Representative Jheanelle Wilkins Contact information

Jheanelle K. Wilkins

Born on May 29, 1988, in Kingston, Jamaica, Jheanelle K. Wilkins is an American politician who has been representing District 20 in the Maryland House of Delegates since 2017. She is a member of the Democratic Party and has served as the Chair of the Legislative Black Caucus of Maryland since 2022.

Early Life and Education

Wilkins moved to the United States with her family when she was five. She grew up in New Castle, Delaware, where she graduated from William Penn High School. She later attended the University of Delaware, earning a Bachelor of Arts degree in sociology in 2009. She also holds a Master of Public Administration in social policy from American University, which she earned in 2011.

Career

Wilkins began her career as an intern at the Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights in 2008. She has served in various roles within the organization, including field assistant, field associate, and field manager. She now serves as the group’s Director of State and Local Government Affairs. During her tenure at The Leadership Conference, she has worked to advance immigration reform, education equity, and civil rights legislation, including the Justice Reinvestment Act, which eliminated mandatory minimum sentences for nonviolent offenders in Maryland.

Political Career

In 2014, Wilkins was elected to the Montgomery County Democratic Central Committee. She has served as the chair of the Legislative Black Caucus of Maryland since 2022. In December 2016, after state delegate William C. Smith Jr. was appointed to the Maryland Senate following Jamie Raskin’s election to the U.S. House of Representatives in Maryland’s 8th congressional district, Wilkins applied to fill the vacancy left by Smith in the Maryland House of Delegates. The Montgomery County Democratic Central Committee voted 19–9 to nominate Wilkins to the Maryland House of Delegates on January 10, 2017. She was appointed to the seat by Governor Larry Hogan on January 24, and was sworn in the following day. She is the first African-American woman to represent this district, and became the first Black woman elected to the Maryland House of Delegates in county history alongside Pamela Queen and Charlotte Crutchfield after winning election to a full term in 2018.

Personal Life

Wilkins currently resides in Silver Spring, Maryland. She is a member of the Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Inc., and has received several awards for her work, including the Dorothy Davidson Award from the Montgomery County Young Democrats in 2015 and the Empowering Women Award from the YWCA of National Capital Area in 2018.