Adrienne Alease Jones (born November 20, 1954) is an American politician who has served as a member of the Maryland House of Delegates from the 10th district since 1997. A member of the Democratic Party, she served as the 107th Speaker of the Maryland House of Delegates from 2019 to 2025, becoming the first African-American and first woman to serve in that position in Maryland.
Born and raised in Baltimore County, Jones graduated from the University of Maryland, Baltimore County before working in Baltimore County government until 2014. Following the death of state delegate Joan N. Parker, she was appointed to the Maryland House of Delegates in 1997, and was subsequently elected to her first four-year term in 1998. She was named speaker pro tempore by House Speaker Michael E. Busch in 2003, serving in this position until her election as Speaker following Busch's death in 2019. During her speakership, Jones supported the implementation of the Blueprint for Maryland's Future as well as efforts to enshrine abortion rights into the Constitution of Maryland and ensure equity in Maryland's newly-created recreational cannabis and sports betting industries. She stepped down as speaker in December 2025, and withdrew from her re-election bid in February 2026.
Early life and education Born in the historically African-American community of Cowdensville in Arbutus, Maryland, Jones was the second of five children. She attended Baltimore County public schools and graduated from Lansdowne High School, and later attended the University of Maryland, Baltimore County, where she earned a B.A. degree in psychology in 1976.
Career Early career After graduating, Jones worked as a clerk in the Baltimore County's Office of Central Services. She first became involved in politics in 1979, when started working as a legislative officer for Baltimore County Executive Donald P. Hutchinson. In 1987, Jones became a member of Woman Power, Inc., a voter education organization. From 1989 to 1995, she worked as the director of the Office of Minority Affairs in Baltimore County, Maryland, afterwards working as the executive director of the Office of Fair Practices and Community Affairs until 2011. Jones later worked as the deputy director of the Office of Human Resources until 2014. She also founded the Baltimore County African American Cultural Festival.
Maryland House of Delegates Jones was a member of the Baltimore County Democratic Central Committee and applied to fill a vacancy in the Maryland House of Delegates following the death of then-state delegate Joan N. Parker in 1997. Her candidacy was backed by several local area politicians, including Baltimore County Executive Dutch Ruppersberger, state senators Delores G. Kelley and Shirley Nathan-Pulliam, and state delegate Emmett C. Burns Jr. The Baltimore County Democratic Central Committee voted to nominate her out of a field of 16 candidates. Her nomination was confirmed by Governor Parris Glendening, and she was sworn in on October 21, 1997.
Jones was a member of the Appropriations Committee from 1997 to 2003, afterwards serving on the Ways and Means Committee for part of the 2003 legislative session before rejoining the Appropriations Committee, where she remained until her election as Speaker in 2019. She returned to the Appropriations Committee in 2026, after stepping down as speaker. She also served as the chair of the Capital Budget Subcommittee from 2003 to 2019, which allowed her to get to know delegates from across the state and the projects they wanted built in their districts. From 2003 to 2019, Jones served as the speaker pro tempore of the Maryland House of Delegates, the first African-American woman to serve in this position. In this capacity, she filled in for House Speaker Michael E. Busch when he was absent and worked to quash personal issues with delegates before they became problems.
In December 2008, following an unexpected drop in state revenues, Governor Martin O'Malley ordered a furlough for state employees. Jones voluntarily participated in the state employee furlough later that month. The constitutionality of doing this was unclear, as the Constitution of Maryland prohibits the state government from furloughing state legislators.
In May 2020, Jones was named co-chair of the Maryland Women for Biden group, alongside Prince George's County Executive Angela Alsobrooks, State Senate President Pro Tem Melony G. Griffith, and Maryland Democratic Party Chair Yvette Lewis. In January 2021, she condemned the January 6 United States Capitol attack, calling it "nothing less than sedition". Jones was an at-large delegate to the 2024 Democratic National Convention, pledged to Kamala Harris.
Jones missed most of the 2026 legislative session, having only attended a handful of days during the 90 day session. A spokesperson for House Speaker Joseline Peña-Melnyk told Maryland Matters that Jones was out with an undisclosed medical condition and it was not known if or when she might return. In February 2026, Jones withdrew as a candidate in the 2026 election.
Speaker of the House of Delegates
Jones took over as Acting Speaker of the Maryland House of Delegates on April 7, 2019, following the death of then-Speaker Michael E. Busch. A few days later, following Busch's funeral, she announced that she would run for Speaker, becoming the first candidate to declare an intention to run. She withdrew her candidacy later that month after failing to secure enough support, and endorsed state delegate Dereck E. Davis.
