Senator Mary Beth Carozza

Mary Beth Carozza (born February 13, 1961) is an American politician who is a Republican member of the Maryland State Senate, representing District 38. She previously represented District 38C in the Maryland House of Delegates from 2015 to 2019.

Carozza was born on February 13, 1961, in Baltimore, Maryland. Her family moved to the Eastern Shore when she was in the fifth grade and spent her summers working in her parents’ business, Beefy’s. She attended Stephen Decatur High School in Berlin, Maryland and received a B.A. in political philosophy and an M.A. in American government from the Catholic University of America in 1983.

For most of her career prior to her election to the legislature, she worked as a staffer for Congressional Republicans, including Senators William Cohen and Susan Collins, and U.S. Representatives Mike DeWine, Dave Hobson and Steve Stivers. She also worked as the Deputy Chief of Staff under Governor Robert Ehrlich, where she got to know Larry Hogan, Ehrlich’s appointments secretary.

In 2013, Carozza filed to run for state delegate in the newly created 38C district. She was the only Republican to declare her candidacy for the seat. She defeated Democrat Judy Davis in the general election with 74 percent of the vote.

Carozza was sworn in as a member of House of Delegates on January 12, 2015, and appointed to the House Appropriations Committee. In November 2017, Carozza, with the backing of Governor Hogan, announced her candidacy to the Maryland Senate, seeking to challenge Democratic state senator Jim Mathias, a top Republican target, in the 2018 state senate elections. She defeated Mathias in the general election, receiving 53 percent of the vote.

Carozza was sworn in as a member of the Maryland Senate on January 9, 2019. She currently serves as the policy and communications chair of the Maryland Senate Republican Caucus.