Politics

The Maryland Democratic Party will spend “tens of thousands of dollars” targeting at least 18 school board candidates that it says are looking to bring a “hateful” and “right-wing agenda” to schools. It is a first for the party, which has never before involved itself in the nonpartisan races for local board of education seats. But party leaders said the move is needed to fight the “extremist” agendas espoused by candidates in 11 counties, eight of which it’s putting resources into – Anne Arundel, Calvert, Carroll, Frederick, Howard, Montgomery, St. Mary’s and Talbot.

Vaping among high school students in the U.S. fell sharply from 2023 to 2024, a trend that was mirrored in Maryland but at a slower pace, according to health advocates and state officials. Data released Thursday by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention showed that about 1.63 million middle and high school students regularly used e-cigarettes this year, or 5.9% of students surveyed for the 2024 National Youth Tobacco Survey.

Democrats have poured record amounts of cash into defending Maryland’s once reliably blue Senate seat, investing to fend off an unprecedented GOP offensive behind former governor Larry Hogan’s bid to flip the seat. Maryland’s unusually competitive race between Hogan and Democrat Angela D. Alsobrooks for the seat her party has held for decades has cost at least six times more than the state’s last contest for an open Senate seat — drawing at least $84.6 million combined in contributions, according to the most recent campaign finance reports filed this week.

Kelly Madigan is not running for anything, but she would like your vote anyway. Madigan is Baltimore County’s first inspector general, a role she has held since 2020. The Nov. 5 ballot includes a question about whether the inspector general’s office should be enshrined in the Baltimore County Charter. It’s needed, she and others say, because while public officials love to talk about transparency and accountability, they don’t always walk the walk.

Individual campaign contributions from South Asian Marylanders soared in the week following Vice President Kamala Harris’ announcement that she would be running for president. Before the announcement, South Asian Americans had been donating an average of almost $2,300 per week to President Joe Biden’s campaign in 2024.

U.S. Senate Republican candidate Larry Hogan and the super political action committee that is funding a massive ad campaign to help him are facing a complaint that they engaged in improper coordination. A Montgomery County voter filed a complaint with federal elections officials on Tuesday, alleging that the deep-pocketed super PAC Maryland’s Future violated the law by placing a prominent “donate” button on its webpage that goes directly to a fundraising page for Hogan’s campaign committee.

With less than three weeks before the Nov. 5 general election, the two candidates for Maryland’s 6th congressional district met at a forum in Hagerstown on Wednesday morning to answer questions on a wide variety of topics. Republican Neil C. Parrott and Democrat April McClain Delaney — who are seeking to win the seat currently held by Democrat David Trone — participated in an event held by the Washington County Chamber of Commerce.