In a special session on May 1, the House of Delegates unanimously elected Jones as Speaker of the House by a vote of 139–0, following a stalemate between delegates Maggie McIntosh and Davis, the remaining two candidates for speaker, that ended in both bowing out of the Speaker's race in favor of Jones. Jones is both the first female and first African-American speaker in Maryland state history, and only the third Black woman to serve as state House speaker overall following Karen Bass of California and Sheila Oliver of New Jersey. In September 2019, she selected state delegate Sheree Sample-Hughes to succeed her as speaker pro tempore.
During her tenure as Speaker, Jones supported the implementation of the Blueprint for Maryland's Future and a number of social justice issues, including increased funding for historically underfunded historically Black colleges and universities (HBCUs), police reform, and ensuring equity licenses in the state's recreational cannabis and sports betting industries. She also supported efforts to enshrine the right to an abortion into the Constitution of Maryland, an effort previously shepherded by her predecessor. In April 2022, Jones signed 103 Maryland measures into law together with Republican Governor Larry Hogan and Maryland Senate president pro tempore Melony G. Griffith, marking the first time that two Black women had taken part in such a ceremony as Maryland's presiding officers.
On December 4, 2025, Jones announced that she would step down as speaker of the Maryland House of Delegates, effective immediately.
Political positions
Abortion
In May 2019, after the Alabama General Assembly passed the Human Life Protection Act, Jones said she would continue Busch's efforts to codify abortion rights in the Constitution of Maryland. During the 2022 legislative session, she introduced legislation that would create a ballot referendum on codifying the right to abortion access into the state constitution. The bill passed the House of Delegates, but died in the Maryland Senate after Senate President Bill Ferguson declined to put the bill up for a vote. In June 2022, after the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade in Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Health Organization, Jones promised to reintroduce the abortion referendum bill during the 2023 legislative session, during which it passed and was signed into law by Governor Wes Moore.
COVID-19 pandemic
On March 12, 2020, a week after Governor Larry Hogan declared a state of emergency for the COVID-19 pandemic in Maryland, Jones told legislators to prioritize work on "the most critical bills" in case they needed to end the legislative session early for the pandemic. Three days later, she announced that the Maryland General Assembly would adjourn sine die on March 18, but would reconvene for a special legislative session in May, which never happened. The early adjournment marked the first time the Maryland General Assembly had ended its legislative session early since the American Civil War. She confirmed the first case of COVID-19 in the Maryland General Assembly on March 22.
Ahead of the legislature's adjournment, Jones introduced legislation to extend temporary unemployment benefits for workers affected by the pandemic, which passed and was signed into law by Governor Larry Hogan. On March 19, she convened the COVID-19 Response Legislative Workgroup to monitor the state's response to the pandemic. Jones criticized the lack of transparency from the Hogan administration during the pandemic, especially from the Maryland Department of Health, saying that the administration ignored coronavirus-related health questions as the governor began lifting pandemic-related restrictions. In May 2020, she questioned the Hogan administration's decision to begin reopening the state, requesting data to justify the decision.
In March 2020, Jones wrote a letter to Governor Hogan calling on him to provide some in-person voting opportunities for the 2020 primary and general elections, arguing that using only mail-in ballots in these elections would disenfranchise voters with disabilities or with limited access to postal services. She later appeared in an ad to encourage voters to promote voting by mail in the 2020 Maryland's 7th congressional district special election. In May 2020, Jones wrote to the Maryland State Board of Elections to increase the state's voting centers and mail-in ballot drop-off locations in Montgomery County and Baltimore. In July 2020, after Governor Hogan announced plans to hold a full in-person election for the 2020 general election, Jones encouraged voters to register for a mail-in ballot online and sent a letter to Hogan demanding that he provide voters with prepaid postage for ballot applications.
In May 2020, Jones co-signed a letter to congressional leaders requesting "additional, flexible funding" for state and local governments amid budget deficiencies in response to the pandemic. In June 2020, she informed state Budget Secretary David R. Brinkley that the legislature would cut $4.8 million, or about five percent of its annual budget, from its 2020 budget. In August 2020, Jones called on Hogan to allocate funding toward lawyers to help tenants at risk of being evicted during the pandemic.
Jones declined to hold a special legislative session to pass legislation to address housing and policing issues amid the pandemic, saying that these issues would be dealt with during the 2021 legislative session. In November 2020, she issued restrictions on meetings in the House of Delegates ahead of the 2021 legislative session, including capacity restrictions on legislator offices and a ban on meetings with lobbyists.
During the 2021 legislative session, Jones introduced legislation to reform the state's unemployment insurance program, which passed and signed into law by Governor Hogan, and another that would extend the state's earned income tax credit to Individual Taxpayer Identification Number taxpayers. In July 2021, she called for the resignation of state Labor Secretary Tiffany Robinson, citing her slow adoption of the unemployment reforms and poor communications with claimants.
In May 2021, Jones announced that the Maryland State House would reopen to visitors and tourists.