Hershey wrests top Senate Republican post from Simonaire

In the wake of an election that saw Senate Republicans lose two seats, members of the caucus voted to elect new leadership on Monday. They chose Sen. Steve Hershey (Upper Shore) to replace Sen. Bryan Simonaire (Anne Arundel) to serve as minority leader, and they voted to retain Sen. Justin Ready (Carroll) as minority whip.  “We are honored and humbled by the trust our fellow Senate Republicans have placed in us as we lead our caucus into the upcoming term as we return to single-party control of both the Legislative and Executive branches,” the duo said in a joint statement.