Politics

For over a decade, Baltimore County Executive Johnny Olszewski Jr. has made it a point to engage with his constituents. He’s met them after panels at nearby colleges. He’s grabbed coffee with them at local senior homes. He’s knocked on their doors and chatted with them about the future of the region. His work has paid off.

Maryland Rep. Jamie Raskin said Wednesday that former President Donald Trump, who’s running again as a Republican, hasn’t signed key documents that other presidential nominees have adhered to in the past to assure an “orderly transition of power” if they are elected. Raskin, a Montgomery County Democrat and his party’s ranking member on the House Committee on Oversight and Accountability, wrote the former president Wednesday urging him “to put the public’s interest in maintaining a properly functioning government above any personal financial or political interests you may perceive in boycotting the official transition law and process.”

Early voting is underway in Maryland and lasts until Oct. 31 from 7 a.m. to 8 p.m. each day. The map below shows all early voting centers in Baltimore City and Anne Arundel, Baltimore, Carroll, Harford and Howard counties (click or tap the magnifying glass in the bottom left and search for an address to center the map on your area). Registered voters can vote at any center in their county of residence — as can those eligible to register to vote after registering at a center.

Maryland’s Senate race is one of a handful of federal races poised to decide which political party wins control over Congress. That means there’s plenty of polling, as the candidates and other interested parties search for indications of which way voters will go. Republican former Gov. Larry Hogan and Democrat and Prince George’s County Executive Angela Alsobrooks are vying for the open seat, along with Libertarian Party candidate Mike Scott.

Early voting starts Thursday in Maryland, with former governor Larry Hogan (R) and Prince George’s County Executive Angela Alsobrooks (D) competing for the state’s open Senate seat and all eight congressional district seats on the ballot, including three where the incumbents are not seeking reelection. In an election year where women’s reproductive rights have factored heavily into several races, Maryland voters will also decide whether the state should enshrine reproductive choice in the Maryland Constitution.

Mayor Brandon Scott said Tuesday that the $1.8 million request last month for emergency funds from the Baltimore Office of Promotion & The Arts convinced him to terminate the city’s contract with the quasi-governmental agency. “That was the straw that broke the camel’s back,” Scott told Tom Hall, host of “Midday with the Mayor” on WYPR-FM. “For me this was about responsibility. When I saw their fiscal situation and I knew how many taxpayer dollars were already being put into BOPA, this was the only decision that could be made.”

Maryland has some of the strongest abortion protections in the country, a longstanding Democratic supermajority in the state legislature, and a governor who proclaimed the state a “safe haven” for the procedure. Now, voters will decide whether to add yet another safeguard. If Question 1 passes on a simple majority Nov. 5, it would enshrine a right to reproductive freedom in the state constitution.