Sen. Sara Love (D-Montgomery), center, receives a group hug from her mother, Marcie Love, and son, Kenneth Love-Fabrizio, following a Thursday swearing in ceremony in Annapolis. Photo by Bryan P. Sears.

The Maryland Senate is back to a full 47 members following the swearing-in Thursday of Sara Love (D-Montgomery).

The swearing-in ceremony in Annapolis came after Gov. Wes Moore (D) approved the June 3 nomination of Love by the Montgomery County Democratic Central Committee to fill the District 16 vacancy created by departure of Sen. Ariana B. Kelly, who resigned earlier this year to lead the Maryland Commission for Women.

Kelly left the seat after a year in the Senate. She had been appointed in 2023 to fill the vacancy created when Moore appointed Susan Lee as secretary of state.

Love was serving her second term in the House of Delegates when she was elevated to the Senate.

A former director of the American Civil Liberties Union of Maryland, Love was first elected to the House in 2018. She was serving on the House Environment and Transportation Committee and chaired that panel’s Motor Vehicle and Transportation Subcommittee.

Love took the oath of office at the Senate rostrum where Senate President Bill Ferguson (D-Baltimore City) presides.

“You have a nice view up here,” Love joked with Ferguson.

In brief remarks after the ceremony, the newly minted senator thanked her mother, children, friends and new colleagues.

“I am excited for this opportunity and am deeply humbled,” she said.

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