Eric J. Luedtke

Majority Leader
Maryland House of Delegates

Eric Luedtke has served for 12 years as a state delegate for District 14, but it’s not lost on him how “extraordinary” an opportunity he has to help change so many people’s lives. Luedtke is an advocate for public schools and improving special education laws, as a former public school teacher himself, and also champions environmental causes, as a self-described “huge fan” of Maryland state parks.

Appointed House Majority Leader in 2019, Luedtke worked to increase Maryland’s earned income tax credit to the highest level in America in 2021, a move Luedtke said “is lifting thousands of Maryland families into the middle class.”

Luedtke is a University of Maryland, College Park alum and lifelong Marylander.

What’s the most important life lesson you learned?

I spent a decade in the classroom teaching middle school. A lesson I learned there and refer back to a lot is to not assume you know why anyone is saying or doing the things they are doing. Engaging with someone, learning where they are coming from and what is informing their decisions, can humanize and teach you a lot. I find that lesson particularly helpful in a time of political polarization, when we tend to assume the worst about people who disagree with us. Another way to put it – assume that most of the people you are interacting with are acting in good faith.