Michele Jenkins Guyton was born on October 19, 1966, in Madison, Tennessee. She attended Baldwin County High School in Bay Minette, Alabama and received her B.A. in psychology and anthropology from Vanderbilt University in 1989. She later jointly earned an MA in women studies from Radcliffe College of Harvard University as part of the Boston-area Graduate Consortium for Women’s Studies, alongside an MA in psychology from Brandeis University. Guyton also possesses a Ph.D. in developmental and social psychology from Brandeis, which she received in 1996.
In 2015, Governor Larry Hogan appointed Guyton to serve on the Maryland State Board of Education. She served on the board until January 1, 2019, when she resigned to become a state delegate. In January 2018, at the Baltimore Women’s March, Guyton announced her intent to run for state delegate, citing the 2016 presidential election as what motivated her to run for office. During the primary, she enjoyed endorsements from various organizations, including the Maryland League of Conservation Voters, Metro Baltimore Council AFL–CIO, NARAL Pro-Choice Maryland, and the LiUNA Mid-Atlantic Region, and state senator James Brochin. She received 48.4 percent of the vote in the 2022 Democratic primary and narrowly defeated Republican Tim Robinson in the general election.
Guyton is a developmental psychologist and disabilities advocate who has worked at various institutions relating to psychology, including the University of Iowa, the North Carolina Department of Mental Health, and the Kennedy Krieger Institute. Her three sons all have disabilities, which moved her to co-found a support group for families with disabilities that has since evolved into the Mid-Atlantic chapter of the Tourette Association of America. She has also used her position as state delegate to introduce several pieces of legislation that would support disabled Marylanders.
Michele Guyton was elected to the Maryland House of Delegates in 2018 and serves on the Ways & Means Committee and Education and Early Childhood Subcommittees. In 2022 she was elected by her colleagues to serve on the Executive Board of the Maryland Legislative Women’s Caucus and is an active member of the Legislative Veteran’s Caucus as a proud Army Mom!
