Politics

Abortion rights supporters rallied in all 50 states Saturday, including in Annapolis, sounding the alarm over recent laws restricting women’s access to abortions and reproductive health care. More than 250 people gathered under bright sunshine at Lawyers’ Mall in Annapolis to show their support for keeping abortion safe and legal and offer their full-throated declaration that women should control their own bodies. “Bans off our bodies” was a popular sign at Saturday’s rally.

A month-old poll conducted for Democratic gubernatorial candidate Wes Moore shows a wide-open race for the nomination in 2022 — though with plenty of room for Moore, a first-time candidate, to grow and prevail. Unsurprisingly, the most seasoned candidates in the Democratic race — Comptroller Peter V.R. Franchot and former Prince George’s County executive Rushern L. Baker III — led the field, with 17% and 12% respectively.

The maps of Baltimore in a new study of transit equity remind Lawrence Brown of the infamous 1930s residential security map segregating the city’s neighborhoods by race and redlining Black residents into the areas east and west of downtown. The analysis by the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health and the Baltimore Transit Equity Coalition shows different city neighborhoods’ access to transit as well as social vulnerability, pollution and health. The darkest colors represent the areas of greatest need.

Two Democratic candidates for governor rolled out endorsements Monday — in one case, a roster of elected officials from Baltimore City, and in the other, a U.S. senator from out of state. Wes Moore, the author and former nonprofit CEO, is picking up endorsements from seven West Baltimore political leaders, including the entire delegation from the 40th legislative district. The list features state Sen. Antonio L. Hayes, Dels. Marlon D. Amprey, Frank M. Conaway Jr. and Melissa R. Wells, and City Councilmembers John T. Bullock, Phylicia Porter and James Torrence.

Yaakov “Jake” Weissmann, who served as chief of staff for two state senate presidents, has been selected to serve in a top government position in Montgomery County. Weissmann spent 12 years in the senate president’s office, the last three as top aide to Thomas V. Mike Miller Jr. (D-Calvert) and his successor, Bill Ferguson (D-Baltimore City). He left the legislature in late July.

The committee charged with selecting nominees to oversee the Blueprint for Maryland’s Future education reform plan has declined to send a new slate of potential appointees to Gov. Lawrence J. Hogan Jr. (R) after he cited concerns about a lack of diversity among their nominees. “The Committee worked diligently to meet its statutory charge to select qualified nominees with expertise in the areas specified in the law and, to the extent practicable, that represent the diversity of the State. We are confident that we have fulfilled our charge,” the nominating committee’s chair Shanaysha Sauls and its vice chair Sen. Paul Pinsky (D-Prince George’s) wrote in a letter to Hogan on Sept. 17.

Six Democratic gubernatorial candidates laid out their plans to tackle housing insecurity and protect tenants at a Tuesday night forum, coalescing around reforms like access to counsel in eviction cases and rent stabilization. Democratic gubernatorial candidates Comptroller Peter V.R. Franchot, former Attorney General Douglas F. Gansler, former Obama administration official Ashwani Jain, former U.S. Secretary of Education John B. King Jr., former nonprofit CEO Wes Moore and former U.S. Secretary of Labor Tom Perez attended the Tuesday evening forum hosted by the Montgomery County Renters Alliance.

Agricultural groups and farm-state lawmakers notched a significant win when U.S. House Democrats chose not to touch a big tax break for inherited property, avoiding for now a confrontation. But opponents remain wary that the idea could come back at any time as Democrats shape their massive $3.5 trillion budget reconciliation package, and search for ways to help pay for the most significant expansion of the social safety net since the New Deal.

Del. Kathleen M. Dumais (D-Montgomery), a senior lawmaker and vice chair of the powerful House Economic Matters Committee, has applied to become a judge on the Montgomery County District Court — potentially opening up a plum legislative position in the weeks ahead. But Dumais’ possible departure, which could happen in the next several weeks if she’s selected for one of three vacant slots on the court, may foreshadow even greater upheaval in the highest echelons of power in Annapolis.