Natalie Ziegler

Natalie Carroll Ziegler (born September 5, 1955) is an American politician and farmer. She is a member of the Maryland House of Delegates for District 9A in Howard and Montgomery counties.

Background

Born in 1955 to mother Mary Carter Carroll and father John C. Ziegler, Ziegler was raised in New York City and Boston. She graduated from Abbot Academy in 1972 and Oberlin College in 1977, receiving a bachelor's degree with high honors in psychology, and later attended the Johns Hopkins University School of Advanced International Studies, where she earned a master's degree in economics and American foreign policy in 1986. She worked as a journalist and a guest booker for CNN, and founded a jewelry manufacturing company with her husband in 2001.

Ziegler is a fifth-generation descendant of Charles Carroll of Carrollton, a former U.S. Senator from Maryland and a signer of the Declaration of Independence. She owns Carroll Mill Farm, a feed grain operation in Ellicott City, Maryland.

In 2018, Ziegler ran for the Maryland House of Delegates in District 9A, challenging incumbent Republican state delegates Trent Kittleman and Warren E. Miller. She won the Democratic primary on June 26, 2018, but was defeated by Kittleman and Miller in the general election on November 6. Shortly after her loss, county executive-elect Calvin Ball III named Ziegler to serve on the county's public works subcommittee transition team.

In January 2020, Ziegler was appointed to the Howard Community College Board of Trustees. She was reappointed to the board in October 2021.

In November 2021, Ziegler filed to run for state delegate in District 9A, seeking to succeed outgoing state delegate Reid Novotny, who ran unsuccessfully for Maryland Senate. She won a tight general election on November 8, 2022, coming in first.

In the legislature

Ziegler was sworn into the Maryland House of Delegates on January 11, 2023. She is a member of the House Environment and Transportation Committee.

Personal life

Ziegler lives in Ellicott City with her husband, John Zirschky. Together, they have two children.

Political positions

In September 2016, Ziegler supported and testified for a proposal to expand solar development on Howard County farmland.

During the 2023 legislative session, Ziegler pushed back against a bill that would ban foreign governments from buying farmland in Maryland, worrying that the bill would "demonize people unfairly".

Electoral history