Politics

Early mail-in ballot canvassing became an official mainstay in Maryland in 2024, helping elections officials to produce quick results in tight races on the night of the primary in contests for Baltimore mayor and U.S. Senate. By Tuesday — the day of the primary — 146,840 mail-in ballots had already been counted across the state, data from the Maryland State Board of Elections showed.

An effort to end the publication of estate notices in newspapers around Maryland appears headed for a veto. House Bill 1258 proposes to end public notice advertising for estates. It’s a bill that has financial ramifications for newspapers across the state, which profit from the current requirement that public notices be published in newspapers of general circulation.

Five local artists have been selected to create portraits of five Baltimore mayors for permanent display in City Hall. More than 180 artists sought the commissions after Mayor Brandon Scott announced the Faces of Leadership Mayor’s Portraits Competition earlier this year. The goal was to identify artists to create portraits of five mayors not currently represented in the Hyman Aaron Pressman Room on the second floor of City Hall.

Republican Senate nominee Larry Hogan’s pivot on abortion landed with a thunderclap in Maryland this week, with Democrats incredulous, Republican leaders largely indifferent and some voters warily embracing him anew. In Hogan’s telling Friday, a day after publicly describing himself as “pro-choice” for the first time, “it really wasn’t a major transformation.”

Sheila Dixon on Friday conceded the Baltimore mayoral Democratic primary race to incumbent Brandon Scott. The former mayor waited over a day after the Associated Press called the race for Scott to concede, saying she would wait on mail-in ballot results. Dixon said she called Scott to congratulate him. “His success leading our city is success for us all, so I sincerely wish him all the best in his second term,” she said in a statement.

A coalition of progressive voters is celebrating the “historic impact” of its efforts to pressure President Biden to call for a cease-fire in Gaza, by getting 10% of Democrats to buck the president and vote “uncommitted” in Tuesday’s primary. But analysts said that the 47,587 “uncommitted” votes cast Tuesday are likely “not fatal” to Biden’s general election campaign.

Marilyn Mosby turned around after being convicted at her first trial and didn’t recall seeing any supporters in the courtroom. On the nationally syndicated radio show “The Breakfast Club,” Mosby recounted what she described as the most sobering moment of her prosecution related to her purchase of two luxury vacation homes in Florida. She said she prayed on it — and realized that God was with her the entire time.

Three Baltimore City Council candidates maintained their narrow Election Day leads after the first round of late-arriving mail ballots were counted Thursday. The outcomes of these races — which include two incumbents fighting to hang on — will help determine the makeup of the next council. It’s possible that Mayor Brandon Scott, who declared victory in his reelection run Tuesday night, will end the week with even more council allies in addition to a friend in the likely new City Council president, Zeke Cohen.