Charles E. Sydnor III

Charles E. Sydnor III (born March 18, 1974) is an American politician who has served as a member of the Maryland Senate representing District 44 since 2020. A member of the Democratic Party, he previously represented District 44B in the Maryland House of Delegates from 2015 to 2020.

Early life and education
Sydnor was born in Baltimore on March 18, 1974, and was raised in its West Hills community. He graduated from the Baltimore Polytechnic Institute and attended Johns Hopkins University, where he earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in history in 1996; the University of Maryland, Baltimore County, where he earned a Master of Arts degree in policy science in 2000; and the University of Maryland Francis King Carey School of Law, where he earned a Juris Doctor degree in 2002. Sydnor is a member of the Omicron Delta Kappa fraternity.

Early career
Sydnor was a college intern to Baltimore City Circuit Court Judge William D. Quarles Jr., and was admitted to the Maryland Bar and District of Columbia Bar after graduating. He has worked as an attorney for Enterprise Community Partners since 2001, and worked as a consumer council for the Attorney General of Maryland from 2010 to 2012.

From 2007 to 2013, Sydnor served on the Citizen's Advisory Committees of the Chesapeake Executive Council and the Baltimore Corridor Transit Study for the Red Line.

Maryland General Assembly
On July 12, 2013, Sydnor said that he would run for the Maryland House of Delegates in 2014, seeking to succeed state Delegate Shirley Nathan-Pulliam, who ran for the Maryland Senate and with whom he ran on a slate. He won the Democratic primary with 23.4 percent of the vote on June 24, 2014, and later won the general election alongside Pat Young in November 2014.

Sydnor was sworn into the Maryland House of Delegates on January 13, 2015. During his tenure, he served as a member of the Judiciary Committee and chaired its civil law & procedure and criminal justice subcommittees.

In December 2019, following the resignation of state Senator Shirley Nathan-Pulliam, Sydnor applied to serve the remainder of her term in the Maryland Senate. The Baltimore County Democratic Central Committee voted to nominate Sydnor to the seat, while the Baltimore City Democratic Central Committee voted to nominate state Delegate Keith E. Haynes to the seat. Governor Larry Hogan appointed Sydnor to the seat on December 30, 2019, and he was sworn in on January 8, 2020. He has served as a member of the Judicial Proceedings Committee during his entire tenure. Sydnor was elected to a full four-year term in 2022.

Personal life
Sydnor is married and has three daughters. He lives in Catonsville, Maryland.

Crime and policing
During the 2015 legislative session, Sydnor introduced legislation to create a separate mental health unit within the Baltimore Police Department.

In 2016, Sydnor introduced a bill that would require police to obtain a warrant to use a stingray phone tracker, which can locate a cellphone's user within six feet. The bill died in committee.

During the 2019 legislative session, after a suspect was arrested in the Golden State Killer murders by police who used consumer genealogical databases to identify him, Sydnor introduced a bill to prohibit police access to such databases to identify criminal suspects through DNA samples submitted by relatives. The bill was reintroduced in 2021, during which it passed and became law. Sydnor also introduced legislation to conceal the identities of juveniles charged as adults.

In 2021, Sydnor said he supported legislation to return control of the Baltimore Police Department back to the city of Baltimore and the Police Reform and Accountability Act, an omnibus police reform bill to repeal the Law Enforcement Officers' Bill of Rights and regulate the types of force that police could use during arrests, and introduced a bill that would require on-duty officers to wear body cameras by 2025, which passed and became law. He also voted against a bill to create criminal penalties for police officers who intentionally use excessive force, saying that he felt unsatisfied with the bill's definition of excessive force, and criticized other police reform bills passed by the legislature for "not going far enough".

Education
In May 2019, Sydnor condemned social media comments made by state Delegate Robin Grammer Jr. toward members of the Baltimore County Board of Education that contained racially-charged language.

During the 2020 legislative session, Sydnor introduced legislation that would force the state to settle its 13-year-old lawsuit against its historically black colleges and universities (HBCUs) by annually distributing $57.7 million to the state's HCBUs over a decade. The bill passed, but was vetoed by Governor Hogan. The bill was reintroduced in 2021, during which it passed and was signed into law by Governor Larry Hogan.

In 2021, Sydnor introduced legislation to add an appointed member of the Baltimore County Board of Education.

Environment
During the 2023 legislative session, Sydnor supported legislation to look into creating a new governance structure to oversee water and wastewater systems in the Baltimore and Baltimore County. The bill passed and was signed into law by Governor Wes Moore.

Healthcare
During the 2019 legislative session, Sydnor voted against the End-of-Life Option Act, which would have provided palliative care to terminally ill adults.

Social issues
In August 2015, Sydnor called for the resignation of Maryland Housing Secretary Kenneth Holt after Holt claimed without evidence that parents were deliberately exposing their children to lead paint to get free housing.

In October 2021, Sydnor attended a protest against the Baltimore County Council's proposed redistricting plan, saying that the newly drawn districts would not adequately represent the county's population and packed Black voters into a single district. He later led a lawsuit against the county's redistricting plan, which resulted in a new map with a second minority opportunity district. During the 2022 legislative session, Sydnor introduced legislation that would allow the Maryland attorney general to intervene when local governments violate federal voting laws.

Transportation
Sydnor supports the Red Line.