After graduating, she served as a law clerk to Maryland Court of Appeals judge Howard S. Chasanow until 1998 and Howard County Circuit Court judge Lenore R. Gelfman until 1999. From 2000 to 2006, Terrasa served as a family law hotline attorney for the Women's Law Center of Maryland.[2]
Howard County Council
In 1994, Terrasa moved to the Kings Contrivance neighborhood of Columbia. She was appointed to the neighborhood's Village Board in December 2001, succeeding Victoria Dieringer, who resigned for personal reasons.[3] She resigned from the Village Board in December 2005 to run for the Howard County Council,[4] seeking to succeed councilmember Guy Guzzone, who announced plans to run for the Maryland House of Delegates.[5] She won the general election with 62.0 percent of the vote.[6]
Terrasa faced a tough re-election campaign in 2010, facing off against Republican moderate Dennis R. Schrader in the general election.[9] She defeated Schrader in the general election, receiving 67.1 percent of the vote.[10][11]
In January 2018, Terrasa declared her candidacy for the Maryland House of Delegates, seeking to succeed delegate Frank Turner. who announced plans to retire at the end of his term. Turner endorsed Terrasa's campaign in January 2018.[12] She won the Democratic primary with 27.7 percent of the vote, coming in third out of a field of four Democrats.[13][14] She won the general election with 27.1 percent of the vote, defeating Republican Chris Yates.[15]
In the legislature
Terrasa was sworn into the Maryland House of Delegates on January 9, 2019. She served on the Appropriations Committee during the 2019 legislative session, afterwards serving on the Environment and Transportation Committee. Terrasa is also a member of the Maryland Legislative Latino Caucus, the Maryland Legislative Transit Caucus, and the Women Legislators of Maryland.[2] In February 2022, House Speaker Adrienne A. Jones assigned Terrasa and Vaughn Stewart to lead the newly created Progressive Policy Forum within the House Democratic Caucus.[16]
Terrasa was reelected in 2022.[17][18] In December 2025, Terrasa announced that she would not seek re-election to the House of Delegates, opting instead to run for clerk of the Howard County Circuit Court in 2026.[19] She is running unopposed.[20]
Political positions
Elections
Terrasa, alongside Howard County Council chairman Jon Weinstein, introduced legislation in February 2016 that would create a public financing system for candidates who swear off large donations.[21] The legislation was reintroduced in 2017.[22]
Environment
In March 2021, Terrasa, alongside Delegates Lorig Charkoudian, Dana Stein, and Vaughn Stewart, joined the Leaders for Climate Accountability, a national work of public officials who support holding corporate polluters accountable for their contributions to the climate crisis.[23] She introduced legislation in the 2021 legislative session that would allow the Attorney General of Maryland to sue companies that have contributed to the climate crisis through fraud or deception.[24] The bill was reintroduced in the 2022 legislative session.[25]
Healthcare
Terrasa supports universal health care and Medicare for All.[26] She co-sponsored the Healthy Maryland Act of 2019, which would institute Medicare-for-all, single-payer healthcare legislation in Maryland.[27]
Housing
In October 2015, Terrasa introduced legislation that would require 15 percent of all new housing units developed in downtown Columbia to be affordable to families earning between 40 and 80 percent of the county's median income.[28]
In October 2018, Terrasa introduced a bill that would require new single-family houses and apartments to have infrastructure to support charging stations for electric vehicles.[29]
In July 2018, Terrasa introduced legislation that would repeal Howard County's tax on mobile home rental sites.[32] The County Council voted to kill the bill in September 2018.[33]
Electoral history
Kings Contrivance Village Board Election, 2004[34]
Candidate
Votes
%
Jennifer Terrasa
136
31.8%
Heidi Gaasch
123
28.7%
Buna Cumbie
108
25.2%
Heather Ryan
61
14.3%
Howard County Council Councilmanic District 3 General Election, 2006[6]
Party
Candidate
Votes
%
Democratic
Jennifer Terrasa
9,846
62.0%
Republican
Donna Thewes
6,037
38.0%
Other Write-Ins
Other Write-Ins
10
0.1%
Howard County Council Councilmanic District 3 Democratic Primary Election, 2010[35]
Party
Candidate
Votes
%
Democratic
Jennifer Terrasa
3,022
100.0%
Howard County Council Councilmanic District 3 General Election, 2010[11]
Party
Candidate
Votes
%
Democratic
Jennifer Terrasa
11,071
67.1%
Democratic
Dennis R. Schrader
5,413
32.8%
Other Write-Ins
Other Write-Ins
13
0.1%
Howard County Council Councilmanic District 3 Democratic Primary Election, 2014[36]
Party
Candidate
Votes
%
Democratic
Jennifer Terrasa
3,947
100.0%
Howard County Council Councilmanic District 3 General Election, 2014[37]
Party
Candidate
Votes
%
Democratic
Jennifer Terrasa
14,107
97.8%
Other Write-Ins
Other Write-Ins
324
2.2%
Maryland House of Delegates District 13 Democratic Primary Election, 2018[38]
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