Stephen Waugh

Stephen M. Waugh (born June 16, 1964) is an American politician who was a member of the Maryland Senate representing District 29 in Calvert and St. Mary's counties from 2015 to 2019.

Early life and education Waugh was born in Annapolis, Maryland, on June 16, 1964. He graduated from the Marine Military Academy before attending the United States Naval Academy, where he earned a Bachelor of Science degree in aerospace engineering in 1986. After graduating, Waugh served in the United States Marine Corps, serving as an AV-8B pilot, aviation safety officer, and forward air controller, and attaining the rank of chief of combat in the 3rd Light Armored Reconnaissance Battalion before leaving the Marine Corps in 2006 to attend the University of Phoenix, where he earned a Master of Business Administration degree in technology management. He unsuccessfully ran for the Maryland Senate in District 27 in 2010, losing to incumbent state senator Roy Dyson with 48.5 percent of the vote. He was sworn into the Maryland Senate on January 14, 2015. He served as a member of the Health and Environmental Affairs Committee during his entire tenure, including on its comptroller issues, education, and health subcommittees.

During the 2017 legislative session, Waugh opposed bills that would require the Maryland Department of Transportation to prioritize road construction projects using a scoring system, give the attorney general of Maryland the ability to pursue cases against Trump administration policies, and ban fracking in Maryland. He also criticized President Donald Trump's proposal to cut all funding for the Chesapeake Bay Program in his 2018 fiscal year budget.

In August 2017, following the Unite the Right rally in Charlottesville, Virginia, Waugh supported the removal of the Roger B. Taney Monument from the Maryland State House, saying that he didn't want it to "become a rallying cry for white nationalists".

During the 2018 legislative session, Waugh criticized a bill to remove the Maryland Board of Public Works from hearing funding appeals from local officials, calling it the "great mistake of this session". He also introduced a bill to repeal sections of the Firearms Safety Act of 2013, including a ban on the sale of assault weapons. Following the Parkland high school shooting, Waugh led four bills aimed at addressing school safety, including one that would put armed school resource officers in every public school. Waugh also voted to override Governor Larry Hogan's veto on a bill prohibiting colleges from asking about criminal history on student applications, the only Republican member of the Maryland General Assembly to do so. Governor Hogan—displeased with Waugh's legislative record, including on votes for legislation backed by Senate President Thomas V. Miller Jr. and veto overrides during the 2018 legislative session—supported his opponent, former Maryland Natural Resources police officer Jack Bailey, who defeated Waugh in the Republican primary election on June 26, 2018, by a margin of 752 votes. Waugh was the only Republican state senator to lose their primary election that year.

In a November 2018 interview with Maryland Independent, Waugh blamed Hogan for his loss, saying that his endorsement led to a tidal shift in party loyalty that overwhelmed his campaign. Following his defeat, he applied to a doctorate program in engineering. Together, they have two children.

In November 2011, Waugh and his son were involved in a plane crash at the Chesapeake Ranch Estates airport in Lusby, Maryland, that left him with multiple broken bones.

Electoral history