Mark S. Chang

Chang was born on July 9, 1976, in Glen Burnie, Maryland.^[1] He was one of three children born to Hak Jin Chang, who was a small business owner during the 1980s and 1990s, and his wife, who worked at Annapolis General Hospital and who died when Chang was eleven years old.^[2][3] He is a first-generation Korean-American, with his parents having moved to the United States from South Korea in 1975.^[3]

Chang graduated from Glen Burnie High School and later attended the University of Maryland, Baltimore County, where he earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in psychology and graduated cum laude in 1999. In 2010, Chang attended Loyola University Maryland, where he earned a Master of Business Administration degree.^[1]

Chang entered politics in 2003 by becoming a member of the Anne Arundel County Republican Central Committee.^[1] In 2006, he ran for the Maryland House of Delegates as a Republican and was defeated in the general election with 17.1 percent of the vote.^[4] After his defeat, Chang went to work as a community liaison for Anne Arundel County Executive John R. Leopold. In 2012, he switched his party affiliation from Republican to Democratic.^[5] Chang was replaced by County Executive Laura Neuman after she took office following Leopold's corruption conviction and subsequent resignation,^[6] and he subsequently worked as a legislative aide to state senator James E. DeGrange Sr.^[4]

In 2014, Chang again ran for the Maryland House of Delegates in District 32, this time as a Democrat. He won the general election in November 2014, becoming the first Korean-American elected to the Maryland General Assembly from Anne Arundel County, and the first in the state alongside state delegate-elect David Moon.^[2]

Chang was sworn into the House of Delegates on January 14, 2015. He has been a member of the Appropriations Committee during his entire tenure, and became the committee's vice chair in 2021.^[1]

On December 5, 2023, Chang announced that he would run for Congress in Maryland's 3rd congressional district, seeking to succeed retiring U.S. Representative John Sarbanes.^[7] He was defeated in the Democratic primary election by state senator Sarah Elfreth on May 14, 2024.^[8]

Crime

During the 2018 legislative session, Chang introduced legislation to make human trafficking a felony offense.^[9]

In March 2021, Chang expressed concern following the 2021 Atlanta spa shootings^[10] and later attended and spoke at a rally at the Lincoln Memorial honoring the victims.^[11]

Development initiatives

During the 2016 legislative session, Chang voted to override Governor Larry Hogan's veto on a bill to provide $2 million toward Maryland Hall for the Creative Arts renovations.^[12]

In 2019, Chang introduced legislation to fund developments at the Laurel Park.^[13]

Social issues

In January 2016, Chang voted against overriding Governor Larry Hogan's veto on a bill restoring voting rights for felons on parole.^[14]

During the 2019 legislative session and following incidents involving nooses on school campuses in 2018, Chang introduced a bill that would ban the use of nooses or swastikas to "threaten or intimidate someone".^[15] The bill was reintroduced in 2020, during which it passed and became law.^[16]