Senator Shelly Hettleman Contact information

Shelly L. Hettleman

Shelly L. Hettleman is an American politician who has served in the Maryland Senate representing District 11 since 2020. A member of the Democratic Party, she previously represented the district in the Maryland House of Delegates from 2015 to 2020.

Background

Hettleman was born in Houston, Texas, on August 26, 1964. She is Jewish. Her grandparents came to the United States as refugees to escape the Holocaust. Hettleman spent her childhood moving between three different places before settling in the Baltimore area shortly before she turned seven years old. She graduated from Pikesville Senior High School and later attended Northwestern University, where she earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in political science in 1986.

Political Career

Hettleman first became involved in politics while at Northwestern, where she campaigned for Paul Simon ’s 1984 U.S. Senate campaign. She worked as a scheduler for U.S. Representative Barbara Mikulski ’s 1986 U.S. Senate campaign. Afterwards, Hettleman worked as a legislative aide to U.S. Representative Ben Cardin until 1990, when she became the director of government relations for various Jewish organizations, including the Baltimore Jewish Council, the Jewish Women’s Archive, and the Jewish Community Federation of Baltimore. She eventually worked as a campaign manager for Cardin’s U.S. Senate campaigns in 2006 and 2012.

In the legislature

Hettleman was sworn into the Maryland House of Delegates on January 14, 2015. She was a member of the Appropriations Committee during her entire tenure. In 2017, Hettleman said she considered challenging state senator Robert Zirkin in the 2018 elections, but instead ran for a second term. During the 2016 Democratic Party presidential primaries, Hettleman endorsed Hillary Clinton and later served as a delegate to the Democratic National Convention, pledged to Clinton. She later served as a delegate to the 2020 Democratic National Convention, pledged to Joe Biden.

In December 2019, following the resignation of state senator Robert Zirkin, Hettleman said that she would apply to serve the remainder of Zirkin’s term in the Maryland Senate.