Politics

Maryland’s July 19 primary features several highly competitive races. It could be days or even weeks before analysts declare winners and elections officials certify results. “We’re used to, in most contests, knowing who the winner is when we go to bed,” said Nikki Baines Charlson, deputy administrator at the Maryland State Board of Elections. “This election is different,” she said. “We’ve never had half a million people request a mail-in ballot.” That unprecedented number of mail-in votes cannot begin to be counted until two days after the election, and it may take weeks for elections officials to go through them all, officials said.

For the first time in more than a decade, two long-time elected officials in Prince George’s County aren’t on the ballot — but that doesn’t mean they aren’t busy boosting candidates and trying to influence elections in their legislative district. A series of text messages this week attacked Del. Geraldine Valentino-Smith (D), who is not seeking re-election in Bowie-based District 23 and attempted to discourage voters from supporting her favored candidates. “Last year, Geraldine Valentino Smith voted with Republicans to keep more budgetary power in the Governor’s Office, rather than distribute it to the General Assembly,” said one message from the Twenty-Third District Team Slate, which Valentino-Smith was once a part of.

A new era of Maryland politics will come into focus Tuesday as voters make their final choices in several wide-open primary races that will set the stage for November’s general election. Voters have a rare opportunity to select all new faces for governor, lieutenant governor, attorney general and comptroller as the incumbents are term-limited, retiring or running for higher office.

Five Black candidates are running for Baltimore County Council council seats, months after community groups and advocates sued over a redistricting plan that they said would underrepresent Black county residents. Baltimore County is 31% Black and almost 46% of the population is Black, Indigenous, Asian, Latino and Hispanic, but six of seven council members are white. The county has never had more than one Black council member, and has elected just two Black candidates, both men, in its history.

A coalition of Anne Arundel County community groups has called on county executive candidate Jessica Haire to return more than $250,000 in campaign contributions they claim she received from a Silver Spring developer hoping to construct a landfill in Odenton and entities associated with the company. Haire, a County Council member from Edgewater, is among five candidates seeking the Republican nomination in Tuesday’s primary election.

Maryland House Republican leaders are calling for the state to ramp up enforcement efforts around the homes of Supreme Court justices who live in Maryland. The request from lawmakers comes a day after the Montgomery County Police Department warned protesters of potential arrests. The letter to Gov. Larry Hogan cited increased protests and concerns about harassment and threats in the wake of a number of controversial decisions.

Anne Arundel County Executive Steuart Pittman has tested positive for COVID-19, the county announced Thursday. Pittman began experiencing symptoms early in the week similar to those from a light cold and received a positive PCR test on Thursday, he said in a statement. He has received his COVID vaccine and two booster shots. “If you have not been vaccinated or boosted, go get your shot today,” he said in the statement.