Boyd Kevin Rutherford (born April 1, 1957) is an American politician, businessman and attorney who served as the ninth lieutenant governor of Maryland from 2015 to 2023.

[8] After earning his Juris Doctor degree, he moved back to Washington, D.C. from southern California,[7] and worked as a litigation associate for various firms—including Daihatsu, Mitsubishi Motors, and Van Ness Feldman—from 1990 to 2000.

[2] In April 2009, Republican National Committee chair Michael Steele named Rutherford as the RNC's chief administrative officer.

[13] Following the resignation of Michael J. Harrison in January 2006, Bush nominated Rutherford to serve as Assistant Secretary for Administration for the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA),[14] during which he gained a reputation as a tough-minded boss.

[20] The Baltimore Sun later reported that the unnamed individual was Whiting-Turner Contracting Company president and CEO Willard Hackerman, a prominent political donor who gave $10,000 to the Maryland Republican Party in 2003 and would have received $7 million in tax breaks for the purchase.

[23] In November 2004, Hackerman withdrew from the transaction in a letter to Rutherford and offered to donate $1 million to St. Mary's County so it could purchase part of the protected tract for school construction.

[30] Hogan and Rutherford ran for a second term in 2018,[31] during which the two defeated Democratic nominees Ben Jealous and Susan Turnbull with 55.4 percent of the vote.

[32] Rutherford was seen as the likely Republican frontrunner in the 2022 Maryland gubernatorial election, but he announced in April 2021 that he would not seek to succeed Governor Larry Hogan.

[43][44] He also coordinated with city officials on the state's response to the Freddie Gray protests,[45] promoted efforts to expand home ownership and combat lead poisoning in Baltimore,[46][47] and supported bills to reform to Maryland's procurement process[48] and to strengthen penalties for violent crime.

Rutherford clarified his tweet about a day after posting it, saying that he believed that the United States could benefit from a candid discussion about racially motivated hate and pointing out that he grew up during the Civil Rights movement.

[7] He defended the Hogan administration's COVID-19 vaccine rollout[55] and the Board of Public Works's use of emergency procurement powers during the pandemic,[56] and criticized the legislature for overriding Governor Hogan's vetoes on the Blueprint for Maryland's Future and a digital advertising tax to pay for the education reform package, citing the economic impact of the pandemic.

[57] In January 2023, Rutherford joined Columbia, Maryland, law firm Davis, Agnor, Rapaport & Skalny LLC as a government relations and lobbying personnel.

[58] In March 2023, he published Rutherford's Travels, a book that documents his visits to all 76 Maryland state parks during his second term as lieutenant governor.

[62] Rutherford has described himself as a fiscal conservative and social moderate, distancing himself from the religious right on issues including abortion and same-sex marriage,[3] and believing in business development as a way to empowerment.

[5] During his 2014 lieutenant gubernatorial campaign, Rutherford criticized Governor Martin O'Malley's rollout of Maryland's health exchange[63] and economic policies,[64] and expressed support for police body cameras and the state's minority-owned businesses.

[68] He supported bills introduced by Governor Larry Hogan that would require the state to use an independent redistricting commission to draw its congressional districts.

[77] In June 2020, Rutherford described the murder of George Floyd as a "turning point in our nation" and a signal for the county to examine the racism "that exists just under the surface of many institutions".