Politics

President Joe Biden tested positive for COVID-19 on Thursday and went into isolation with mild symptoms. White House officials went all-out to show that the 79-year-old U.S. leader could power through the virus and keep working because he was vaccinated and boosted. In a navy blazer and Oxford shirt, Biden recorded a video on a White House balcony to send the message that he would be fine and the country should stay calm and carry on.

The next phase of Maryland’s 2022 primary will kick off Thursday as elections offices across the state begin canvassing the hundreds of thousands of mail-in ballots cast. Thus far, returns from in-person voting, both early and on primary day, have painted an incomplete picture of several key races across the state. Incomplete turnout figures show about 17% of the state’s 3.7 million eligible voters participated in the primary in person. The addition of mail-in ballots already cast will bring total turnout to roughly 23%, a figure comparable to the 25% turnout Maryland saw in the last gubernatorial primary in 2018. Turnout in 2014 was around 22%.

Baltimore State’s Attorney Marilyn Mosby faces an uphill battle to overcome a nine-point deficit to defense attorney Ivan Bates in the Democratic primary for the city’s top prosecutor. Mosby, who is vying for a third term in office, needs a substantial amount of the mail-in ballots to go her way and for Bates and former prosecutor Thiru Vignarajah to split the remaining votes.

As a blistering rematch for Montgomery County executive between incumbent Marc Elrich and Potomac businessman David Blair winds down this week, the Democratic primary candidates are again stuck where they were four years ago: watching and waiting. Elrich eked out a 77-vote win in 2018, looking to make his mark as the leader of the deep-blue county, where the primary victor typically prevails in November. This time he had a track record as executive to defend, and repeatedly found himself on the ropes in a contest that became increasingly negative as Tuesday’s primary election neared.

Early voting and Election Day counts were enough to call winners in 12 of 16 congressional races, even as hundreds of thousands of mail-in ballots have yet to be counted. The Republican contests in districts two, three, four and seven were still too close to call Wednesday. All seven incumbents representing Maryland in Congress and U.S. Senator Chris Van Hollen secured their parties’ nominations Tuesday. But come November, newly drawn congressional district maps assigned this year by the Maryland General Assembly may set up some historically blue districts to trend purple, giving the winners of Tuesday’s Republican primaries a wedge into traditionally Democratic strongholds.

After two Maryland House of Delegates candidates submitted answers to questions for The Baltimore Sun voter guide that, in some sections, contained identical phrases and sentences, their campaigns said they were looking into how that happened. The candidates pointed to one link between their campaigns in Dean Scott, a community leader, retired teacher and founder of Baltimore County Leaders and Citizens, a Randallstown organization.

Edgewater County Council member Jessica Haire held an early lead over former Annapolis Del. Herb McMillan for the Republican nomination in the Anne Arundel County executive race after more than 28,000 in-person and early primary votes were counted late Tuesday evening. With all 195 precincts reporting around 12:45 a.m. Wednesday morning, Haire had 12,321 votes (43.09%) to McMillan’s 11,457 (40.07%), according to the state board of elections. The tally included about 5,200 early votes.