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Politics

After a lifetime of circling politics, Wes Moore picks his moment. Will Maryland voters hire him for his most ambitious job yet?
October 10, 2022 -

The first time the debate over Wes Moore’s future entered the national media spotlight, he wasn’t on a book tour or in the midst of prestigious programs like the Rhodes scholarship or White House Fellowship. He was a 17-year-old spectator at the NBA draft, watching Kobe Bryant and other teenagers he knew from Amateur Athletic League games and a camp for high school players take a leap he thought he might make one day. A standout point guard at Valley Forge Military Academy, Moore had once fantasized about being drafted by the New York Knicks. But playing against future all-stars had forced him to rethink his options. Maybe, he told a New York Times reporter at the draft, he’d go to law school and enter politics instead.

Read More: Baltimore Sun
Maryland U.S. attorney establishes civil rights and special victims section
October 10, 2022 -

The U.S. attorney’s office in Maryland will have a new section focused on civil and criminal civil rights and special victims cases. “This section will be a beacon for protecting civil rights and addressing victim-related crimes requiring specialized skills,” said U.S. Attorney for Maryland Erek L. Barron in a release announcing the change on the first anniversary of his swearing-in. Barron named Assistant U.S. Attorneys Sarah Marquardt and Paul Budlow as chiefs and Assistant U.S. Attorney Charles Austin as deputy chief of the new civil rights and special victims section, according to the release. Assistant U.S. attorneys from both the civil and criminal divisions will staff the unit.

Read More: Washington Post
Term limits are popular, but experience says they have drawbacks
October 10, 2022 -

Baltimore voters in the November election will encounter a ballot measure with the potential to upend the flow of power in City Hall. If passed, Question K would limit the mayor, comptroller, City Council president and council members to two terms in office. The count for every official would begin in 2024. Local advocates for the measure argue it would empower voters and force a regular cycle of fresh blood into City Hall, while opponents question why term limits are necessary in a city rife with partially completed terms and high rates of executive turnover. While the idea has polled well, analysis from most political experts is more measured. Research suggests that while term limits can help youthful politicians rise quickly, career politicians who hop from one office to the next still exist.

Read More: The Baltimore Banner
Jessica Haire, Steuart Pittman neck and neck in county executive race, Anne Arundel college poll shows
October 10, 2022 -

A biannual poll conducted by Anne Arundel Community College shows the county executive race is neck-and-neck between Republican Jessica Haire and Democrat incumbent Steuart Pittman with about a month until Election Day. Among the 468 Anne Arundel County residents assessed between Sept. 23 to Oct. 1, 33% said they favor Haire, an Edgewater County Council member, and 31% said they favor the Pittman. Haire’s lead fell inside the poll’s 4.5% statistical margin of error. The Nov. 8 election now rests in the hands of the 21% of respondents who said they’re not favoring a candidate at this time and the 15% who said they are still too unfamiliar with either candidate.

Read More: Baltimore Sun
Maryland Election 2022: Get to know the candidates for governor
October 10, 2022 -

With two-term Republican Gov. Larry Hogan set to leave office in January, Marylanders will head to the polls this fall to select the state’s next leader. The candidates have offered different visions for the state. Election Day is Nov. 8, but early voting runs from Oct. 27 through Nov. 3. A request for a mail-in ballot must be received by Tuesday, Nov. 1. The USA TODAY Network in Maryland, which includes Delmarva Now/The Daily Times in Salisbury and The Herald-Mail in Hagerstown, sent questionnaires to Republican Dan Cox and Democrat Wes Moore, who are seeking the state’s top job. Included were basic biographical questions, as well as opportunities to list websites and social media accounts so voters can learn beyond just answers to the questions that were asked. Responses were limited to 500 characters — the equivalent of more than two tweets.

