# Katie Hester

Katie Hester is a Democratic member of the Maryland Senate for district 9.

- Party: Democrat
- Seat: Maryland Senate, district 9
- Serving since: 2019-01-09
- Current term: MD 2025–26 session
- Open States ID: ocd-person/232b5c5d-87e8-4ce9-921c-8c05af96afd4

Source: https://americaspoliticalpulse.com/p/232b5c5d-87e8-4ce9-921c-8c05af96afd4 (America’s Political Pulse, Polarization Research Lab), data through 2026-10-27. Data under CC BY 4.0. Cite as: Westwood, Sean J., and Yphtach Lelkes. 2024. America's Political Pulse [data set].

## Headline

Hester sits at −0.41 on the CSIP scale, more conservative than 82% of State Senate Democrats.

## What Hester says (MD 2025–26 session)

28 classified statements: 28 posts on X. Each rate is the share of statements with the label, against the State Senate Democrats average; rank 1 is the highest rate.

| Label | Hester | State Senate Democrats average | Rank |
|---|---|---|---|
| Personal attacks | 0.0% | 2.4% | 248 of 329 |
| Policy criticism | 32.1% | 10.3% | 14 of 329 |
| Policy discussion | 57.1% | 42.9% | 94 of 329 |
| Bipartisanship | 7.1% | 3.4% | 39 of 329 |
| Credit claiming | 10.7% | 16.1% | 195 of 329 |
| Extreme labels | 0.0% | 0.8% | 228 of 329 |

Most discussed policy areas: Science, Technology, Communications 44% (State Senate Democrats 2.7%); Government Operations and Politics 38% (State Senate Democrats 14%); Commerce 19% (State Senate Democrats 3.6%); Education 13% (State Senate Democrats 15%); Labor and Employment 13% (State Senate Democrats 5.9%).

## Ideology (CSIP)

CSIP score −0.41 (standard error 0.01), from 875 donors and 1,124 roll calls. Negative is left of 0, positive right of it, on one scale for every official. 82% of State Senate Democrats score lower.

## Votes (MD 2025–26 session)

2,121 roll calls. Attendance 96.1% (Maryland Senate 93.6%). Party unity 92.9% (94.9%). 31 votes against the party majority.

Key votes:

- 2026-08-04 · voted not voting · Suspended Rule 24 to allow two readings of a bill in the same day · HB 2100 Election Districts - General Assembly and Representatives in Congress · pass · https://openstates.org/md/bills/2026/HB2100/
- 2026-08-04 · voted not voting · Floor Amendment Salling /763427/1 · HB 2100 Election Districts - General Assembly and Representatives in Congress · fail · https://openstates.org/md/bills/2026/HB2100/
- 2026-08-04 · voted not voting · Floor Amendment West /943226/1 · HB 2100 Election Districts - General Assembly and Representatives in Congress · fail · https://openstates.org/md/bills/2026/HB2100/
- 2026-08-04 · voted not voting · Motion to limit debate · HB 2100 Election Districts - General Assembly and Representatives in Congress · pass · https://openstates.org/md/bills/2026/HB2100/
- 2026-08-04 · voted not voting · Floor Amendment Ready /393120/1 · HB 2100 Election Districts - General Assembly and Representatives in Congress · fail · https://openstates.org/md/bills/2026/HB2100/
- 2026-08-04 · voted not voting · Floor Amendment Gallion /473622/1 · HB 2100 Election Districts - General Assembly and Representatives in Congress · fail · https://openstates.org/md/bills/2026/HB2100/
- 2026-08-04 · voted not voting · On Third Reading (Emerg) · HB 2101 Arbitration Reform for State Employees Act of 2026 - Withdraw and Repeal of Duplicate Proposed Constitutional Amendment · pass · https://openstates.org/md/bills/2026/HB2101/
- 2026-08-04 · voted not voting · Suspended Rule 24 to allow two readings of a bill in the same day · HB 2101 Arbitration Reform for State Employees Act of 2026 - Withdraw and Repeal of Duplicate Proposed Constitutional Amendment · pass · https://openstates.org/md/bills/2026/HB2101/
- 2026-08-04 · voted not voting · Bill is on Third Reading for Final Passage. · HB 2100 Election Districts - General Assembly and Representatives in Congress · pass · https://openstates.org/md/bills/2026/HB2100/
- 2026-08-04 · voted not voting · Floor Amendment Simonaire /713626/1 · HB 2100 Election Districts - General Assembly and Representatives in Congress · fail · https://openstates.org/md/bills/2026/HB2100/

## Legislation (MD 2025–26 session)

Sponsored 99 bills: 99 reached committee, 58 passed one chamber, 43 passed both, 38 became law. Cosponsored 0. 58.6% of sponsored bills got out of committee (Maryland Senate 60.0%; rank 27 of 47).

