MOST MARYLANDERS SUPPORT ENSHRINING ABORTION RIGHTS: Maryland voters are poised to enshrine the right to abortion access in the state constitution, with 69% of voters saying they will support it and just 21% opposed, according to a poll released Wednesday. The abortion question has also “played a front and center role” in the contest for Senate, where the poll shows Prince George’s County Executive Angela Alsobrooks (D) leading Republican former two-term Gov. Larry Hogan by a margin of 48% to 39%. “It (abortion) is a big part of Alsobrooks’s messaging,” said Mileah Kromer, a pollster and director of the Institute of Politics at the University of Maryland, Baltimore County, which produced the poll. Bryan Sears/Maryland Matters.
POLL: ALSOBROOKS LEADS HOGAN 48% TO 39%: A new poll out Wednesday shows Prince George’s County Executive Angela Alsobrooks, a Democrat, continuing to lead former Gov. Larry Hogan, a Republican, in the race to represent Maryland in the U.S. Senate, with nearly all likely voters saying their minds are made up. The poll, from the University of Maryland Baltimore County, finds 48% of likely voters say they plan to vote for Alsobrooks, compared with 39% for Hogan. Only 5% say they are undecided. The poll had a margin of error of just over 3%. Rachel Baye/WYPR-FM.
- “Both candidates are viewed favorably — more favorably than unfavorably,” said Mileah Kromer, the director of the UMBC Institute of Politics. “Forty-nine percent of Maryland likely voters have a favorable view of Angela Alsobrooks, 53% have a favorable view of former Gov. Larry Hogan.” But Kromer said only 4% of voters don’t know how they feel about Hogan, while 19% are still unsure about Alsobrooks. John Domen/WTOP-FM.
- Kromer said, “Anybody who has paid attention to the messaging coming out from the Alsobrooks’ campaign, as well as some of the outside spending we have seen in the race, is framing this race as not one just between Angela Alsobrooks and Larry Hogan. (They’re also framing this race) as Angela Alsobrooks versus a Republican-controlled Senate.” Rachel Duncan/WBAL-TV News.
- So far, more than $58 million combined has been spent on television and digital ads in the race, according to AdImpact data. Much of that spending has come from super PACs on both sides who’ve attacked the other candidate. The lion’s share of ad time has aired in the Baltimore media market, with three new ads going up Tuesday morning alone. Erin Cox/The Washington Post.
IN HEATED 6th DISTRICT RACE, DO POLICIES MATTER MORE THAN LOCATION? As they campaign for an open seat in Maryland’s most competitive House race – the 6th Congressional District — Republican Neil Parrott and Democrat April McClain Delaney are attempting to settle a question: What does it mean to be local? Parrott lives in Hagerstown, smack in the middle of the 6th District. McClain Delaney lives eight miles outside the district in Potomac. Is it their policies that make them local? Sapna Bansil/The Baltimore Banner.
SUPREME COURT DECLINES TO HEAR CHALLENGE TO ARUNDEL GUN ORDINANCE: The U.S. Supreme Court let stand an Anne Arundel County ordinance that requires gun shops to provide buyers with information on suicide prevention, gun safety and conflict resolution. The court, without comment, declined Monday to hear a challenge to the law from a Maryland gun-rights group and four gun shops, which claimed the measure violated their free speech rights by compelling them to provide information they disagreed with. Steve Crane/Maryland Matters.
SEVENTH DAY ADVENTISTS SAY STATE CAN’T PROBE CHURCH FOR DISCRIMINATION: Lawyers for the Seventh-day Adventist Church argued in a complaint that the First Amendment allows churches and affiliated religious organizations to ask its employees to “uphold their religious beliefs, to support their religious mission and to strengthen their community of believers.” Under federal law, the complaint reads, states and civil courts are not to interfere with the autonomy of churches. Clara Longo de Freitas/The Baltimore Banner.
MDOT SEEKS PUBLIC INPUT ON RED LINE PROJECT: Baltimore’s Red Line Project is looking to hear from you. The Maryland Department of Transportation will host open house meetings for the Red Line to share route alignment options, project considerations, technical updates and gathering community input. The sessions will be held at locations along the Red Line corridor from Oct. 22 to Oct. 26. Rushaad Hayward /WMAR-TV News.
KACH PENSION ACTION TO GREET HIM UPON RETIREMENT: Baltimore County Councilman Wade Kach’s announcement that he will retire in 2026 moved him one step further toward leaving county government with a strikingly hefty pension – an exit strategy he helped engineer for himself and his colleagues. Kach, who is 77, served in the Maryland House of Delegates for 40 years. He then won election to the Council’s 3rd district in 2014 and has been reelected twice. Mark Reutter/Baltimore Brew.
ARUNDEL SCHOOL BOARD CANDIDATE WAS ACCUSED OF CHILD SEX ABUSE 30 YEARS AGO: A candidate for Anne Arundel County’s school board was once charged with child sexual abuse and removed from his teaching position at Northeast High School over those and other accusations. Though Charles “Chuck” Yocum, 61, of Pasadena, was found not guilty of the charges 30 years ago, school officials had enough concerns that they launched an extensive internal investigation. That investigation turned up more claims that Yocum sexually harassed or made inappropriate comments to students as young as 13. He never returned to teaching. Liz Bowie and Dylan Segelbaum/The Baltimore Banner.