Read More: Delmarva Now
Election mail envelope
Maryland Court of Appeals upholds decision to allow early ballot counting; loss for Dan Cox
October 10, 2022 -

Maryland’s highest court upheld a decision to allow early counting of mail-in ballots prior to the November election, overruling an argument raised by Republican governor candidate Dan Cox that the move is unconstitutional. The opinion, issued Friday afternoon by the Maryland Court of Appeals, affirms a decision made by Montgomery County Circuit Court Judge James A. Bonifant last month to allow ballot counting to begin as early as Oct. 1 to accommodate a deluge of mail-in ballots expected this fall. State law, established before the widespread use of mail-in ballots that began during the pandemic, does not allow the ballots to be counted until after the election — a scenario elections officials say would have meant blown certification deadlines.

Read More: Baltimore Sun
Voted printed papers on white surface
In virtual forum, Maryland comptroller hopefuls Brooke Lierman and Barry Glassman tout their backgrounds
October 7, 2022 -

With all of Maryland’s top-ticket seats up for grabs in November, candidates for the state’s next tax collector leaned Thursday night into their backgrounds to explain to voters why they’re best suited for the position. “This is an incredibly important election. For the first time since 1998, we have an open seat for state comptroller, and … we haven’t for 100 years had every statewide seat open on the ballot,” Baltimore Del. Brooke Lierman, the Democratic nominee for the position, said at a virtual forum hosted by the League of Women Voters and moderated by Maryland Matters founding editor Josh Kurtz. During the forum, Lierman and Republican Harford County Executive Barry Glassman largely agreed about updates that the office needs — better digital infrastructure, an enhanced staff, and a focus on providing more opportunities for small, Black, brown and women-owned businesses to get government contracts.

Read More: Baltimore Sun
Biden’s visit to Hagerstown spotlights increasingly hot Trone-Parrott race
October 7, 2022 -

During his visit to a Volvo truck plant in Hagerstown on Friday, President Biden is expected to spotlight the steps Democrats have taken to shore up the economy. His trip to Maryland — his second in six weeks — will also draw attention to the most competitive congressional race in the state, the battle between incumbent Rep. David Trone (D) and Del. Neil Parrott (R). The contest is a rematch. Trone crushed Parrott two years ago, securing a second term by nearly 20 points. But his district looks a lot different than it did in 2020. Although General Assembly leaders initially sought to pack a large number of Democrats into the 6th District — as they did more than a decade ago — they changed course following a successful legal challenge by Republicans.

Read More: Maryland Matters
Moore visits pot dispensary, praises Biden pardon announcement on simple marijuana possession
October 7, 2022 -

Just minutes after President Biden on Thursday announced executive actions that would pardon thousands of people with prior federal offenses of simple marijuana possession, Wes Moore, the Democratic candidate for governor, listened to Black entrepreneurs at Mary & Main, a medical cannabis dispensary in Capitol Heights. With Election Day less than five weeks away, and voters in Maryland expected to approve a measure to legalize the use and sale of recreational cannabis, Moore’s visit not only focused on ways to establish equitable drug laws in the state, but also how to improve Black representation in the cannabis industry. Moore held a roundtable discussion with Black entrepreneurs at Mary & Main, one of the few Black-owned dispensaries in the state, and the conversation touched on Biden’s pardons.

Read More: Maryland Matters
Hogan makes second appearance at New Hampshire political event that’s a fixture for presidential aspirants
October 7, 2022 -

Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan, sounding almost like a presidential candidate but not quite, pitched a vision of a less-partisan political landscape to a politically connected crowd in New Hampshire Wednesday morning. The Republican governor, who is eyeing a potential run for the White House in 2024, spoke at Politics & Eggs at Saint Anselm College, an event that’s practically de rigueur for anyone hoping to run for president thanks to New Hampshire’s traditional early position on the presidential primary calendar. “Americans are not tired of freedom and democracy,” Hogan told several dozen business and political leaders as they sipped coffee and picked at their eggs. “They’re tired of failed leadership. And they’re fed up with politicians who put their own self-interest before America.”

Read More: The Baltimore Banner

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