Politics

In episode 34 of The Lobby, Damian comes to you live from the biggest lobby in Maryland, the MACo Summer Conference in beautiful Ocean City. This is part 1 of a multi-part series with leaders from around Maryland at the biggest gathering of elected officials and insiders in the state. For part 1, Damian is joined by someone most familiar with MACo and Maryland leaders, Melanie Miller of Miller Partnership Consultants. Melanie takes a break from getting every legislator and candidate in Maryland on a SolarCycle to take us through the litany of leaders found in Ocean City, and give us a taste of what it takes to represent your family and clients. Later, stick around for a look at the three-day event’s best eats and receptions. Come back tomorrow for part 2!

The most heavily attended Maryland Association of Counties summer conference in history concluded Saturday with presentations from five of the six major-party candidates for statewide office. The contenders for governor, attorney general and comptroller did not appear onstage together, but offered opening and closing statements and answered three questions apiece that had been developed by MACo leaders. Wes Moore, the Democratic nominee for governor who attended numerous MACo events in Ocean City this week, was the only no-show, due to a scheduling conflict. All three major offices are open this year — a rarity in recent Maryland political history — and all the candidates, to one degree or another, pledged to boost cooperation between state and local government.

After a full weekend of ballot counting, the Democratic primary race for Montgomery County executive remains relatively unchanged. With re-counted and audited results from early voting and 12 of 13 election districts on Election Day, incumbent Marc Elrich (D) has gained one additional vote and challenger David Blair has gained two, according to a Sunday night announcement from the Montgomery County Board of Elections. After initial certification of the July 19 primary results, Elrich led the race by 35 votes. Dozens of elections board workers from around the state reported to the Germantown Community Center gymnasium from Friday through Sunday to aid in the recount effort, which was requested by Blair’s campaign.

Republican Gov. Larry Hogan has ratcheted up the rhetoric about GOP gubernatorial candidate Dan Cox, describing him earlier this week as mentally unstable. Hogan, who has previously called Cox a “QAnon whack job,” described the GOP nominee as “a nut” during a recent radio interview and reiterated his prediction that Cox has “no chance whatsoever” of being elected as Maryland’s governor in November.