Editing Governor of Maryland (section)

==History and evolution of the office==

===1600s–1800s===
[[File:Thomas Johnson (governor).jpeg|right|thumb|[[Thomas Johnson (jurist)|Thomas Johnson]], the first governor of Maryland after independence. He served from 1777 to 1779.]]
During the [[Province of Maryland|colonial period]], Maryland's proprietors, the [[Baron Baltimore|Barons and Lords of Baltimore]], who generally remained in the [[Kingdom of England]], chose who would serve as the [[proprietary governor|proprietary governor of Maryland]] on their behalf. [[Leonard Calvert]] (1606–1647), youngest brother of the second Lord Baltimore, [[Cecil Calvert, 2nd Baron Baltimore|Cecilius Calvert]] (1605–1675), and the first lord proprietor, came with the first settlers in March 1634 to serve as the first governor of the colonial [[Province of Maryland]] until his death in 1647. Between 1692, when the Baltimores lost control, and 1715, Maryland was a direct royal colony, and the governor was appointed by the British [[List of English monarchs|monarch]]. The Lords of Baltimore regained their royal charter in 1715, under the British monarchs of the [[House of Hanover]], and then under the fifth and sixth Lord Baltimores, they resumed choosing the governors until the beginning of the [[American Revolution]] (1775–1783).<ref name=origins/> The first governor of an independent state chosen to break this chain of colonial governors was [[Thomas Johnson (jurist)|Thomas Johnson]] (1732–1819) of [[Frederick County, Maryland|Frederick County]], who took office on March 21, 1777.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Thomas Johnson (1732-1819) |url=http://msa.maryland.gov/megafile/msa/speccol/sc3500/sc3520/000700/000743/html/743extbio.html |access-date=March 15, 2022 |website=Archives of Maryland (Biographical Series)}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=Governor Thomas Johnson |url=https://www.nga.org/cms/home/governors/past-governors-bios/page_maryland/col2-content/main-content-list/title_johnson_thomas.default.html |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170202023037/https://www.nga.org/cms/home/governors/past-governors-bios/page_maryland/col2-content/main-content-list/title_johnson_thomas.default.html |archive-date=February 2, 2017 |access-date=January 25, 2017 |website=National Governors Association}}</ref>

Under the first [[Maryland Constitution of 1776]] for the [[History of Maryland|independent state]], the governor was chosen for one-year terms by both houses of the [[Maryland General Assembly|General Assembly]]. An 1838 constitutional amendment allowed voters to elect the governor to a three-year term from one of three rotating gubernatorial districts: eastern, southern, and western parts of the state. At each election, only voters from a single gubernatorial election district selected the governor. A four-year term was established by the second Maryland Constitution of 1851, and geographic requirements were removed by the third [[Maryland Constitution of 1864|Constitution of 1864]] during the [[American Civil War]].<ref>{{Cite web |title=Archives of Maryland, Historical List, Gubernatorial Elections in Maryland 1838–2014 |url=https://msa.maryland.gov/msa/speccol/sc2600/sc2685/html/govelect.html |access-date=March 15, 2022 |website=Maryland State Archives}}</ref> The fourth and current [[Constitution of Maryland|constitution]] was ratified by the people after the war in 1867. An amendment in 1922, added article XVII, title "Quadrennial Elections", to the 1867 state constitution and set the next election year to be 1926 and every four years thereafter,<ref>{{Cite web |title=Amendments to Maryland Constitutions |url=http://aomol.msa.maryland.gov/megafile/msa/speccol/sc2900/sc2908/000001/000380/html/am380--184.html |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180511013233/http://aomol.msa.maryland.gov/megafile/msa/speccol/sc2900/sc2908/000001/000380/html/am380--184.html |archive-date=May 11, 2018 |access-date=May 10, 2018 |website=Archives of Maryland Online }}</ref> thereby shifting from the historical [[Off-year election|off-year cycle]] (...1915, 1919, 1923) to the present [[United States midterm election|mid-term election cycle]].

