FERGUSON BENDS ON REDISTRICTING AS FAST-TRACKED SESSION IN WORKS: Representatives from Senate President Bill Ferguson’s office confirmed on Monday that legislative leaders plan to meet to discuss a potential special session on a constitutional amendment for redistricting after Maryland’s June 23 primary election. Mennatalla Ibrahim/The Baltimore Sun.
- The targeted, fast-tracked session is slated to last approximately five days. While a late-summer return to the State House always triggers backroom deals, this particular session is designed to fundamentally alter the state’s federal electoral landscape ahead of the next cycle. Barry O’Connell/The Maryland Wire.
OPINION: FERGUSON MOVE ONE OF DESPERATION: At no point did I think Senate President Bill Ferguson was facing serious trouble from his Democratic Primary Challenger Bobby LaPin……until yesterday. Ferguson has been the rock that has prevented Maryland from moving forward with congressional redistricting until now. I don’t have any doubt at this point that Ferguson is in the race of his life against Bobby LaPin, and his flipping on a redistricting special session is the tell that gives it away. Brian Griffiths/The Duckpin.
SOME SEE DOUBLE STANDARD IN TREATMENT OF SEN ATTAR: Larry Young, Nathaniel Oaks, Marilyn Mosby, Sheila Dixon, Cheryl Glenn, Catherine Pugh. Their names roll off David Smallwood’s tongue in rhythm. For decades, the president of the Uplands Community Association said he watched as those Baltimore politicians — all charged with crimes — were pummeled by a barrage of media attacks and public scrutiny. He wonders why the same has not happened to state Sen. Dalya Attar, who was indicted by federal prosecutors with her brother and a Baltimore Police officer on extortion charges. John-John Williams/The Baltimore Banner.
WHO IS FUNDING THE RACE FOR HOYER’s CONGRESSIONAL SEAT? Millions of dollars in outside spending have become a flashpoint in Maryland’s 5th Congressional District primary to replace retiring U.S. Rep. Steny Hoyer, with several candidates arguing that voters deserve more transparency about who is financing the contest. Mennatalla Ibrahim/The Baltimore Sun.
ANALYSIS: THE VOTERS WHO ACTUALLY COUNT: In Maryland’s last three gubernatorial primaries – 2014, 2018 and 2022 – only about one-quarter of registered voters participated. Roughly three out of every four registered voters stayed home. The percent is the same for both parties. That raises an important question. Who are the voters making these decisions? Political scientists have spent decades trying to answer that question. Five major studies published over the last 15 years provide a remarkably consistent answer. Mark Uncapher/MarylandReporter.
DEM ADS WEIGH IN ON REPUBLICAN PRIMARY FOR GOVERNOR: Maryland Democrats are wading into the Republican primary for governor, running ads seeking to influence opinions about the two front-runners, Dan Cox and Ed Hale. A pair of video ads from incumbent Gov. Wes Moore’s campaign call Cox “too conservative for Maryland” for being aligned with President Donald Trump and refer to Hale as someone who “can’t be trusted” because he switched political parties last year. They’re running on Fox News and Facebook. Pamela Wood/The Baltimore Banner.
MOORE STILL MUM ON MILITARY RECORDS: Gov. Wes Moore, who has anchored his political identity in a narrative of military service and the creed to “leave no one behind,” is facing mounting national pressure to provide a full accounting of his career after his office’s explanations failed to match available records. Gary Collins/The Baltimore Sun.
COUNTY EXEC CANDIDATES IN 3 JURISDICTIONS RAISE MILLIONS: There are fewer candidates running for county executive than there were four years ago, but their campaigns have raised $4.2 million more than at the same point in 2022, for a total of $16.24 million, according to preprimary campaign finance reports. Most of the fundraising has come in three large counties with open executive seats: Montgomery and Anne Arundel and Baltimore counties. William J. Ford, Danielle J. Brown, Christine Condon and Will Hammann/Maryland Matters.
HOWARD COUNTY EXEC RACE TESTS PRIVATE DONATIONS VS PUBLIC FUNDS: Of the four candidates in Howard’s county executive race, all Democrats, three are using the Citizens’ Election Fund, which aims to reduce the role of large private contributions by incentivizing small, private donations with matching county funding. Bob Cockey, Councilmember Deb Jung and Councilmember Liz Walsh are using the CEF, but despite agreeing it is the most optimal way to run a clean campaign, they don’t agree on how to best execute it. The fourth candidate, Vanessa Atterbeary, is not using the fund. She’s raised over $1 million — more than all of her opponents combined. April Santana/The Baltimore Sun.
HAVE BALTIMORE COUNTY REPUBLICANS GONE FULL MAGA? A onetime blackface performer named Bobby “Al Jolson” Berger is running for state delegate — and that’s not even the biggest surprise of the Baltimore County Republican primary. Tim Fazenbaker, a Republican candidate for Baltimore County Council, was censured by the Baltimore County Republican Central Committee for defaming and harassing other Republican members and besmirching the committee’s “good name.” Meanwhile, state Senate candidate Daniel Eisenhart served his opponent, Sen. Johnny Ray Salling, with a lawsuit at a Memorial Day observance. Rona Kobell/The Baltimore Banner.
ICE DROPS DEPORTATION EFFORTS AGAINST U.S. CITIZEN FROM MARYLAND: U.S. ICE is dropping its effort to deport a Prince George’s County native who has spent months trying to prove her United States citizenship, court documents show. Dulce Consuelo Diaz Morales, a 22-year-old dual citizen of the U.S. and Mexico, was detained by federal agents in December during what her attorneys believe was a targeted traffic stop in Baltimore. At the time, ICE claimed she was a Mexican national named Dulce Consuelo Madrigal Diaz and was in the U.S. unlawfully. Daniel Zawodny and Sara Ruberg/The Baltimore Banner.
EMPLOYER ASKS JUDGE TO LET DALI CREW GO HOME: The federal government and a massive shipping company are locked in a legal tug-of-war. In the middle are a dozen cargo ship crew members. Those Indian and Sri Lankan seafarers have largely been stuck in the Baltimore area since the Francis Scott Key Bridge collapse in March 2024. On Tuesday, their employer, Synergy Marine, pleaded with the court to let them return home. Hayes Gardner and Justin Fenton/The Baltimore Banner.
RIVER OTTERS MAKE A COMEBACK IN BAY WATERSHED: Four decades ago, populations of the river otter, a playful, whiskered member of the weasel family, were so depleted that most states in the Chesapeake Bay region considered them endangered. Today, the species known for its fondness of clean water is turning up throughout the Bay watershed, including seemingly unlikely places. Karl Blankenship/The Bay Journal.
