Politics

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.

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.

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.

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.

After receiving a scathing report last summer that found victims of gun violence in Baltimore routinely suffer poor treatment from police and other agencies, city officials put their heads together and developed plans to address some of the newly uncovered issues. But another year would pass before officials told the public about the report’s findings and their ongoing efforts to improve. During a City Council hearing Thursday, leaders of the Baltimore Police Department and the Mayor’s Office of Neighborhood Safety and Engagement, among other agencies, were criticized for their handling of the assessment.