Representative Jefferson Ghrist Contact information

Jefferson L. Ghrist, born on March 14, 1975, is an American politician who has served as a member of the Maryland House of Delegates representing District 36 since 2015. He is a member of the Republican Party.

Ghrist graduated from North Caroline High School and later attended Chesapeake College and Salisbury University, where he earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in economics in 1997. After graduating, Ghrist worked as an assistant store manager at Home Depot and as a real estate agent.

Ghrist was first elected to the Caroline County Board of Commissioners in 2006. He served as the board’s president from 2010 to 2012, and again in 2014. Ghrist briefly ran for Congress in Maryland’s 1st congressional district in 2010, challenging incumbent Democratic U.S. Representative Frank Kratovil, but dropped out in December 2009 and endorsed state senator Andy Harris.

On October 29, 2013, Ghrist filed paperwork to run for election to one of the three District 36 seats in the House of Delegates. In the primary, he edged out incumbent delegate Michael D. Smigiel Sr. with 17 percent of the vote and by a margin of 144 votes, and went on to win the general election with 24.1 percent of the vote. Ghrist was sworn in on January 14, 2015, and is the first state delegate from Caroline County since Robert Thornton in 1994.

He has served as a member of the Appropriations Committee during his entire tenure, and as deputy minority whip from 2019 to 2021, and as the minority parliamentarian since 2022.

Ghrist is married to his wife, Michele, whom he met in high school and married soon after graduating college. Together, they have two children and live in Ridgely, Maryland.

Ghrist is a fiscal conservative who supports limited government and increasing state funding to local jurisdictions while reducing taxes.