28 Facts About Shaneka Henson

Shaneka Tarae Henson was born in Annapolis, Maryland, on July 29,1983.

Shaneka Henson first became pregnant when she was 19-years-old attending Coppin State University and lived in public housing while raising her child.

Shaneka Henson was admitted to the Maryland Bar in 2010, after which she worked as a practicing attorney for the Anne Arundel County State's Attorney's office and the YWCA.

In 2016, Shaneka Henson graduated from a training course hosted by Emerge Maryland, an organization created to prepare potential female Democratic candidates for public office.

In 2016, Shaneka Henson filed to run for the Annapolis City Council in ward 6, challenging incumbent Alderman Kenny Kirby, who later announced his retirement.

Shaneka Henson ran unopposed in the general election, and was sworn in on December 4,2017.

In October 2018, Annapolis mayor Gavin Buckley named Shaneka Henson to serve as acting mayor for two weeks.

Shaneka Henson resigned from the city council on April 29,2019, after the Anne Arundel County Democratic Central Committee nominated her to the Maryland House of Delegates.

Shaneka Henson was succeeded by DaJuan Gay following a special election to fill her seat.

Shaneka Henson is the first African-American woman to represent Annapolis in the Maryland House of Delegates.

Shaneka Henson was elected to a full four-year term in 2022.

Shaneka Henson served on the Appropriations Committee from 2019 to 2023, after which she was switched to the Ways and Means Committee after questions were raised about a potential conflict of interest involving Shaneka Henson's legal work for a nonprofit which received state funding.

Shaneka Henson released a statement on her website in response to the report that scolded members of the panel for failing to strike a more "collaborative and constructive tone" and contradicted some of the ethics panel's findings.

In November 2024, after state senator Sarah Elfreth won election to the US House of Representatives, Shaneka Henson said she would apply to serve the remainder of Elfreth's term in the Maryland Senate.

Shaneka Henson campaigned on the issues of maternal health, renter protections, and affordable childcare, and received endorsements from several Black lawmakers including Cory McCray and Gabriel Acevero.

Shaneka Henson said that she planned to run for the seat in 2026 if the Anne Arundel County Democratic Central Committee did not nominate her to the seat.

Shaneka Henson was sworn in on January 8,2025, and is the first African-American woman to represent Anne Arundel County in the Maryland Senate.

Shaneka Henson introduced another bill to ease restrictions on when prosecutors could use hearsay evidence in witness intimidation cases.

In July 2020, Shaneka Henson criticized Governor Larry Hogan requiring voters to apply for a mail-in ballot if they did not want to vote in-person for the 2020 general election, saying that he had "stepped on people's voting rights".

Shaneka Henson participated in George Floyd protests in Annapolis, Severn, and Shady Side.

Later that month, Shaneka Henson signed onto a letter calling on regional news organizations to increase employee diversity.

In October 2021, Shaneka Henson participated in and spoke at a protest in Annapolis to endorse legislation expansion to expand abortion rights in Maryland.

However, during the 2022 legislative session, Shaneka Henson voted against the Abortion Care Access Act, a bill to expand the kinds of health care practitioners that could perform abortions in Maryland and provide $3.5 million to train these professionals on performing the procedure, and voted to uphold Governor Larry Hogan's veto of the bill.

Shaneka Henson later told The Baltimore Banner that she had concerns with allowing nonphysicians to provide abortion care, but added that she might have voted for the bill if it only allowed nonphysicians to offer medical abortions and not abortion procedures.

In June 2022, on the night following the US Supreme Court's decision in Dobbs v Jackson Women's Health Organization, Henson attended a protest in Annapolis against the court's ruling.

Shaneka Henson supported efforts to repeal the gay panic defense and create a LGBTQ+ commission in state government.

In February 2021, Shaneka Henson was the only member of the Anne Arundel County Delegation to vote against a bill providing tax credits to businesses impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic.

In May 2016, Shaneka Henson settled a $1,889 state tax lien that had been placed against her.