Politics

Primary elections are awkward enough for candidates who, more often than not, share mostly similar politics, a political party and a history of working together. But when you’re running against the spouse of someone you shared a gubernatorial ticket with? “This one probably has to be the most awkward, and I’ll leave it at that,” U.S. Rep. Anthony Brown said in an interview with the Maryland State Bar Association when asked about his primary opponent.

Led by Gov. Glenn Youngkin and the head of Transurban North America, Northern Virginia leaders celebrated the extension of privately-owned toll lanes along the Capital Beltway on Monday — an expansion that is expected to bring the firm’s signature lanes to within a few yards of the Commonwealth’s border with Maryland. Construction of an additional 2.5 miles of “Express” lanes, which will carry traffic between the Dulles Toll Road and the American Legion Bridge, will begin in the coming weeks, with an expected completion date of 2025. Transurban already owns and operates 53 miles of toll lanes in Northern Virginia, with more planned along Interstate 95 south of Springfield.

Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan is planning trips to Iowa and New Hampshire. Rep. Adam Kinzinger, R-Ill., is considering a rough timeline for a potential presidential announcement. And allies of Rep. Liz Cheney, R-Wyo., are openly talking up her White House prospects. More than two years before the next presidential election, a shadow primary is already beginning to take shape among at least three fierce Republican critics of former President Donald Trump to determine who is best positioned to occupy the anti-Trump lane in 2024.

Lawmakers began the legislative session considering a measure that would offer paid family and medical leave to all Marylanders, but a key House committee is now considering whether to instead a establish a commission that would work out the finer details of a statewide paid family and medical leave insurance program. As originally introduced, House Bill 496, sponsored by Dels. C.T. Wilson (D-Charles), Kriselda Valderrama (D-Prince George’s) and Ariana Kelly (D-Montgomery), would have allowed all Marylanders, both part-time and full-time employees who have worked 680 hours in the past year, to take 12 weeks of paid leave following childbirth or to take care of themselves or a family member experiencing serious health issues.

A Maryland Democratic Party official and longtime party donor has resigned after an email she sent questioning the electability of Black candidates in the state’s governor’s race, the state party chair announced Monday. Barbara Goldberg Goldman, who was the deputy treasurer for the party in Maryland, “has tendered her resignation and I have accepted it,” Yvette Lewis, the state party chair, said in a statement.

Maryland comptroller and current Democratic gubernatorial candidate Peter Franchot talked to C4 and Bryan Nehman about his gas tax holiday proposal that is planned to be signed within the next two days. “One of the offshoots of the unbelievable invasion of Ukraine is that gas prices are spiking,” Franchot said Franchot, who is also the chair of the revenue estimating committee, said his idea of a gas tax holiday came from wanting to help Marylanders amid the rising costs and cited the surplus as a way to help pay for the holiday.

Voters in Maryland support legalizing recreational marijuana by a 2-to-1 margin, a new poll from Goucher College found, including majorities of Republicans, Democrats and independents alike. The finding largely confirms previous polls, which have shown steadily rising support for allowing the legal sale of the drug, and bodes well for a proposed referendum on legalizing recreational marijuana for adults that’s been backed by Speaker Adrienne A. Jones and other lawmakers in the General Assembly.

The death of three city firefighters while on duty at a vacant house fire in January put the spotlight on Baltimore’s housing problem. On Friday, Mayor Brandon Scott’s administration directed millions of dollars toward blight prevention, by creating affordable housing initiatives and implementing a number of vacancy recommendations. Scott’s plan for getting rid of vacant homes includes ways to make more affordable housing in communities like the ones here in Park Heights.

The government on Friday filed documents saying the court should deny Baltimore City State’s Attorney Marilyn Mosby’s request to have all charges dropped. The basis of the government’s argument to dismiss the motion claims the arguments are factually untrue. “The defendant’s motion to dismiss and to disqualify counsel are a mishmash of unsupported allegations, inaccuracies, misstatements and baseless personal attacks,” the court document reads.