Sarah Elfreth
Sarah Elfreth, a Democrat who has represented Maryland's 3rd congressional district since 2025 after serving in the Maryland Senate from 2019 to 2025, seeks re-election in 2026 against Republican Berney Flowers.
2026 Races & Market Forecast
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- Born
- September 9, 1988
- Birthplace
- Barrington, New Jersey
- Education
- Haddon Heights High School (2006)
Towson University (Bachelor of Arts in political science, 2010)
Johns Hopkins University (Master of Science in public policy, 2012)
Biography & Campaign Analysis
Background
Sarah Elfreth was born on September 9, 1988, and raised in Barrington, New Jersey, where her stepfather worked as a locomotive engineer and her mother as a probation officer.
She graduated from Haddon Heights High School in 2006 and attended Towson University on scholarship, receiving a Bachelor of Arts in political science in 2010. In 2009, Governor Martin O'Malley appointed her the student member of the University System of Maryland Board of Regents.
She earned a Master of Science in public policy from Johns Hopkins University in 2012, where she worked as a research assistant in the Office of Government and Community Affairs from 2010 to 2012.
Career
Sarah Elfreth interned for House Minority Whip Steny Hoyer in 2011, later worked as a lobbyist for the National Aquarium and Johns Hopkins University, and then served as a senior director at the consulting firm Margrave Strategies.
Running in 2018 to succeed state senator John Astle in the 30th district, she won election to the Maryland Senate with 53.8% of the vote against former state delegate Ron George, and she was re-elected in 2022.
In the Senate she served on the Budget and Taxation Committee, chaired the Joint Committee on the Chesapeake and Atlantic Coastal Bay Critical Areas, and passed 84 bills during her tenure. In 2022 she chaired the Chesapeake Executive Council.
After John Sarbanes announced his retirement, Elfreth entered the 2024 race for Maryland's 3rd congressional district on November 4, 2023.
She won the 22-way Democratic primary on May 14, 2024, defeated Republican Rob Steinberger on November 5, 2024, and became the youngest woman elected to the U.S. House from Maryland. She resigned from the state Senate on January 2, 2025, and was sworn in to Congress the next day.
In the 119th Congress she serves on the Committee on Armed Services and the Committee on Natural Resources.
2026 race
Maryland's 3rd congressional district includes all of Howard County, much of Anne Arundel County including Annapolis, and parts of Carroll County.
Sarah Elfreth, elected to the seat in 2024 with 59.3% of the vote, won the 2026 Democratic primary with 74.7%, ahead of U.S. Army veteran Austin Dyches at 10.7% and three other candidates.
In the general election on November 3, 2026, she faces Republican Berney Flowers, a former inter-agency technical advisor for NORAD and USNORTHCOM who ran for the 2nd district in 2022 and for this district in 2024.