President Donald Trump’s second term has inspired a Republican faction in the Maryland House of Delegates to be more disruptive, more energized — and more online — than their fellow conservative lawmakers.

“Originally, when I said we’re organizing and coming out as an official caucus, we felt there was a lack of conservative leadership in this state, and that we were going to fill that void,” said Del. Matt Morgan, a St. Mary’s County Republican and the chair of the Maryland Freedom Caucus.

“What I think we’re seeing is that competitiveness and us being out there has really caused the Republican House Caucus and the Senate Caucus to also up their game and get a little bit better.”

Morgan and Dels. Lauren Arikan of Harford County, Brian Chisholm of Anne Arundel County, Mark Fisher of Calvert County and Kathy Szeliga, Ryan Nawrocki and Robin Grammer of Baltimore County — seven conservatives who have historically been some of the most vocal members of the GOP in recent sessions — have joined forces to mobilize against the legislature’s Democratic super majority.

They recently claimed a “victory” after a Senate committee killed a bill they lobbied against on the House floor, the internet and the national news circuit. They also have the support of Maryland’s Republican representative in the U.S. House, Congressman Andy Harris, who has appeared at their press conferences.

However, due to their size and the function of Annapolis politics, their ability to make actual policy change is minimal, and the chamber’s Republican leadership says caucus members have the same goals but are using different tactics to pursue them.

“Some members of the Freedom Caucus are extremely online, and so what they choose to approach and how they choose to strategize is up to them,” House Minority Leader Jason Buckel, an Allegany County Republican, said in an interview Friday. “As long as we all work together for the same ends and goals — which, I think we are — it’ll be fine.”

In Maryland Democratic voters outnumber Republicans 2-1. There are 188 legislators in the Maryland General Assembly. With only 39 Republicans in the House and 13 in the Senate, the impact of the GOP in Annapolis is small.

The Freedom Caucus could splinter an already small GOP presence in Annapolis and potentially deliver a win for Gov. Wes Moore in 2026, a political analyst said.

Todd Eberly, a political science professor at St. Mary’s College of Maryland, said the success of the caucus in an ultra blue Annapolis “depends on what they choose to focus on” — especially given the uncertainty seen in Trump’s White House. He said that “to the extent that Republicans in Maryland and in Annapolis lean into and link themselves to the national party, they’re clearing the path for Moore to be reelected.”

“If they decide that they’re going to lean into the social issues that happen to dominate that particular group … they’re not going to gain any traction, because those issues simply don’t do well in Maryland,” Eberly said.

In Annapolis, the GOP’s political sway is typically seen when bills are amended during committee voting sessions rather than on the floor.

It can also serve as a space for Republicans to more vocally side with Democrats, which is a rare sight on the floor.

For example, Del. Joshua Stonko, a Republican representing Carroll County, said during a House Appropriations Committee voting session on Gov. Wes Moore’s Excellence in Maryland Public Schools Act that cutting funding for teacher collaborative time would mean an additional $5 million in cuts for Carroll County schools. He voted in favor of the amendment to restore the money the Moore administration proposed slashing.

“This is a really complex bill for me because I’m trying to think about my general view on budget and tax and spend and all of those issues, and then the impact on my jurisdiction,” Stonko said during the Feb. 28 voting session. “For Carroll County, this bill as it’s currently written with the amendments is significantly better than the one that was originally proposed.”

In spite of voting in favor of the amendments, Stonko, who is not a member of the Maryland Freedom Caucus, ultimately did not cast a vote to move the bill out of committee to the House floor or to pass it to the Senate chamber, though the bill was advanced anyway in a vote along party lines.

Beyond local or bipartisan bills and floor amendments considered “friendly” by their Democratic counterparts, Republican legislation generally does not make it to the governor’s desk. But that doesn’t stop the GOP from attempting to water down Democratic policy with amendments of their own, nor does it inhibit them from weighing in with their opinions with occasional dramatic flair.

During a February debate, members of the Freedom Caucus spoke on the House Floor in opposition to a bill that would have allowed contraceptives to be sold in nursery school, preschool, elementary and high school vending machines. The caucus dubbed the bill “condoms for kindergarteners.”

“Why in the world would someone in a preschool need a condom?” Arikan asked before the bill passed out of the House chamber. “People in every possible [walk] of life — every job you can imagine — have sex. And do you know where those people go to get condoms and prophylactics of other types? They go to the CVS like everybody else.”

The caucus went on X, lambasting the bill as “insanity” on the part of the Maryland Democratic Party. Arikan and Szeliga took to the national media circuit, appearing on Fox News to lobby against the legislation and eliciting graphic responses from show hosts.

The bill ultimately received a unanimous “no” vote in the Senate Judicial Proceedings Committee, signaling that it would not move any closer to Moore’s desk. The caucus declared its stall a “victory.”

Eberly said that the bill’s language allowing condoms to be sold in elementary schools was prime for the caucus to cling to.

“The smarter thing is to not give people ammunition like that,” he said. “That’s delivering somebody an issue on a silver platter, and you really need to think things through like that ahead of time.”

Arikan said the national attention she and Szeliga received was “a great opportunity for us to expose some of the really unreasonable policies that the Maryland Democrats continue to push.”

“It was a good opportunity for us to use the Freedom Caucus and the national media exposure to say, ‘Here’s what’s happening in Maryland, keep your eye on the Democrats nationwide, because they are pushing some things that are just nonsensical,’” she said.

According to Morgan, the mission of Maryland’s Freedom Caucus is to “limit the amount of damage … woke policies are doing to the state.” He said the formation of the caucus is a response to frustration with “the direction of the Republican House Caucus.”

To Morgan, being an official Freedom Caucus has made them more organized online, on the floor and in interactions with the press. The support from Harris has also been helpful to accessing information from Washington, D.C., he said.

“He’s been a huge resource and, really, an advocate for us — especially with his relationships inside the Trump administration,” Morgan said of the congressman.

But tension appears to be growing among the caucus and certain members of the state House Republican Party.

On X Thursday morning, Morgan said the caucus was “flattered” that Buckel offered an amendment to a climate policy bill that mirrored legislation it is prioritizing.

“Two months ago, we proposed four solutions to address soaring electricity costs, and we’re glad other members of the MD House Republican Caucus are finally supporting them,” Morgan wrote. “For too long, Republicans have avoided holding elected Democrats accountable for the results of their policies and they failed to offer common-sense conservative solutions.”

When approached about the Freedom Caucus, Buckel responded with a healthy dose of sarcasm: “What’s that?” he asked.

Noting that there are more than twice as many Democrats as Republicans in the House, Buckel said that the party’s presence is too small to “have multiple different entities operating.”

“This is not D.C.,” said Buckel. “On both sides of the aisle, some people want us to be the House of Representatives in D.C. We’re not. It just doesn’t operate that way here, and I think that’s a good thing, overall.”

Have a news tip? Contact Hannah Gaskill at hgaskill@baltsun.com.