Gov. Hogan uncommitted about who he’ll support in Maryland gubernatorial race

Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan has been open about not supporting Republican nominee for governor Dan Cox, and the governor was asked about the upcoming election on Thursday. Following a ribbon-cutting ceremony in which a major highway project in Howard County was completed, Hogan was asked who he would support in the upcoming gubernatorial election.

Dan Cox says he will follow through and he won’t concede in governor’s race

More than two weeks after the primary, Dan Cox, the Republican nominee for Governor is making a promise to his party. Cox at a National Night Out Event in West Baltimore, the same event where Attorney General Merrick Garland appeared and others spoke, told C4 and Dan Joseph that he’s not ceding the city or any Democratic area to Wes Moore.

Montgomery County economic development chief Ben Wu stepping down

Ben Wu is resigning as CEO of the Montgomery County Economic Development Corp., a publicly-chartered nonprofit in the region’s second largest locality and one of Maryland’s economic powerhouses. Details remain unclear. An Aug. 3 press release said only that Wu gave his resignation, effective Aug. 15, and that Bill Tompkins, the agency’s chief operating officer, will take the helm.

Wicomico County Board of Education unofficial winners in primary 2022

The Wicomico County Board of Education races drew 22 candidates. The school board election is nonpartisan. The certification of mail-in ballots was pushed back to Aug. 15. This follows three canvases by the Wicomico County Board of Elections, with the last one taking place July 29. The delay is due to the Maryland State Board of Elections voting Tuesday to extend three deadlines related to the 2022 Gubernatorial Elections due to the primary being held roughly three weeks later than originally planned.

Baltimore judge sets 2023 date for 5th murder trial of Keith Davis Jr., when new state’s attorney will be in office

A Baltimore judge on Wednesday scheduled the fifth murder trial of Keith Davis Jr. to begin in 2023, when a new state’s attorney who has expressed a willingness to drop the controversial case will be in office. Circuit Judge Melissa M. Phinn held a brief hearing over Zoom with Deputy State’s Attorney Noelle Newman as well as Davis’ attorneys, Deborah Katz Levi and Andrew Northrup, and set the case to begin on May 2, 2023.

Md. Republicans call for unity as Cox, Peroutka bids inflame rift

Former Republican governor Robert L. Ehrlich Jr. is supporting Del. Dan Cox — a candidate endorsed by former president Donald Trump and labeled a “QAnon whack job” by outgoing Gov. Larry Hogan (R) — in Cox’s bid to become Maryland’s next governor. Ehrlich will serve as an emissary for Cox (R-Frederick) and other GOP candidates, including Michael Peroutka, who has past ties with an extremist group and has argued in support of conspiracy theories about the 9/11 terrorist attacks, the Maryland Republican Party announced.

Four Baltimore City school board candidates advance to November election

Baltimore City residents have picked four candidates in the race for Board of School Commissioners to advance to the Nov. 8 general election. The final picks were finalized after weeks of ballot counting since the July 19 election. Eight candidates ran for two open positions on what will be a 12-member city school board, all of which are at-large positions created after state legislation that requires a hybrid board of elected and appointed members.

Del. Chanel Branch loses her seat in the House as Baltimore City and County primary races settle

Baltimore City Del. Chanel Branch, daughter of retiring House Majority Whip Talmadge Branch, will not return to Annapolis to represent District 45 in January. According to results certified Tuesday by the Baltimore City Board of Elections, Branch, who represents Hamilton, Gardenville, Armistead Gardens and other neighborhoods, lost by an extremely narrow margin. Winners Caylin Young, the deputy director for the Baltimore City Office of Equity and Civil Rights, and Branch’s fellow incumbent, Stephanie Smith, bested her by 116 and 187 votes, respectively.

Anne Arundel voters could decide new campaign finance system with general election ballot question

A campaign finance system that would give some candidates the option of accepting government funding if they only accept small donations could be coming to Anne Arundel County. A coalition of state and local voter groups announced Monday it had delivered a petition with more than 11,000 signatures from county residents — a thousand more than required — to the Anne Arundel County Elections Board to add a question about the proposed charter amendment on the November general election ballot.

How Ivan Bates went from a 1.9 high school GPA to become the presumptive next Baltimore state’s attorney

Ivan Bates took his 6-year-old daughter, London, to Six Flags America soon after the Associated Press declared him the winner of the Democratic primary for Baltimore state’s attorney. Bates was emerging from a hard-fought, three-way race that included the two-term incumbent, Marilyn Mosby, and a former Maryland Deputy Attorney General, Thiru Vignarajah. At the theme park in Bowie, Bates said, people stopped him and asked for pictures. That, he said, is when his victory kind of set in.