Michael Joseph Hough (; born November 4, 1979) is an American politician who served in the Maryland Senate, representing District 4 in Frederick and Carroll Counties, from 2015 to 2023. A member of the Republican Party, Hough previously represented District 3B in the Maryland House of Delegates from 2011 to 2015. Hough unsuccessfully ran for Frederick County Executive in 2022, losing to county councilmember Jessica Fitzwater.
Background Hough was born in Silver Spring, Maryland on November 4, 1979. He was one of three children, and was raised in Montgomery Village. Hough graduated from Watkins Mill High School, afterwards enlisting in the U.S. Air Force, serving as a missile maintenance technician from 1998 to 2002, and attending the Community College of the Air Force, where he earned an associate degree in applied sciences. During his service, his parents moved from Montgomery Village to Point of Rocks, prompting him to also move to Frederick County. Hough later earned a Bachelor of Science in political science from Towson University in 2007.
After serving in the Air Force, Hough worked as a sales associate for Sears from 2002 to 2004, after which he became a legislative aide to Maryland state senator Alex Mooney until his election to the Frederick County Republican Central Committee in 2007. He served as the chair of the central committee in 2008, during which he organized support for Republican candidates in the 2008 and 2010 elections.
In the legislature Maryland House of Delegates In 2009, Hough launched a campaign for the Maryland House of Delegates in District 3B.
In January 2010, Hough applied to fill a vacancy in the Maryland House of Delegates left by the resignation of state delegate Richard B. Weldon Jr., who resigned to become an executive assistant to Frederick mayor Randy McClement. He was nominated to fill the vacancy by the Frederick County Republican Central Committee alongside Charles A. Jenkins and John Lovells; Governor Martin O'Malley appointed Jenkins to the seat later that month. Afterwards, Hough targeted Jenkins in the Republican primary. During his campaign, he was able to outraise Jenkins and walked from Sandy Hook to Monrovia, a distance of , to meet with voters. He also ran on a platform of opposing tax increases, privatizing government services, and deregulation.
Hough was sworn in to the Maryland House of Delegates on January 12, 2011, where he served on the Judiciary Committee during his entire tenure and as assistant majority leader from 2013 to 2015. In 2012, he served as a delegate to the Republican National Convention, pledged to Mitt Romney.
Maryland Senate
In February 2014, Hough announced that he would run for the Maryland Senate in District 4, challenging incumbent state senator David R. Brinkley, whom he criticized for voting for O'Malley's budgets and for a bill providing health insurance to uninsured individuals. In May 2014, an Emmitsburg resident filed an ethics complaint against Hough for using taxpayer funding to send him a birthday note on an official letterhead, noting that he wasn't even one of Hough's constituents (instead living in Brinkley's district). Hough disputed the complaint, saying that he received approval from state ethics advisors to send birthday messages so long as he paid for the postage. During the Republican primary, he received endorsements from U.S. Representative Andy Harris, former U.S. Representative Roscoe Bartlett, and state delegates Kathy Afzali, Justin Ready, and Neil Parrott. Hough defeated Brinkley in the Republican primary election on June 24, 2014, receiving 67.7 percent of the vote to Brinkley's 32.3 percent. He faced Democratic nominee Dan Rupli in the general election, during which he donated campaign funds to other Republican nominees in local races. He defeated Rupli with 67.7 percent of the vote in the general election on November 4, 2014.
Hough was sworn into the Maryland Senate on January 14, 2015, where he served on the Judicial Proceedings Committee during his entire tenure. During the 2016 Republican Party presidential primaries, Hough served as the chair of Ted Cruz's campaign in Maryland. Maryland Matters described Hough as being "one of the most prolific fundraisers" in the Maryland Senate; during the 2018 elections, Hough helped raise funds for the Senate Republican Caucus Committee and the Frederick County Republican Victory Slate to support Republican nominees in the Frederick County executive election and the Maryland Senate District 3 election.
From 2015 to 2017, Hough worked as a policy advisor for the Faith and Freedom Coalition, afterwards working as the chief of staff to U.S. Representative Alex Mooney. During the 2020 presidential election, he canvassed and phonebanked for Donald Trump in York, Pennsylvania. Hough was in the Rayburn House Office Building during the January 6 Capitol attack, during which he called on Trump to call on demonstrators to stand down.
During his 2018 re-election campaign, Hough raffled away an AR-15–style rifle with 250 rounds of ammunition. Frederick County Sheriff Chuck Jenkins questioned the legality of Hough's AR-15 rifle, noting that he did not obtain a raffle permit from the county permitting office; however, Hough said that he did not need one as county law regarding raffle permits only applied to nonprofit organizations.
