After more than a year on the campaign trail, Congresswoman-elect Sarah Elfreth is ready for the real work to begin.

Elfreth, a Democratic state senator who represents Annapolis and southern Anne Arundel County, recalled feeling a “huge sense of relief” Tuesday night when she realized she had won the race for Maryland’s 3rd Congressional District, which includes parts of Anne Arundel and Carroll counties and all of Howard County. Elfreth, 36, will replace outgoing U.S. Rep. John Sarbanes, also a Democrat.

But Elfreth also knows the road to getting work done will be especially challenging if Democrats don’t win back House control after losing the majority in the Senate.

“I would love to sit here and say I’m going to be able to pass a lot of bills, but that’s unfortunately not going to be a reality in a Republican Congress,” she said in a phone interview Thursday. “So it’s about how do I still navigate the system and make a difference with amendments and things like that.”

On Tuesday, Republicans won the Senate. Which party will have a majority in the House is still being decided.

Elfreth’s win in the 3rd District, however, does mark a step forward in bringing women back to Maryland’s congressional delegation. The last two women to represent Maryland at the federal level were U.S. Sen. Barbara Mikulski, who retired in 2017, and U.S. Rep. Donna Edwards, who lost in the primary to replace her that same year.

Prince George’s County Executive Angela Alsobrooks, a Democrat, also defeated former Gov. Larry Hogan, a Republican, in the race for Maryland’s U.S. Senate seat, making history as the state’s first Black senator. In Maryland’s 6th District, the race between former state Del. Neil Parrott of Washington County, a Republican, and communications attorney April McClain Delaney, a Montgomery County Democrat, remains too close to call.

With former President Donald Trump returning to the Oval Office, Maryland’s federal priorities, including rebuilding the Francis Scott Key Bridge, bringing the FBI headquarters to Maryland and Baltimore’s Red Line, could be at risk, Elfreth said.

“Unfortunately, those projects could be on the chopping block under this administration, so it’s going to be a lot of defense over the next four years — certainly not as much progress as I was hoping we’d be able to make,” she said.

Though entering a Republican-controlled Congress is a change from Maryland’s Democratic-led legislature, Elfreth plans to develop relationships on both sides of the aisle and build on common ground between districts — something she’s already worked on in the State House — as well as secure committee assignments beneficial to her constituents.

“I’m going to keep fighting very hard to make people feel represented and to be as productive a member as I possibly can be under the circumstances I’m entering in,” she said, “but the work in the community, the work in being responsive to constituents — all of that work remains the same, regardless of who controls Congress.”

Democratic leaders in Maryland are confident in Elfreth’s future, though.

“I just know she’s going to change Congress and how they operate because that’s what Sarah does,” state Sen. Pam Beidle, an Anne Arundel Democrat, said at Elfreth’s election night watch party. “She brings people together and she makes it happen.”

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