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Politics

Republican professor who protested pandemic restrictions, Democratic community leader find common ground in council race for Baltimore County seat
November 8, 2022 -

Towson, the hub of Baltimore County government, is getting a new councilman. Democrat Mike Ertel, a longtime Towson community activist, is campaigning against Republican Antonio “Tony” Campbell, a Towson University political science professor who rallied protestors against early pandemic-era orders that restricted schools and businesses, to represent Towson, Parkville and Rosedale as the 6th District councilman. Baltimore County is assured to get two new council representatives in the 6th District and southwestern 1st District after November’s election. The County Council’s two longest-serving Democrats, Cathy Bevins and Tom Quirk are forgoing bids for what would have been fourth terms. Republican Councilman David Marks, who has represented the Towson area for a dozen years, was bumped out of the 6th District when boundaries were redrawn in March.

Read More: The Baltimore Banner
Here’s how to vote now that Election Day is here in Maryland
November 8, 2022 -

The team at the Baltimore County Board of Elections finished late Monday night setting up for Tuesday morning, and they’re ready for the voters to come when polls open at 7 a.m. Boxes of ballots line the walls inside the Baltimore County Board of Elections building. The board has started canvassing the more than 60,000 mail-in ballots received so far. “We started on Saturday morning, and we are able to canvas 14,000 ballots, which is amazing because Baltimore County does have a three-page ballot,” Baltimore County Elections Director Ruie LaVoie said. Baltimore County is one of 11 Maryland jurisdictions that have started counting mail-in ballots. LaVoie said Baltimore County’s polling places are fully staffed, equipment has been delivered and they’re ready for Election Day.

Read More: WBAL News
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Everything you need to know to be ready for Election Day in Maryland
November 7, 2022 -

Tuesday is Election Day in Maryland, where voters will elect new statewide officers, including governor; choose all 188 members of the General Assembly; elect eight U.S. representatives and one U.S. senator; and vote on state and local ballot questions. Here’s a one-stop guide to everything you need to know to cast your ballot. How many votes have been cast already? Here are the numbers though Sunday: Early voting concluded Thursday with 381,972 Marylanders casting their votes. Of those, 220,469 voters were registered Democrats and 112,529 were registered Republicans. The rest are registered to third parties or no party.

Read More: The Baltimore Banner
Md. leaders appeal to Biden administration on FBI HQ
November 7, 2022 -

A long list of Maryland leaders at the federal, state, and local level, many of them Black, stood in front of the entrance to the Greenbelt Metro Station on Friday and spoke into microphones as if there was a speaker connected to the Oval Office. While the audience on hand may have been local media, the intended audience was the Biden administration. Maryland’s elected leaders at all levels were blindsided by the updated scoring system put out by the General Services Administration as it gets ready to choose the site of a new FBI headquarters. Several of them took turns blasting those changes, while also focusing on the president’s pledge to make the federal government more equitable, which was issued through an executive order on Day One.

Read More: Maryland Matters
In suburban Md., Dems bet abortion outrage can flip a state Senate seat
November 7, 2022 -

While door-knocking in this GOP-leaning suburb north of Annapolis, Republican Del. Sid Saab’s conversation with a Libertarian couple turned into the one he’d rather not have. Again. “Are you pro-life?” a mother of three asked him, her 9-month-old daughter on her hip. It was a question Maryland’s Democratic Senate Caucus has spent at least $500,000 — more than in any other statehouse race in Maryland — trying to ensure Saab answers. He replied with the truth: “Yes.” “Okay, that’s important to me,” she said, her husband nodding. At this house, he found agreement. But for all the attack ads painting his candidacy as a blockade to progress on abortion rights, he can’t help but explain why he thinks his antiabortion stance shouldn’t matter: there is little a Republican in a legislature with a Democratic supermajority can even do on the issue.

Read More: Washington Post
Closely watched race pits incumbent Hester vs. ‘future state Senator’ Novotny
November 7, 2022 -

Many elections feature an incumbent facing a challenger, but the race for a state Senate seat from District 9 boasts a current Democratic senator waging a fierce battle against a Republican who confidently labels himself a future senator. Katie Fry Hester, a moderate Democrat who ousted Republican Sen. Gail Bates four years ago in a conservative district, is hearing a lot of tough words from the candidate whose mailings bill him as “Future State Senator Reid Novotny.” “Just a short 4 years ago, the far-left incumbent rode the blue wave into office by less than 1/2 of 1%,” reads a campaign email sent out by Novotny. “From there she continued to vote with the left 98% of the time and does not represent this area.”

Read More: Maryland Matters
As more Asian Americans call Maryland home, they are becoming a force in elections
November 7, 2022 -

Looking out over dancers decked out in glittering dresses and stalls selling bejeweled bangles, Indira Sharma took the stage at a Diwali celebration in Ellicott City recently and encouraged those gathered to cast their ballots this fall. “I urge you to vote this election, and do not just vote along your party lines,” she told a gathering of a few hundred, her voice echoing through the venue. “We’re very quick to vote Republican, Democrat, independent. I ask that you vote smart this election. Vote for issues that matter to you, the Indian community.” Diwali Mela was a chance for families to revel in the popular Hindu festival, which celebrates the victory of good over evil and light over darkness. It was also an opportunity for political candidates — many of whom were dressed in traditional Indian saris or kurtas — to court Howard County voters, a growing segment of whom are Asian American.

Read More: The Baltimore Banner
Fitzwater, Hough vie for votes ahead of Frederick Co. executive race
November 7, 2022 -

A tight Maryland race to succeed Frederick County Executive Jan Gardner is near its finish ahead of Tuesday’s election. Two-term Republican state Sen. Michael Hough is running against two-term Frederick County councilwoman and Democratic candidate Jessica Fitzwater to succeed the term-limited Gardner — who is also a Democrat. Fitzwater told WTOP that she’s ready to “get to work” and wants Frederick County to continue “on a path of progress.” An elementary music teacher and former union activist, Fitzwater said she wants to use a “common-sense approach that’s going to bring people together to solve problems and make life better for people.” More affordable housing, protecting the environment and investing in education are some of the key areas Fitzwater said she would focus on if elected, according to her campaign website.

Read More: WTOP News
Wes Moore, Dan Cox dash across Maryland as the campaign for governor nears finish line
November 7, 2022 -

Wes Moore swayed in the pew, hands lifted as he sang along with the choir: “When nothing else could help, love lifted me!” The Democratic nominee for governor of Maryland spent the last Sunday of the fall campaign worshipping at a pair of Prince George’s County churches and urging congregants to vote on Tuesday. “Generations came before us, so we could have Tuesday,” said Moore, who hopes to become the state’s first Black governor, when he was given the microphone at Mt. Ennis Baptist Church. “Generations fought so we could have Tuesday. Generations bled so we could have Tuesday. Generations have marched so we could have Tuesday. Generations have sacrificed so we could have Tuesday.” Moore’s pitch to the largely Black congregation at Mt. Ennis was among the final speeches he’ll give in a campaign that concludes with traditional Election Day voting on Tuesday.

Read More: The Baltimore Banner
In Maryland comptroller race, two views of the same job
November 4, 2022 -

Del. Brooke E. Lierman, a Democrat from Baltimore, and Harford County Executive Barry Glassman, a Republican, are presenting dueling visions of the job of comptroller to voters in the final days of the campaign. Democrats on the statewide ticket have a comfortable lead in polling and fundraising, but political analysts say the comptroller’s race could prove relatively competitive compared with other statewide races as Glassman works to separate himself from the extreme wing of his party.

Read More: Washington Post

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