In October 2020, the Maryland Senate Republican Caucus voted to elect Hough to serve as Senate minority whip, replacing state senator Steve Hershey, who opted against reelection to the position, which was seen by the media as the Senate Republican caucus becoming more conservative as to push back on the perceived leftward shift of the Maryland Democratic Party following the election of Bill Ferguson as Senate president. In this capacity, Hough promised to work with Democratic lawmakers on issues including police reform, but lobbied against bills opposed by the Hogan administration such as the Blueprint for Maryland's Future. He stepped down as minority whip on October 4, 2021, to focus on his campaign for Frederick County executive. He was succeeded by state senator Justin Ready.
2022 Frederick County Executive campaign
On May 17, 2021, Hough announced that he would run for Frederick County Executive in 2022, seeking to succeed term-limited county executive Jan Gardner.
During his campaign, Hough sought to cast himself as a moderate, running on a platform of cutting property taxes and government spending, expanding county highways including U.S. Route 15 Interstate 270, and slowing urban sprawl through the preservation of farmland. He also outraised and outspent his Democratic opponents throughout the election, becoming the first Frederick County executive candidate to spend more than $1 million during the campaign, and received endorsements from Governor Larry Hogan and Democratic state legislators Jill P. Carter, Robert Zirkin, and Joseph F. Vallario Jr.
Hough ran unopposed in the primary election and faced county councilmember Jessica Fitzwater in the general election. Hough sought to associate Fitzwater with the with incumbent county executive Jan Gardner and criticized her for "doing nothing" in response to Frederick County Public Schools' illegal use of seclusion and restraint on disabled students, and warned that electing Fitzwater would transform Frederick County into "Montgomery County North". He also sought to associate himself with Hogan and distance himself from Republican gubernatorial nominee Dan Cox.
Hough was narrowly defeated in the general election by Fitzwater, who edged out Hough by a margin of 989 votes. Despite his loss, he outperformed other statewide Republican nominees in the county, including Cox, Barry Glassman, and Michael Peroutka, and congressional nominee Neil Parrott.
Post-legislative career Following his defeat, Hough became the director of federal relations for NumbersUSA.
Personal life Hough is married to his wife, JoeyLynn, who grew up in North Dakota and whom he met at the Cheyenne Club in Cheyenne, Wyoming. Together, they have three children and live in Brunswick, Maryland. While Hough was a member of the Maryland General Assembly, his family would rent a home in Annapolis and his children would attend Anne Arundel County Public Schools from January to April, afterwards transferring back to Frederick County Public Schools. JoeyLynn was elected to the Frederick County Republican Central Committee in 2018, and later sought election to the Maryland Republican Party's executive committee, but lost to Tony Campbell.
When Hough was 25 (2004 or 2005), he sued his parents and took custody over his younger brother. Also when he was 25, his father committed suicide.
Political positions Crime and policing During the 2013 legislative session, Hough voted against repealing the death penalty in Maryland. In 2019, he cited this vote in voting against a bill to legalize medical aid in dying.
During the 2016 legislative session, Hough introduced legislation to require police to pursue criminal charges against a person before they could use asset forfeiture. He also expressed concerns with proposals to limit the police use of strip searches and shackles against youths, which he claimed would make juvenile facilities more dangerous.
In 2017, Hough introduced a legislation to increase sentences for drug dealers who knowingly sell fentanyl, which passed and was signed into law by Governor Larry Hogan. He also supported a bill that would prohibit police from asking detainees about their immigration status.
During the 2020 legislative session, Hough introduced a bill to make strangulation a first-degree felony assault. He also introduced a bill to make gun theft a felony offense and to increase penalties for repeat firearm offenders.
In 2021, Hough opposed legislation to remove the governor of Maryland from the state's parole board and criticized legislators for removing an amendment that would require six parole board members to vote to grant parole, and another bill that would prohibit state governments from holding 287(g) agreements with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement. He also supported a bill ban the use of excessive force by police officers and initially supported a bill to make police misconduct records publicly accessible, but ultimately voted against the bill after an amendment allowing unsustained complaints to remain in the public record was adopted.
During the 2022 legislative session, Hough supported a bill to raise the salary for the Frederick County Sheriff, and criticized Democratic legislators after the bill narrowly failed in the House of Delegates. During his 2022 county executive campaign, he said he supported Frederick County's 287(g) agreement, criticizing its opponents for making a "terrible demagoguery of this program", and expressed support for adding the Frederick County Sheriff's Office to the county public services ordinance.
Education As a state legislator, Hough protested against bills granting voting rights to student members of boards of education. He supported Governor Larry Hogan's executive order mandating a post-Labor Day start date for schools and opposed legislation passed in 2019 overturning the executive order. Hough initially voted for the Blueprint for Maryland's Future, but voted against overriding Governor Larry Hogan's veto of the bill, citing the economic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic.
During the 2013 legislative session, Hough introduced legislation that would allow homeschooled students to participate in public school sports teams.
In 2015, Hough introduced a bill that would require parent to consent before schools could survey students about their drug use or sexual activity, which he called a "troubling trend".
During the 2020 legislative session, Hough introduced legislation creating remedial measures for bullies in public schools, which died in committee.