Richard Madaleno

Richard S. Madaleno, Jr., commonly known as Rich Madaleno (born June 16, 1965) is an American politician from Maryland. A Democrat, he is a member of the Maryland State Senate, representing the state's 18th district in Montgomery County, which includes Wheaton and Kensington, as well as parts of Silver Spring, Bethesda and Chevy Chase. Madaleno served as chair of the Montgomery County Senate Delegation from 2008-2011. He previously served four years in the House of Delegates.

Growing up in Silver Spring, Madaleno was educated at Montgomery County public schools and Georgetown Preparatory School. He then went to Syracuse University where he earned a BA in 1987 and an MPA in 1989.

On leaving university, Madaleno began his career in Maryland government, working first for the Maryland General Assembly's Department of Fiscal Services, which provides staff support to Senators and Delegates. During this time, he was appointed Senior Analyst for the House Appropriations Committee. In 1995, he was hired by then-Montgomery County Executive Doug Duncan to work for Montgomery County's Office of Intergovernmental Relations. He served in that capacity until his election to the House of Delegates in 2002. He is considered an expert in the state budget process and serves on the Senate Budget and Taxation Committee.

In 2002, he won one of three seats representing Maryland's 18th District in the House of Delegates. He placed second, out of seven candidates, in the Democratic primary election in September 2002 and, along with his two fellow Democratic nominees, faced no Republican opponents in the general election.

In April 2006, incumbent District 18 senator Sharon Grosfeld announced that she would not be running for re-election. Madaleno decided to seek the Senate seat and quickly established himself as the leading candidate. Indeed, he attracted no primary opponents whatsoever and faced only nominal Republican opposition in November. His was the only open Senate seat in the whole of Maryland that did not see a primary contest. In the general election, he defeated his Republican opponent by more than three-to-one.

Legislative Notes

In the Maryland Senate, Madaleno leads efforts to advance legislation important to LGBT Marylanders. In 2009, he was lead sponsor of the Religious Freedom and Civil Marriage Protection Act, which would legalize same-sex marriage, as well as a bill to make discrimination against transgender people illegal in housing, employment, and public accommodations. Neither bill was voted on. In 2009, he successfully sponsored legislation with his colleague, Sen. James Robey, to eliminate the inheritance tax paid by domestic partners on jointly-owned primary residences. The legislation becomes law in July 2009.

In 2007, Madaleno sponsored legislation to increase the value of the Maryland Refundable Earned Income Tax Credit, an anti-poverty tool. During a special session later that year, the measure was incorporated into a larger tax bill and became law.

In addition, he helped close a tax loophole that was costing Maryland roughly $10 million a year annually by passing legislation that stops a common business practice of artificially lowering taxable profits by paying rent, a deductible business expense, to shell companies controlled by the same parent company.

Madaleno is widely recognized for increasing state funding for Montgomery County over the years. He developed a proposal for the state to pay a higher percentage of the costs for the Washington Metro system, which became law. The Washington Post once called him a "secret weapon" for playing a key role in increasing state education funding for Montgomery County schools. However, he has also led an effort supporting the return of the cost of teachers' pensions to the counties.

Madaleno was the first person to be elected to the General Assembly as an openly gay candidate. He is also the first openly gay Maryland state senator. Along with Delegates Maggie McIntosh, Anne Kaiser, Heather Mizeur, Peter Murphy, Mary Washington, Bonnie Cullison and Luke Clippinger he forms part of the eight-strong gay grouping in the Maryland General Assembly. His election campaigns have won the support of the Gay & Lesbian Victory Fund.

Madaleno is a member of Cedar Lane Unitarian Universalist Church, where he has chaired the Social Justice Council and taught Sunday School.

He and his husband, Mark, have two children. They are Kensington homeowners.