Politics

Voters in Maryland’s suburban, deep-blue 3rd Congressional District will head to the polls Tuesday to set the field for November’s general election to replace Rep. John Sarbanes (D-Md.), who is retiring. In the Democratic primary, 22 candidates are vying for the seat in a race that has been shaped less by policy differences than name recognition and an influx of millions of dollars in outside spending that escalated in recent weeks.

Maryland voters today will select the Democratic and Republican nominees for the open U.S. House seat being vacated by Rep. David Trone (D-Md.), who is running for U.S. Senate. The 6th District is the most politically competitive of three open House races Maryland voters will shape today, with 1.2 registered Democrats for every registered Republican and more than 141,000 unaffiliated voters.

Mayor Brandon Scott rubs his temples from behind the mayor’s desk as Baltimore Police Commissioner Richard Worley runs through the week’s shootings and homicides. A man found strangled with a shirt tied around his neck. Another man who refused to tell investigators who shot him before he died at the hospital. Two men shot and killed over what investigators think was a dispute over a girlfriend.

Maryland voters on Tuesday will decide which Democrat they want to compete in a looming battle of national consequence, likely against former governor Larry Hogan (R) in a November election that could help determine which party has control of the U.S. Senate seat. Prince George’s County Executive Angela Alsobrooks and Rep. David Trone have been courting Maryland’s 2.2 million Democratic voters for more than a year in the costliest race in state history, a matchup that offered voters more choice on style and identity than on policy differences.

Former Gov. Larry Hogan, who is seeking the Republican nomination for U.S. Senate, sat down with Nick Iannelli of Maryland Matters’ news partner WTOP News late last week to talk about what will be different if he’s elected, his take on being called a “RINO” and the students protests regarding the war in Gaza. What follows is a transcript, lightly edited for clarity.

Arch McKown thinks Sheila Dixon is what the city needs to be successful. In 17 years living in the city, he has observed her “leadership” and “effectiveness” on the Baltimore City Council in the ’90s and then as mayor in the early 2000s. “She has a real knack for cutting to the heart of the matter and listening to various viewpoints, taking things into account and getting things done,” said McKown, 54, a Butchers Hill resident and area business manager for a biotech company, who checked his ballot for Dixon in early voting.

Central and South Baltimore’s 11th District is home to this primary’s most expensive council race between an incumbent and a challenger. Councilman Eric Costello, the powerful chair of the budget committee who is consistently among the council’s highest fundraisers, faces Zac Blanchard, a political newcomer who is running through public financing.