Michele Guyton

Michele Jenkins Guyton (born October 19, 1966) is an American politician from the Democratic Party and is a member of the Maryland House of Delegates representing District 42B.

Background Guyton was born on October 19, 1966, in Madison, Tennessee. She attended Baldwin County High School in Bay Minette, Alabama and received her B.A. in psychology and anthropology from Vanderbilt University in 1989. She later jointly earned an MA in women studies from Radcliffe College of Harvard University as part of the Boston-area Graduate Consortium for Women’s Studies, alongside an MA in psychology from Brandeis University. Guyton also possesses a Ph.D. in developmental and social psychology from Brandeis, which she received in 1996.

In 2015, Governor Larry Hogan appointed Guyton to serve on the Maryland State Board of Education. The Maryland Senate approved her nomination in a 42-0 vote. She served on the board until January 1, 2019, when she resigned to become a state delegate.

In January 2018, at the Baltimore Women's March, Guyton announced her intent to run for state delegate, citing the 2016 presidential election as what motivated her to run for office. During the primary, she enjoyed endorsements from various organizations, including the Maryland League of Conservation Voters, Metro Baltimore Council AFL–CIO, NARAL Pro-Choice Maryland, and the LiUNA Mid-Atlantic Region, and state senator James Brochin. She received 48.4 percent of the vote in the 2022 Democratic primary

Guyton is a developmental psychologist and disabilities advocate who has worked at various institutions relating to psychology, including the University of Iowa, the North Carolina Department of Mental Health, and the Kennedy Krieger Institute. She has also used her position as state delegate to introduce several pieces of legislation that would support disabled Marylanders.

In the legislature

Guyton was sworn in as a member of the House of Delegates on January 9, 2019. Unopposed in the Democratic primary, Guyton was reelected in the 2022 general election by a more than 20% margin.

Guyton was a member of the Ways and Means Committee from 2019 to 2025, Guyton is also a member of the Women's Legislators of Maryland Caucus and the Maryland Legislative Transit Caucus.

Education Guyton supports universal pre-kindergarten, boosting mental health supports in schools and improving teacher-student ratios in classrooms.

Healthcare Guyton supports expanding access to healthcare, saying that she "believes it really is a human right" and that single-payer healthcare is worth discussing but would have to be paid for. In March 2019, she was one of two Democrats in the Maryland House of Delegates to vote against a bill that would raise the minimum wage to $15 an hour.

Taxes Guyton opposes raising new taxes, instead advocating for redirecting priorities and using funding sources like lottery money and the legalization of marijuana. Party Candidate Votes % Democratic Michele Guyton 5,652 48 Democratic Sachin Hebbar 3,293 28 Democratic Daniel Nemec 2,744 24