Baltimore Sen. Jill P. Carter said she will resign her seat in the Maryland Senate after Gov. Wes Moore appointed her to serve on a state board responsible for reviewing contract disputes.

Moore announced Monday that he had chosen Carter, a Democrat who pushed for criminal justice reforms, to serve on the Maryland State Board of Contract Appeals. Carter must be confirmed by the Senate during the upcoming legislative session.

The Maryland State Board of Contract Appeals reviews disputes over government contracts with private companies and functions as an independent agency under the executive branch. Members of the board are appointed by the governor to a five-year term.

Carter expressed gratitude to Moore and to the voters who put her in office, and said she’s leaving with a “deep respect” for the Maryland Senate. Her resignation will come with “profound gratitude and mixed emotions,” Carter said.

“Representing the people of Baltimore and our great state has unequivocally been the greatest honor of my life,” she said in a statement.

The 47-seat Maryland Senate is already facing one vacancy heading into the January start of the next legislative session: Sen. Sarah Elfreth, an Anne Arundel County Democrat, is resigning to take a seat in the U.S. House of Representatives. And more vacancies could be coming: In addition to Carter’s departure, Democratic Sen. Katherine Klausmeier is among the finalists vying for an appointment as Baltimore County executive.

Carter has been an influential progressive voice in the legislature on criminal justice policy, at times tangling with her own party.

“Her resilience in pushing for reform, I think, made all of us in the General Assembly uncomfortable at times, and that discomfort is sometimes exactly what you need to enact meaningful change,” said Sen. Will C. Smith Jr., chair of the Senate Judicial Proceedings Committee on which Carter served.

The Montgomery County Democrat listed multiple efforts in which Carter has been a leader: Abolishing the death penalty, compensating those who were wrongly convicted of crimes, decriminalizing and legalizing cannabis, and limiting the governor’s role in parole.

Carter has been steadfast in her commitment, he said — “And that’s something all of us can learn from, frankly.”

In the most recent legislative session, for example, Carter’s sponsored bills included measures that would have removed the governor’s role in granting medical parole to eligible incarcerated people and another that would have required the state corrections system to move pregnant and postpartum women to the lowest security level status. Neither passed.

Carter was also the chief sponsor of the NyKayla Strawder Memorial Act, which would have required certain services for young children who commit an act of violence that results in a death. The bill was inspired by the death of a 15-year-old girl who authorities say was killed by a 9-year-old boy — but the proposal failed on the final day of the session.

Carter also flagged problems with procurement at the University of Maryland Medical System before it was revealed that the system’s board engaged in self-dealing, including spending half a million dollars on copies of books published by board member and then-Mayor Catherine Pugh. The scandal ended Pugh’s political career and landed her in prison.

Carter served in the House of Delegates, representing Baltimore, from 2003 until 2017, when she resigned to become director of Baltimore’s office of civil rights.

She returned to the legislature in 2018, appointed to the Senate to fill a vacancy when Sen. Nathaniel T. Oaks resigned amid a criminal case.

Before her career in elected office, Carter had worked as an assistant to the Baltimore City Council, as an assistant public defender, a Legal Aid attorney and as an assistant city solicitor. She also maintained a private law practice for many years.

A graduate of Baltimore’s prestigious Western High School, Carter holds a bachelor’s degree from Loyola University Maryland and earned her law degree from the University of Baltimore School of Law.

In two other appointments Monday, Moore tapped Alverne “Chet” Chesterfield for a seat on the Maryland State Board of Education and Lafe Solomon to chair the Public Employee Relations Board.

In a statement, Moore thanked all three appointees for “raising their hands to serve.”