William Colonel Smith Jr.[1] (born February 6, 1982) is an American politician who is a member of the Maryland Senate representing District 20 since 2016.

[4] He was deployed to Afghanistan with the 1st Armored Division as part of Operation Resolute Support from March to October 2019,[5][6] attaining the rank of lieutenant commander in the U.S. Navy Reserve.

While deployed, Smith assisted with the country's 2019 presidential election and monitored peace talks between the Taliban and the United States in Doha, Qatar.

As of 2023, he currently serves on the board of directors of multiple organizations, including Gandhi Brigade, the GapBuster Learning Center, and Impact Silver Spring.

[9] The Montgomery County Democratic Central Committee voted 19–8 to nominate Smith over state delegate David Moon to fill the vacancy.

[16] In January 2020, Smith endorsed South Bend, Indiana mayor Pete Buttigieg in the 2020 Democratic Party presidential primaries.

[20] In February 2020, Smith introduced a legislative package to address the public safety crisis in Baltimore, including bills to increase crackdowns on and incentives for reporting illegal firearms, expanded supervision of residents on parole, and improved information-sharing between local police departments.

[23] During the 2021 legislative session, Smith introduced the TRUST Act, a bill that would prohibit police from asking detainees about their immigration status and limit governments' ability to sharing data with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE),[24] and the Dignity Not Detention Act, which would prohibit counties from holding contracts with ICE.

[27] In late 2021, Smith endorsed bills that would to end the practice of charging juveniles as adults in criminal court[28] and another to prohibit police from questioning kids without their parents' consent.

[34] During the 2021 legislative session, Smith voted to override Governor Larry Hogan's veto of a bill that would require background checks to purchase long guns.

[37] During the 2019 legislative session, Smith introduced the End-of-Life Option Act, which would provide palliative care to terminally ill patients.

[41][42] In 2021, Smith introduced legislation that would prohibit landlords from evicting tenants without providing a "just cause" and establish a statewide rental assistance fund.

[44] In February 2023, following a gas explosion at Flower Branch Apartments in Silver Spring, Maryland, that killed seven and injured 68 residents, Smith said he would put Governor Wes Moore's appointment of Juan Alvarado to the Maryland Public Service Commission on hold, saying that he wanted to probe Alvarado's role in the investigations following the Flower Branch emergency.

[46] In November 2023, Smith and eight other state senators signed a joint letter that threatened to defund immigrants rights group CASA de Maryland because it had called for an immediate ceasefire in the 2023 Israel–Hamas war and condemned the "utilization of US tax dollars to promote the ongoing violence.

[66] Smith is married to his wife, Camille Fesche, who is a lobbyist in the Maryland General Assembly for the law firm Rifkin Weiner Livingston, LLC.