Joseline Peña-Melnyk Poised to Become Maryland’s Next Speaker

The next speaker of the House of Delegates will likely be a woman and immigrant.

Del. Joseline Peña-Melnyk (D-Prince George’s and Anne Arundel) appears to have a clear path within the Democratic Caucus to become the next speaker. A vote is scheduled for Dec. 16.

Three of the four leading candidates to succeed former Speaker Adrienne Jones (D-Baltimore County) have bowed out — Appropriations Committee Chair Ben Barnes (D-Prince George’s and Anne Arundel), Economic Matters Committee Chair C.T. Wilson (D-Charles) and Legislative Black Caucus Chair Jheanelle Wilkins (D-Montgomery) — effectively clearing the field for Peña-Melnyk, Maryland Matters has learned.

“I am really honored and very moved that Chairman Barnes … Black Caucus Chair Wilkins and the chair of the Economic Matters Committee … C.T. Wilson, have decided to support my candidacy for speaker,” Peña-Melnyk said in a brief phone interview Sunday night.

“They have decided to withdraw their candidacy to allow me to move ahead. The vote is scheduled for the 16th [of December], and at that time, I will have the opportunity to make my case to the entire caucus,” she said. “As you know, there’s 102 members, and I hope to make my case and to be able to get their support. I’m very humbled and moved, and we’ll see what happens on the 16th.”

While it’s not official until the Dec. 16 vote, Barnes left little doubt Sunday about who the next speaker would be.

“I’m 100% in support of our new speaker, Joseline Peña-Melnyk. She has the toughness, intelligence and grit to be a great speaker. I know she will be,” Barnes said. “I’m going to support her any way I can.”

Barnes, who represents the same district as Peña-Melnyk, said they came to the legislature together 20 years ago and he called her “a great friend” and “like a big sister to me. I can’t wait to get to work with her.”

Wilkins, in a phone call late Sunday, confirmed that she has withdrawn her candidacy and is supporting Peña-Melnyk.

Wilson said he didn’t want to see a repeat of the last speaker’s race, when the House was deadlocked over two candidates before picking Jones as a compromise candidate.

“I didn’t want to see the House repeat what it was last time, right, where there was division and people feared that they couldn’t support the other person,” Wilson said Sunday night, “So as soon as I found out that Ben Barnes pulled out, I stepped back as well.”

Wilson said he is backing Peña-Melnyk as the next speaker.

“We have to come out with one voice and let it be what it is,” he said.

Peña-Melnyk would become the second woman to lead a chamber of the Maryland General Assembly. She would also be the first person born in the Dominican Republic to lead either the House or Senate.

Her ascendance to the rostrum makes her the highest-ranking Afro-Latino in the history of the General Assembly.

Peña-Melnyk assumes the top House spot in the last year of a four-year term. She’ll immediately face a $1.5 billion budget deficit as well as a caucus anxious to pass midcycle congressional redistricting, despite opposition in the Senate.

She will have to guide the House as it considers overrides of vetoes issued by Gov. Wes Moore (D), including a bill on the creation of a reparations commission. Peña-Melnyk defended that bill on the floor of the House last year.

She also takes over amid growing worries among immigrants in Maryland and heightened enforcement by federal agents who are prosecuting President Donald Trump’s pledge to carry out mass arrests and deportations.

Peña-Melnyk succeeds Jones, who last week announced she would give up the position she was first elected to in 2019. Jones said she would remain in the House.

She did not give a reason for her decision. She also did not attend the meeting Thursday where her top lieutenants, the chairs of the House standing committees, were informed of her decision.

Jones’ announcement last week touched off a flurry of activity. A number of candidates expressed interest in the slot, with Barnes, Wilson and Peña-Melnyk considered the frontrunners.

Peña-Melnyk has been a member of the House since 2007. She became chair of the House Health and Government Operations Committee in 2022. Prior to that she served three years as the panel’s vice chair.

Peña-Melnyk, 59, was born in the Dominican Republic. She immigrated to the U.S. as a small child and grew up in New York, graduating from high school in the Bronx.

She earned her law degree from the University at Buffalo School of Law, State University of New York. She later worked as both a federal prosecutor and a public defender. She also worked as a child neglect lawyer.

She is the mother of three, including twins.

Her political career includes three years on the College Park City Council. She was elected to the House of Delegates in 2006.

During her time in the House she’s built a reputation as a major player on health care policy issues. During her time as vice chair of HGO she took on greater responsibility for running committee hearings and defending bills in recent years.

In 2016, she ran unsuccessfully for the 4th District congressional seat. She placed third, receiving 19% of the vote in the Democratic primary.

Maryland Matters is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Maryland Matters maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Steve Crane for questions: editor@marylandmatters.org.