesda-based district who are often left out of the political process.

“People think our District 16 streets are paved with gold,” she said. “I promise to be a delegate for all the residents of District 16.”

Woorman said she would make housing affordability and health equity top priorities in Annapolis. She also pledged to pursue political reforms as part of her legislative agenda, including greater disclosures for registered State House lobbyists, and public financing for legislative campaigns.

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When the candidates were asked which committee they’d like to be assigned to, Woorman said she was comfortable with the Environment and Transportation Committee, where one of her ex-bosses, former Del. Jim Gilchrist (D-Montgomery), served, but also expressed interest in the House Health and Government Operations Committee.

“That’s where a lot of my priorities that I want to address if I serve in Annapolis will come up,” she said.

If named by Moore, Woorman will become the 15th lawmaker in the 35-member Montgomery County delegation to be appointed, rather than initially elected, to their seats. About one-quarter of the members of the legislature were originally appointed to their seats – as legislative succession becomes a topic of increasing controversy in Annapolis.

The 16th District has been a fulcrum of legislative instability – and appointed lawmakers – since early 2023. That’s when Moore picked then-Sen. Susan C. Lee (D) to serve as his secretary of state; Lee was replaced in the Senate by then-Del. Ariana B. Kelly (D), who subsequently replaced in the House by Wolek.

This spring, Kelly announced she was leaving the Senate to become executive director of the Maryland Commission on Women. She was replaced in the Senate last month by Love, who was first elected to her House seat in 2018 after prevailing in the Democratic primary by just 12 votes.

In the District 16 delegation, only Del. Marc Korman (D), chair of the Environment and Transportation Committee, has won election to the seat he currently holds.

The latest appointment process was roiled by an apparent attempt to derail the candidacy of one of the applicants, Diana Conway, a longtime party activist and community leader. Court papers were circulated surreptitiously to media outlets in the days leading up to the central committee vote, showing that Conway had been arrested for drunken driving, assault and destruction of property in Frederick County a decade ago. ( Disclosure: Conway and her husband were early financial supporters of Maryland Matters, hosting fundraisers in their home in 2016 and 2022 for the publication. )

Conway addressed the controversy head-on during Thursday night’s central committee meeting.

“Like 48 million others in the United States, I have a substance abuse disorder,” she said. “I am an alcoholic and I have been working in recovery ever since that incident a decade ago.”

Conway, who has twice been president of the powerful Women’s Democratic Club of Montgomery County, urged the central committee to consider her 30 years of activism as she pitched her candidacy. She wound up finishing third in the first round of balloting with five votes, behind Woorman’s nine and Bender’s eight. Two other candidates, Jason Nuñez and Amol Tripathi, each got one vote.

On the second round, Conway slipped to four votes, while Woorman took 11 and Bender took nine. Thirteen votes were needed to win, which Woorman surpassed on the third ballot.

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