Recent sponsored bills:

- SB 992: Public Utilities - Large Load Customers - Registration and Demand Response Program (in committee, 2026-03-06) https://openstates.org/md/bills/2026/SB992/
- SB 962: January 6th Insurrectionists - Prohibition on Service in Certain Government Roles (in committee, 2026-03-09) https://openstates.org/md/bills/2026/SB962/
- SB 963: Maryland Department of Health - Medicaid Management Information System - Mainframe System Replacement (in committee, 2026-02-13) https://openstates.org/md/bills/2026/SB963/
- SB 891: Health, Health Insurance, and Health Occupations - Perinatal Behavioral Health Conditions (became law, 2026-05-26) https://openstates.org/md/bills/2026/SB891/
- SB 840: Maryland Stadium Authority - Electricity Generating Facilities - Site Planning (in committee, 2026-02-16) https://openstates.org/md/bills/2026/SB840/
- SB 826: Income Tax – Angel Investor Tax Credit for Investments in Emergent Technology (in committee, 2026-02-13) https://openstates.org/md/bills/2026/SB826/
- SB 720: Education - Artificial Intelligence - Guidelines, Professional Development, and Collaborative (Artificial Intelligence Ready Schools Act) (became law, 2026-05-26) https://openstates.org/md/bills/2026/SB720/
- SB 787: Maryland Economic Development Corporation - Major Information Technology Development Projects - Project Management (in committee, 2026-03-03) https://openstates.org/md/bills/2026/SB787/
- SB 858: Department of Budget and Management - Audit and Finance Compliance Unit - Establishment (became law, 2026-05-12) https://openstates.org/md/bills/2026/SB858/
- SB 697: Election Law - Actions to Influence an Election - Social Media Platform Algorithms and Bots Purchased by Foreign Nationals (passed one chamber, 2026-03-24) https://openstates.org/md/bills/2026/SB697/

## Campaign money (2026 cycle)

Itemized receipts $124.1K (State Senate Democrats median $55.5K). 86% of itemized individual money came from in state. Aggregates only; no individual donors.

## Recent statements

Newest first. Posts on X are listed by date and link only.

- 2026-01-25 · Post on X · labels: policy discussion · https://x.com/katiefryhester/status/2015457114475434037
- 2025-12-13 · Post on X · labels: policy discussion · https://x.com/katiefryhester/status/1999658298539151641
- 2025-12-13 · Post on X · labels: policy discussion · https://x.com/katiefryhester/status/1999660598313779314
- 2025-11-07 · Post on X · labels: policy discussion · https://x.com/katiefryhester/status/1986837843000356919
- 2025-07-10 · Post on X · labels: policy discussion · https://x.com/katiefryhester/status/1943340068078235904
- 2025-07-01 · Post on X · labels: policy discussion, bipartisanship, credit claiming · https://x.com/katiefryhester/status/1940024524289839332
- 2025-07-01 · Post on X · labels: credit claiming · https://x.com/katiefryhester/status/1940027089186381885
- 2025-06-30 · Post on X · labels: policy criticism, policy discussion · https://x.com/katiefryhester/status/1939698639837798724
- 2025-06-30 · Post on X · labels: policy criticism, policy discussion · https://x.com/katiefryhester/status/1939702160612057156
- 2025-06-26 · Post on X · https://x.com/katiefryhester/status/1938360823799251171

## Links

- Official site: https://mgaleg.maryland.gov/mgawebsite/Members/Details/hester01
- Campaign site: https://www.katiefryhester.com/
- X: https://x.com/katiefryhester
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/KatieFryHesterMD9/
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/katiefryhestermd9/
- YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCJv0W1vODHTI-ilvcVtRwBw
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/katiefryhester/

Full profile, with every chart and the methods: https://americaspoliticalpulse.com/p/232b5c5d-87e8-4ce9-921c-8c05af96afd4