Richard F. Colburn

Richard Franklin Colburn (February 9, 1950 – December 27, 2024) was an American politician who was a Republican state senator for District 37 in Maryland.

Early life and education Colburn was born on February 9, 1950, in Oxford, Maryland, to Peggy J. and Charles Franklin Colburn Jr. He graduated from Easton High School, afterwards joining the U.S. Army and serving with the U.S. Army Security Agency in Germany from 1969 to 1972, being discharged with the rank of sergeant. Dukes also alleged that Colburn had asked his former aide and retired academic Conway Gregory to be an advisor for his course and that Gregory had rewritten one of his term papers. Colburn called Dukes a "disgruntled employee" and said he only asked Dukes to type out term papers he had already written and that he left the course because of the stresses of his work as a senator. The Joint Committee on Legislative Ethics of the Maryland General Assembly dismissed the complaint. He was a past vice-president of that organization.

Colburn died in Easton on December 27, 2024, at the age of 74.

Electoral history Richard Colburn was first elected to the Maryland State Senate in 1994 to represent District 37, which covers Caroline, Dorchester, Talbot, and Wicomico Counties. In that year he defeated Democratic challenger Samuel Q. Johnson III and won the seat left open by Frederick C. Malkus Jr., who retired after 47 years in the Maryland General Assembly.

In the 1998 election Colburn defeated his challenger, former Democratic state delegate Robert Alan Thornton, Jr. He captured 59% of the vote to Thornton’s 41%.

The election in 2002 saw challenger Grason Eckel manage to get 31% of the vote. Colburn received almost 69% of the vote to go on and serve four more years.

In 2006, a year that saw many Republicans lose their seats all across the country, Colburn managed to keep his. That year saw him defeat Democrat Hilary Spence, who received almost 39% of the vote to Colburn’s 56%. Five percent of the vote was split between write-in candidates and Moonyene Jackson-Amis.

In November 2010, Senator Colburn was re-elected to his 5th term in the Maryland State Senate defeating Cambridge Attorney Chris Robinson.

Colburn was also a member of the Maryland House of Delegates. In his last election for the House in 1986, he won along with Democrats William S. Horne and Samuel Q. Johnson, III. Colburn ran for Congress from Maryland's 1st congressional district in 1990, losing in the Republican primary. Republican Ken Schisler won the House of Delegates seat left open by Colburn in 1990.