Politics

Frederick County Executive Jessica Fitzwater said Monday that she intends to fully fund the design and planning for a new elementary school building after not receiving funding from the state for this phase of the project. During a news conference, Fitzwater said she is submitting a budget supplement to the Frederick County Council requesting about $3 million to begin the design process in fiscal year 2025 for Frederick County Public Schools’ 41st elementary school.

Maryland’s 106 delegates to the Democratic National Convention could vote to make Vice President Kamala Harris the party’s presidential nominee as soon as Thursday. While the national convention isn’t set to begin until Aug. 19 in Chicago, party officials believe the presidential roll call may need to be held virtually and earlier, rather than on the convention floor.

It could still be weeks — and a winding journey — before Democrats settle on who will replace President Joe Biden at the top of the 2024 ticket, but state election officials and and legal experts say placing the new candidate on the ballot should be straightforward. Maryland’s top party officials and their convention delegates took one step closer Monday, pledging their unanimous intention to back Vice President Kamala Harris at their party’s national convention next month.

Baltimore City Council members on Monday let go their last opportunity to neutralize a ballot initiative that could cut their membership by nearly half, leaving six of them without jobs and upending politics at City Hall. Instead of introducing their own counterquestion, the 15 council members are betting city voters will side with them and reject the ballot measure this November.

The race to represent South and Central Baltimore’s 11th District on the City Council had all the makings of a blowout. A little-known part-time football coach who had never run for office and only arrived in Baltimore four years ago was up against a City Hall veteran with a massive war chest and a sprawling list of endorsements — the only city candidate backed by Gov. Wes Moore.

The Republican presidential ticket is two men, Donald Trump and Ohio Sen. J.D. Vance. But women played prominent roles throughout the GOP convention week here — whether speaking on the convention floor or at glitzy events, at celebrations of donors and party activists, or making things happen behind the scenes.

A Baltimore City councilman is taking aim at the citation docket program, introducing legislation for quarterly reporting to the council after what he said were “ethical and fiscal flags” raised at a budget hearing earlier this year. Councilman Kristerfer Burnett, a Democrat representing West Baltimore, has been critical in the past of the docket, a program begun by Baltimore State’s Attorney Ivan Bates, also a Democrat, to manage low-level criminal offenses such as loitering, drinking in public and drug possession.

Gov. Wes Moore on Monday joined the chorus of Democrats in Maryland and across the country endorsing Vice President Kamala Harris to lead the party’s presidential ticket after President Joe Biden dropped out of the 2024 election a day earlier. Moore also said he has “no interest” in leaving his role to serve as her running mate, as some political analysts had speculated.

Karen Miller has watched with disgust as the talks about President Joe Biden’s replacement have focused on possibilities other than Vice President Kamala Harris. With Biden announcing Sunday he’s ending his reelection campaign and endorsing Harris, Miller predicts a political revolt — with Black women withdrawing their support “en masse” — if the rest of the party does not fall in line.