Hutzell: The award for zaniest video by a Maryland legislator goes to ...

Lesley Lopez sits in the back of a moving car, blindfolded with a Maryland flag scarf and bound by a laptop sync cord.

“Not to make this weird, but are you registered to vote?” the Montgomery County delegate says to the camera.

For one minute, Lopez talks to imaginary abductors, explaining the impact of the Iran war on gas prices, changes that state lawmakers made to help people convicted of crimes regain voting rights and her 27-point bill on immigration enforcement.

“Where are you taking me? Your house? Do you know what legislative district that’s in?”

It was the most gonzo social media post of the 2026 General Assembly, but probably not the last Maryland will see like it.

Lopez and a handful of other state delegates used the 90-day session in Annapolis as a testing ground for short videos on Instagram and TikTok. New House Speaker Joseline Peña-Melnyk changed the official guidance and told them to get creative.

“I remember telling them we spend 90 days in Annapolis, and a lot of our constituents do not know what we do, and a lot of them are not going to benefit from what we do if they don’t have that knowledge,” Peña-Melnyk said.

“If you pass the law that’s going to lower their bills, explain it.”

Newsletters and press conferences remain part of the landscape. They’re often duller than dirt.

So Peña-Melnyk wants delegates to meet their constituents where their attention is.

Most of the 188 lawmakers communicate through some form of social media. Many stick to safe strategies. They post photos and music, floor speech video clips and message cards with lots and lots of words.

A few are trying to break out.

Del. Bernice Mireku-North does the walk-and-talk, explaining things like the impact of Developmental Disabilities Administration cuts. Del. Vaughn Stewart launched an interview series, strolling the State House grounds with other lawmakers.

“Ring ring, this is House Calls,” he said. “Let’s walk and talk. This is going to be rapid-fire questions, no filibuster. Are you ready?”

Many mix bills and the budget with observations about a delegate’s life, trying to personalize what they do.

It’s mostly Democrats because there are more of them in the legislature. Even Peña-Melnyk’s staff is posting more to her 7,000 Facebook followers.

A smaller number of Republicans are trying it, too, and it’s spread to the Senate

In February, Del. Stuart Schmidt Jr. posted a montage of his brightly colored socks to a song by the kids’ music group, “Imagination Movers.”

None, however, took the speaker’s challenge quite like Lopez. She’s a former journalist and consultant who teaches communications at George Washington University in D.C.

“I might do it in a funny way,” she said. “I might do it in a way where there’s a strong visual hook to get people to pay attention, or I might do it in a way that plays off of trends that we’re seeing in social media.”

Her ideas began to take shape after a failed bid for Congress in 2024. She experimented with newsletter platforms and podcasts, looking to discuss complex ideas. She soon found that short vertical videos had the widest appeal.

Lopez hired Adil Bayraktar as a part-time aide to shoot and produce social media content. They create one-minute, vertical videos that merge evolving storytelling techniques with current policy messages.

Sometimes, Bayraktar shoots footage of Lopez during the day in Annapolis or in parts of her district, building a library of images he can match with narration, captions and music. Sometimes an idea requires a script, props and a co-star.

Del. Nick Allen donned plastic foam dinosaur skeletons with Lopez in February for “Dinosaur Bill Talk,” a chat about legislation they were happy to see go extinct.

“I’m thinking about House Bill 714,” he said, “that would create, essentially, a database of abortions in the state and obligate the state of Maryland to share them with the federal government.”

On his own social media account linked to his reelection campaign, Allen takes a different approach. He walked toward the camera recently to explain why he calls himself a New Deal Democrat.

“Nick’s a great straight man,” Lopez said.

Some posts try to catch a trend, such as Get Ready With Me. There are tens of millions of “GRWM” posts across platforms, and Lopez tried the format to personalize her life as a mother of two, preparing for long legislative days in Annapolis.

Instead of extolling fashion brands or beauty regimes, she talked about shoes from Nordstrom Rack and pants from Costco.

Or she might go topical in a way that has nothing to do with Maryland politics at all, like the recent post about the contentious breakup of rapper Megan Thee Stallion and NBA star Klay Thompson.

“As an act of solidarity with our girl Megan,” Lopez said in front of the state House, “I will now be known as Leslie Thee Delegate.”

Whether they are in the whimsical style of filmmaker Wes Anderson or mimic the opening credits of TV’s “The Office,” Lopez’s videos have an intentionality about them. They have a style.

Already a strategy in national political campaigns, these fleeting messages seem sure to be a common thread in both the June 23 primary and the fall elections in Maryland.

Some lawmakers, like Allen, limit their creativity to campaign accounts. Others, like Lopez, label election-related posts.

Lopez spotted the kidnapping format online. She thought she could make it funnier and talk about her legislation restricting cooperation with Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents.

During a 30-minute delay in committee, the delegate grabbed a scarf someone left in the office, then asked her chief of staff, Emily Charlap, to use her car. They headed off together with Bayraktar.

The result is a mix of seriousness and winking satire, an amalgam of information and entertainment that people look for when they stare into their phones seeking enlightenment or, at least, a distraction.

“You leave that video with a kind of refreshed sense of what state lawmakers are trying to do to protect you,” Lopez said.