Politics

Three more state agencies will move from State Center into the central business district in the coming year or so. The Maryland Department of General Services (DGS) this week issued a request for proposals for close to 90,000 square feet of space to house the agency’s workforce and some workers from the Department of Budget and Management and the Maryland Tax Court in Baltimore City.

Baltimore City’s comptroller said water customers in the city and Baltimore County may need to brace themselves for higher water bills in the years ahead. His remarks come after 11 News Investigates revealed Wednesday that the lead pipe replacement program in Washington, D.C., is estimated to cost almost $2 billion, raising questions as the Baltimore area begins its own replacement program.

Republican voters in Maryland head to the polls with an opportunity to choose a candidate to represent the party in what could be one of the most competitive Senate campaigns in recent memory. Despite a field of more than a half-dozen candidates, the Republican primary has lacked the heat of its Democratic counterpart. Even so, the state’s minority party by registration has a puncher’s chance of claiming the seat come November.

Maryland Democrat and U.S. Rep. David Trone has lent more than $54 million to his U.S. Senate primary campaign against Prince George’s County Executive Angela Alsobrooks, according to new Federal Election Commission reports. Trone, the co-founder of the Total Wine & More retail chain who represents Frederick County and Western Maryland, has lent his campaign $54.1 million and spent about the same amount, said the report, which covers a period through April 24.

A leading candidate in the Democratic primary for Maryland’s 3rd Congressional District released an ad this week negatively targeting his top opponent. The ad approved by former U.S. Capitol Police officer Harry Dunn’s campaign questions the voting record and political leanings of state Sen. Sarah Elfreth and dropped just before early in-person voting begins on Thursday.

After attorney Thiru Vignarajah ended his bid for Baltimore mayor and endorsed former Mayor Sheila Dixon for the job, the big question is whether Vignarajah’s supporters will follow suit. Mayor Brandon Scott won the 2020 Democratic primary by 3,145 votes over Dixon, so the political saw is true: Every vote matters. The Banner and Goucher College Poll surveyed Baltimore voters last month. We circled back to Vignarajah voters to see how they were feeling now.

After taking heat for declining to send any of Baltimore’s windfall in federal pandemic aid to the city’s strapped fire department, Mayor Brandon Scott on Wednesday announced that he was setting $10 million aside for the agency. The funding, which comes out of Baltimore’s $641 million pool of American Rescue Plan Act funding, will go towards a variety of facility improvements, roof repairs and emergency-aid equipment, Scott and his Fire Chief James Wallace said at a news conference.

According to former Baltimore mayor and current mayoral candidate Sheila Dixon, the 2024 election cycle is her last hurrah. “This is it. I made it very clear,” said Dixon, 70, who, once again, is campaigning for the Democratic nomination to serve as Baltimore’s mayor. “Three times is the charm — or three strikes, I’m out.”