Johnny Ray Salling

Salling was born in Baltimore, Maryland on October 31, 1961, where he graduated from Sparrows Point High School. In 1979, he joined the United States Army, serving as a combat engineer until 1981. Upon his return to the United States, he worked as a steel worker for LaFarge of North America at the Bethlehem Steel Mill in Sparrows Point, Maryland for more than 30 years,[1] where he gained experience as a union representative for the United Steelworkers of America union.[2]

In September 2013, Salling filed to run for Maryland Senate,[3] seeking to succeed Democratic state senator Norman Stone, who had announced his retirement from the General Assembly. He says that the closing of the Sparrows Point mill in 2012 moved him to run for public office.[4] Stone endorsed his challenger, state delegate John Olszewski Jr., during the general election.[5] Salling defeated Olszewski in the general election, garnering 47.9 percent of the vote compared to Olszewski's 44.7 percent.[6]

Salling was sworn into the Maryland Senate on January 14, 2015.[1] He has filed to run for re-election in the 2022 Maryland Senate elections.[7]

In April 2017, Salling joined the Reform on Tap task force, which was led by Comptroller Peter Franchot and sought to reform the state's regulations on the production and distribution of beer in the state.[8]

In August 2019, Salling announced his candidacy for Maryland's 2nd congressional district in the 2020 elections, seeking to take on incumbent Democrat Dutch Ruppersberger. He did not have to give up his state senate seat to run for Congress, as he was not up for reelection until 2022.[9] Salling narrowly won the Republican nomination, earning 19.1 percent of the vote in the primary election.[10] He was defeated by Ruppersberger in the general election, receiving 33 percent of the vote.[11][12]

In July 2019, Salling responded to a tweet about a request for an ethics investigation into U.S. Representative Ilhan Omar with "Get rid of this illegal know!!!!!" The Council on American–Islamic Relations called on Salling to apologize for the tweet or to resign. He deleted the tweet after speaking to The Baltimore Sun, denying having made the tweet and suggesting that he may have been hacked.[17][18]