Services Set For Marjorie Holt, Former GOP Congresswoman

SEVERNA PARK, MD — Maryland's first Republican Congresswoman, Marjorie Sewell Holt of Severna Park, died Sunday at her home. She was 97. Holt — an attorney who began her political career in 1966 when she was elected clerk of the Anne Arundel Circuit Court and was elected to Maryland's Fourth Congressional District in 1972 — was hailed as a pioneer in government. Services will be held Jan. 27 at Woods Memorial Presbyterian Church in Severna Park.

“It is with great sadness that the First Lady and I learn of the passing of former Congresswoman Marjorie Holt, who served alongside my father in the U.S. House of Representatives," said Gov. Larry Hogan. "As the first Republican woman from Maryland to be elected to Congress, she helped to chip away at the glass ceiling, paving the way for the next generation of women leaders from Maryland. Congresswoman Holt faithfully represented the Fourth District for 14 years, and her dedication to our great state will never be forgotten. May she rest in peace.”

According to a biography of Holt on the U.S. House of Representatives website, she "was the champion of fiscal conservatism in Congress, seeking to cap federal spending—with the exception of a defense budget—across the board." Known for her sponsorship of legislation to end busing as a means of racial desegregation, Holt was a consistent supporter of the conservative social politics of the Richard M. Nixon, Gerald R. Ford, and Ronald W. Reagan administrations.

Her House biography says:

Marjorie Sewell was born on September 17, 1920, in Birmingham, Alabama, to Edward and Juanita Sewell. The oldest of four sisters, Marjorie Sewell spent most of her youth in Jacksonville, Florida. She graduated from Jacksonville Junior College in 1945. In December 1946, Sewell married Duncan Holt, an electrical engineer, and the couple raised three children. That same year, she entered law school at the University of Florida at Gainesville, earning her L.L.B. in 1949.

The family moved to Maryland in 1950, where Holt practiced law in Annapolis and became involved with GOP state politics. In 1963, Holt was appointed to the Anne Arundel County board of elections and served as supervisor of elections until 1965. She was elected Anne Arundel County circuit court clerk a year later, defeating longtime local Democratic leader, Louis Phipps Jr. She served as clerk until 1972.

When reapportionment created a new Maryland seat in the U.S. House in 1972, Holt ran in the district that include a part of Prince George’s County along with more conservative Anne Arundel County. Holt later said of her first campaign, “I saw the perfect district, the timing was right. I started early, amassed support, and muscled [my opponents] out,” the biography reports.

The general election race between Holt and Democrat Werner Fornos was heated, but Holt won with 59 percent of the vote. Fornos accused Holt of running a “hate campaign” and later charged her supporters with violating campaign laws by spreading anonymous and false charges that Fornos was going to be indicted by a state grand jury, the House website says. An Anne Arundel County grand jury acquitted Holt of these charges, and she went on to easily win re-election six times.

Holt’s tough conservative policies were respected by her Republican colleagues, but her biography says she suspected that gender discrimination and her conservative “inflexibility” kept her from attaining leadership positions in the House.

Holt retired from Congress in 1986 and returned to practicing law at the Baltimore firm of the firm of Smith Somerville & Case, says The Baltimore Sun. Holt remained active in the Republican Party; in 2000, she served as the Maryland state co-chair for the George W. Bush and Richard Cheney presidential campaign and was named a member of the Maryland campaign leadership team seeking to re-elect the Bush ticket in 2004.

Maryland flags will be lowered on the day of Congresswoman Holt’s interment, Hogan said. A memorial service will be held at Woods Memorial Presbyterian Church, 611 Baltimore Annapolis Boulevard, in Severna Park at 2 p.m. on Jan. 27. Contributions may be made to the church in lieu of flowers.

Holt was a member of the Woods Memorial Presbyterian Church.

Survivors include her son, Dr. Edward Holt of Annapolis; two daughters, Victoria Holt Perry and Rachel Tschantre, both of Severna Park; two sisters, Susan Bell of New Orleans and Jane Fernandez of Wellington, Fla.; 10 grandchildren; 14 great- grandchildren; and a great-great-grandson. Her husband died in 2014.

Image courtesy of the U.S. House of Representatives