Jill Priscilla Carter (born June 18, 1964) is an American politician and attorney who was a member of the Maryland Senate from 2018 to 2025, representing the 41st district in Baltimore.

[3] Carter has often been referred to as a lone voice in the wilderness for her challenges to established politicians on matters of adequate housing for the poor,[6] lead poisoning of children, to adequately fund public education, both in the legislature,[7][8] and in the Circuit Court for Baltimore City,[9] and, in 2007, calling for a special session of the legislature to deal with the BGE utility rate increase.

[19] Carter was defeated by incumbent mayor Sheila Dixon in the Democratic primary on September 11, 2007, placing fourth with 2.8 percent of the vote.

[21] In the primary election, she sought to position herself as an outsider and an "independent voice" in the legislature,[22] citing her participation in the "Take a Hike, Mike" rally outside the Maryland State House opposing Senate president Thomas V. Miller Jr.[23] Her campaign was backed by Catherine Pugh, Bernard C. Young, and various local pastors and labor unions.

[23] She was appointed by Governor Larry Hogan on April 30, 2018,[25] and sworn in on May 4 after resigning as director of the Office of Civil Rights and Wage Enforcement.

[28][29] On November 18, 2019, Carter announced her candidacy in the 2020 Maryland's 7th congressional district special election to succeed U.S. Representative Elijah Cummings after his death in October 2019.

[4][30] During the Democratic primary, she sought to position herself a progressive, running on a platform that included Medicare for All, the Green New Deal, and ending U.S. involvement in foreign wars.

[44] In July 2021, after JHU announced that it would move forward with its plans to create a private police force, Carter called the university's decision a "terrible miscalculation" that was "tone deaf" to the concerns raised by students, faculty, and community members.

She voted against the bill in committee after a provision allowing police departments to hand disciplinary decisions over to an independent civilian oversight board was removed.

[52] In 2022, Carter introduced a bill that would reform the state's juvenile sentencing rules, including a ban on confinement for first-time misdemeanor offenses unless a crime involved a gun, and prohibited police from interrogating children without first allowing them to speak to an attorney.

[57] She also introduced a bill that would repeal a law that automatically charges minors as adults with serious crimes, which failed to move out of committee.

[59] In March 2013, Carter said she supported Governor Martin O'Malley's bill to ban assault-type rifles and require a license to purchase a handgun.

In 2020, she and state delegate Gabriel Acevero introduced a bill to establish a universal single-payer health care system in Maryland.

[69] She voted against a bill establishing a ballot referendum to legalize recreational marijuana in Maryland, saying that she believed it was more important to "hammer out details of licensing and community reparation funds".

[71] She also introduced a bill to ban vehicle searches based on cannabis odor,[72] which passed and became law without Governor Wes Moore's signature.

The bill helped prompt the Baltimore Sun's investigation,[81] which found that nine UMMS board members, including Baltimore mayor Catherine Pugh, had business deals worth hundreds of thousands of dollars with the hospital network,[82] the bill unanimously passed the Maryland General Assembly and was signed into law by Governor Larry Hogan.

[84] In April 2019, Carter joined Republicans in voting against a bill to eliminate the statute of limitations on child sexual assault lawsuits, causing it to deadlock in committee.