From 1777 to 1870, the governor resided in the [[Jennings House (Annapolis, Maryland)|Jennings House]] in [[Annapolis, Maryland|Annapolis]]. Located on the site of the future expanded campus of the adjacent [[United States Naval Academy]] (founded 1845), the house was later sold to the academy in 1869 after it returned from its northern hiatus in [[Rhode Island]] during the [[American Civil War]] (1861–1865). It was razed in 1901 for additional USNA buildings. Since 1870, the governor of Maryland has resided in the [[Government House (Maryland)|Government House]], originally a [[Victorian architecture|Victorian style]] architecture red brick mansion (later rebuilt/renovated in the 1930s into a [[Georgian architecture|Georgian]]-styled mansion to match other colonial/[[Georgian architecture|Georgian]]-[[Federal architecture|Federal]] era styled [[architecture]] state buildings and residences in the historic city). It is located on State Circle adjacent to the colonial era [[Maryland State House]] built 1772–1797. In addition to being the residence of the governor and his family, Government House has a number of public rooms that are used by the governor on official occasions.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Government House: ''Maryland Treasure'' |url=https://msa.maryland.gov/msa/stagser/s1259/141/278/html/govhse.html |access-date=March 15, 2022 |website=Maryland State Archives}}</ref>

===1900s–present===
[[File:Spiro Agnew.jpg|thumb|200px|right|Former Maryland governor and [[Vice President of the United States|U.S. vice president]] [[Spiro Agnew]]]]

[[Spiro Agnew]], who was the 55th governor of Maryland from 1967 to 1969, later served as the 39th [[vice president of the United States]] under [[President of the United States|President]] [[Richard Nixon|Richard M. Nixon]]. Agnew is, thus far, the highest-ranking Marylander (along with 19th-century [[Chief Justice of the United States|chief justice]] [[Roger B. Taney]]) in public service in the history of the [[United States]].<ref name="List">{{Cite web |title=Archives of Maryland, Historical List, Governors of Maryland, 1634-- |url=https://msa.maryland.gov/msa/speccol/sc2600/sc2685/html/govintro.html |access-date=March 15, 2022 |website=Maryland State Archives}}</ref> He resigned after pleading "no contest" to federal legal charges of corruption during his terms as Baltimore County executive, Maryland governor and vice president. In 1979, his gubernatorial portrait was [[Damnatio memoriae|removed]] from the [[Maryland State House]] Governor's Reception Room. In 1995, then-governor [[Parris Glendening]] re-included the portrait, stating that it was not up to anyone to alter history, whether for good or bad, citing the famous novel by [[George Orwell]], ''[[Nineteen Eighty-Four]]''. 
<ref>{{Cite speech |last=Governor Glendening |date=April 13, 1995 |access-date=March 15, 2022 |title=[Governor Glendening's Press Conference on the opening of the Exhibit of Governors' Portraits in the Governor's Reception Room, Maryland State House, Annapolis, 10 a.m., April 13, 1995] |url=https://msa.maryland.gov/msa/stagser/s1259/121/7044/html/7044.html |website=Maryland State Archives}}</ref>

As of 2023, Maryland has not yet had a female governor.<ref name=List/> However, women were the runners-up in four gubernatorial elections (in 1974, 1994, 1998, and 2002), three [[Republican Party (United States)|Republicans]] and one [[Democratic Party (United States)|Democrat]].<ref>{{Cite web |title=Elections by Year |url=https://elections.maryland.gov/elections/index.html |access-date=March 15, 2022 |website=State Board of Elections}} and {{Citation | last = Duggan  | first = Paul  | title = Louise Gore, Force in Md. GOP, Dies  | newspaper = [[Washington Post]]  | date = October 7, 2005 | url = https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/10/06/AR2005100602042.html  | access-date = February 19, 2012}}</ref> In addition, two women have been the lieutenant governor; [[Kathleen Kennedy Townsend]], under Democratic governor [[Parris Glendening]] from 1995 to 2003; and [[Aruna Miller]], under Democratic governor [[Wes Moore]] since 2023.<ref name=List/> Another woman, [[Kristen Cox]], who was the Secretary of Disabilities, unsuccessfully ran for lieutenant governor as the running mate of then incumbent Republican governor [[Bob Ehrlich|Robert Ehrlich]], when the lieutenant governor at that time, [[Michael Steele]], left office to run for the [[United States Senate|U.S. Senate]]. Cox was a unique person to run for that office, not only because she is a woman, but also because she is [[legally blind]].<ref>{{Cite news |last1=Otto |first1=Mary |last2=Aratani |first2=Lori |date=June 30, 2006 |title=Ehrlich Picks Cabinet Member Cox for Ticket |newspaper=The Washington Post |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/06/29/AR2006062901055.html |access-date=June 27, 2007}}</ref>