Politics

Baltimore city residents have little confidence in their public schools or the system’s CEO, Sonja Santelises, according to a new poll of city residents by The Baltimore Banner, and they identify a lack of funding and poor facilities as major problems. About 57% of residents disapprove or strongly disapprove of the job Santelises is doing, and 84% said the failure of students to meet academic standards is a major problem.

In the race to be elected Baltimore City State’s Attorney, two-term incumbent Marilyn Mosby is not raising nearly as much money as Ivan Bates or Thiru Vignarajah, her two Democratic primary challengers, according to campaign finance reports filed late Tuesday. From Jan. 13 to June 7, Mosby raised $38,738 and spent $58,115. She has $177,827 on hand from her previous campaigns. Mosby is under federal indictment, with prosecutors charging her with two counts of perjury and two counts of mortgage fraud related to her purchase of two Florida vacation homes. Her trial is scheduled for September, after the July 19 primary election.

Frustrated that Maryland is lagging behind other states in a potentially lucrative industry, Gov. Lawrence J. Hogan Jr. is urging the commission that oversees sports wagering to approve mobile betting by the time the NFL starts its 2022 season in September. In a letter to the Sports Wagering Application Review Commission (SWARC) on Tuesday, Hogan (R) urged the panel to “immediately accelerate and intensify your efforts” to grant mobile licenses.

Potomac businessman David Blair is leading the crop of candidates to unseat incumbent Montgomery County Executive Marc Elrich in fundraising, with a war chest built on $2.95 million in self-financing, campaign filing reports released this week show. With just over a month before the primary election — which in liberal Montgomery often determines the eventual winner — the competitive race for county executive has turned on issues such as rising violent crime, affordable housing and economic development, filled with efforts from challengers to unseat Elrich, who’s spent much of his first term navigating the coronavirus pandemic.

Maryland Sen. Michael Hough has raised far more in his campaign for Frederick County executive than the three Democrats in the field, new campaign finance filings show. Hough, who is running unopposed for the Republican nomination in the November general election, has raised nearly $170,000 since the last campaign finance report he filed, in January. Contributions to Hough are more than double the amount what the three Democrats combined have raised since January.

As Maryland primary voters begin receiving ballots by mail this week, several of the leading candidates for governor reported having sizable war chests to continue using on television ads and other efforts in their bids to win over voters ahead of the July 19 primary. Wes Moore, among the front-runners in the Democratic primary, reported having $1,75,15 on hand as of June 7. His running mate, former Del. Aruna Miller, had $351,254 in a separate campaign committee, bringing the ticket’s total up to about $2.1 million — the most of any candidate who had revealed their fundraising and spending by Tuesday evening.