The Democratic Party had held majority control of the Senate since the beginning of the 20th century.
The closest that the Republican Party had come to gaining control since then was in 1918, when Democrats held a thin 14 to 13 majority.
In the 2014 elections, Governor Martin O'Malley was term-limited and Republicans sought to succeed him with businessman Larry Hogan.
Capitalizing on a national red wave, the party successfully retook the governor's office and picked up nine seats in the General Assembly, including two seats in the Maryland Senate.
Despite these gains, Democrats still retained their veto-proof supermajorities in both chambers of the Maryland General Assembly.