Sen. Susan Lee Of Bethesda Appointed Maryland Secretary of State

BETHESDA, MD — Maryland Governor-Elect Wes Moore has appointed Sen. Susan Lee of Bethesda to be the state’s next Secretary of State, Moore’s office announced Tuesday.

Lee, who has represented Maryland District 16 in the state Senate since 2015, is set to become Maryland’s first Asian American Secretary of State. District 16 covers Bethesda, Chevy Chase, Friendship Heights, Potomac, Rockville, Cabin John and Glen Echo.

Prior to her election to the Senate, Lee served in the Maryland House of Delegates for more than a dozen years.

“Senator Susan Lee has been a force in Maryland for decades and I’m honored to have her join my Administration as Maryland’s next Secretary of State,” Moore said in a statement.

Lee was the first Asian American elected to the Maryland Senate and first Chinese American elected to the General Assembly. She is the Senate majority whip and is a member of the Governor’s Family Violence Council, the first and past chairman of the Maryland Legislative Asian American and Pacific Islander Caucus and past president of the Women’s Legislative Caucus.

Lee is an attorney and the daughter of a World War II U.S. Navy veteran. She graduated from Winston Churchill High School before attending the University of Maryland, College Park, and then the University of San Francisco School of Law.

“On day one, we’ll be ready to hit the ground running to create an economically thriving state that leaves no one behind — one that puts our working families first and sends a clear message to businesses that we are ready to get to work,” Lee said in a statement.

Lee previously worked as an attorney for the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights from 1983 to 1986 and for the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office from 1988 to 1993.