State Roundup, June 27, 2018

We’ll have more post-election follow-up in tomorrow’s roundup.

JEALOUS WINS DECISIVELY: Former NAACP chief Ben Jealous won Maryland’s Democratic primary for governor Tuesday, promising to deliver a progressive agenda that makes college free, legalizes marijuana and raises the state’s minimum wage to $15 an hour., Erin Cox and Luke Broadwater of the Sun report.

PROGRESSIVES MOVE IN: Democratic primary voters in Maryland moved their party to the left on Tuesday. Younger, more progressive candidates beat older establishment liberals in key races, led by the energetic performance of former NAACP president Ben Jealous, who will face Republican Gov. Larry Hogan as their nominee in the fall. Len Lazarick of MarylandReporter writes that the strong showing by Jealous, carrying all but two counties against an underfunded Prince George’s County Executive Rushern Baker, may have been a key factor in progressive victories down the ballot, particularly in the Baltimore region. Jealous got almost 40% of the vote statewide against eight opponents.

TURNOVER IN LEADERSHIP: While Senate President Mike Miller easily dispatched his overhyped challenger, four legislative leaders found themselves out of a job following Tuesday’s primary: Nathaniel McFadden, president pro tem of the state Senate; Joan Carter Conway, Education, Health & Environmental Affairs Committee chair; Mac Middleton, Finance Committee chair; and Joe Vallario, Judiciary Committee chair. Combine that with Budget & Taxation chair Edward Kasemeyer (retirement), Budget & Taxation vice chair Rich Madaleno (failed campaign for governor), Finance Committee chair John Astle (retirement), and Rules Committee vice chair Ed DeGrange, that’s seven of 12 Senate Democratic Committee leadership posts that need to be replaced, writes Brian Griffiths in his Red Maryland blog.

LEOPOLD LOSES: Former Anne Arundel County Executive John Leopold failed to secure the District 31B Republican nomination as Del. Nic Kipke and Brian Chisholm won a broad majority of primary votes. With 100% of precincts reporting, Kipke and Chisholm held about 43% and 39% of the votes, respectively. Leopold had about 10%.

YOUNG, KRIMM WIN: Democratic Dels. Karen Lewis Young and Carol Krimm crossed their first hurdle on the road back to Annapolis representing House District 3A on Tuesday with primary wins over challenger Ryan Trout, Mallory Panuska of the Frederick News Post reports.

McKAY WINS: Incumbent Mike McKay won his party’s nomination for the Maryland House of Delegates from legislative District 1C on Tuesday with nearly 60% of the votes, according to unofficial results from the Maryland State Board of Elections, Tamela Baker of the Hagerstown Herald-Mail reports.

PROVISIONAL BALLOTS COULD DECIDE SOME ELECTIONS: The late-discovered computer glitch that will force as many as 80,000 voters to cast provisional ballots Tuesday has the potential to delay election results for races up and down the ballot, analysts said. Erin Cox and Michael Dresser of the Sun report that while the provisional ballots may not ultimately decide the outcome of the crowded Democratic primary for governor, the uncertainty around how many provisional ballots will be cast could make candidates reluctant to concede a close contest on election night.

CARDIN WINS EASILY: Democratic Sen. Ben Cardin, a fixture in Maryland politics for more than 50 years, easily won his party’s nomination Tuesday for a third term in the Senate. Republican Tony Campbell, a Towson University lecturer and former Army chaplain, emerged from a crowded primary for the GOP nod, Jeff Barker writes in the Sun.

HOEBER, TRONE TO FACE OFF IN NOVEMBER: Republican Amie Hoeber and Democrat David Trone will face off in November for Maryland’s only open House seat — a race likely to be one of the most expensive in the country. Both wealthy candidates are making their second runs for Congress in the expensive Washington television market, reports the Sun’s Jeff Barker.

ALSOBROOKS WINS IN PG: Prince George’s County State’s Attorney Angela Alsobrooks won the Democratic nomination for county executive Tuesday, making her the overwhelming favorite to become the first woman to lead the Washington suburb, Rachel Chason reports for the Post.

TOO CLOSE TO CALL: Two county executive elections in major Maryland jurisdictions remained undecided as Wednesday dawned – and likely won’t be resolved until absentee and provisional ballots are counted in early July. Hard-fought Democratic primaries for open county executive seats in Baltimore County and Montgomery County were too close to call Wednesday morning, with top contenders just a few hundred votes apart, write Josh Kurtz and William Zorzi in Maryland Matters.

REDMER WINS; THREE-WAY TIE FOR DEMS: Pamela Wood of the Sun reports that Al Redmer Jr. declared victory Tuesday in the Republican primary for Baltimore County executive, while the race among three top Democrats was too close to call.

ELRICH, BLAIR NECK-AND-NECK: Longtime Montgomery County council member and staunch progressive Marc Elrich and wealthy Potomac businessman and political newcomer David Blair were locked in a neck-and-neck battle for the Democratic nomination for Montgomery County executive Tuesday night, Jennifer Barrios of the Post reports.

  • With 96% of the vote in and fewer than 500 votes between the two leaders in the Montgomery County executive race, health care executive David Blair announced the race “too close to call” Tuesday night as he narrowly trailed County Councilmember Marc Elrich, Glynis Kazanjian of MarylandReporter writes. At 11:16 p.m. on Twitter Blair told friends and supporters to “stay tuned.”

AFZALI TO FACE GARDNER FOR FREDERICK EXEC: Del. Kathy Afzali (R-District 4) emerged with a decisive victory over the two other Republican candidates vying for the Frederick County executive post. After emerging with an early lead in Tuesday’s primary, Afzali came in with 6,717 of the 15,711 ballots cast by county Republican primary voters with 82 of 85 precincts reporting. She will face off against County Executive Jan Gardner in November, Allen Etzler and Nancy Lavin of the Frederick News Post report.

PEROUTKA OUT IN ARUNDEL: Only one of three incumbents on the Anne Arundel County Council survived the Tuesday primary after County Councilmen Michael Peroutka, R-Millersville, and Pete Smith, D-Severn, were defeated. This guarantees six of the seven County Council seats will be held by new candidates after November’s general election, Chase Cook reports for the Annapolis Capital.

HIGHWAY EXPANSION CALLED BOONDOGGLE: Maryland’s $9 billion plan to expand the Beltway and Interstate 270 is among the nation’s biggest boondoggles, a public-interest advocacy group said Tuesday in a new report. Fred Kunkle of the Post reports that the report — issued by U.S. PIRG Education Fund and Frontier Group — highlights nine highway projects, including Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan’s plan to widen certain roadways using public-private partnerships and tolling to pay for them.

About The Author

Cynthia Prairie

cynthiaprairie@gmail.com
https://www.chestertelegraph.org/

Contributing Editor Cynthia Prairie has been a newspaper editor since 1979, when she began working at The Raleigh Times. Since then, she has worked for The Baltimore News American, The Chicago Sun-Times, The Prince George’s Journal and Baltimore County newspapers in the Patuxent Publishing chain, including overseeing The Jeffersonian when it was a two-day a week business publication. Cynthia has won numerous state awards, including the Maryland State Bar Association’s Gavel Award. Besides compiling and editing the daily State Roundup, she runs her own online newspaper, The Chester Telegraph. If you have additional questions or comments contact Cynthia at: cynthiaprairie@gmail.com

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