By EMILY CONDON
CHICAGO – Maryland Democratic Party Chairman Ken Ulman called the delegation to order in lieu of a gavel, instead hammering a crab mallet on Monday morning. Before that, Ulman introduced a surprise special guest to the stage.
“Wait a minute,” Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-New York, said. “Can I crash this party?”
The Maryland delegation is in Chicago this week for the Democratic National Convention. Each morning, the party hosts a breakfast at its convention hotel for Maryland delegates to meet and hear from various speakers.
The New York delegation breakfast was located just steps from where the Maryland delegation enjoyed a full buffet along with a coffee and juice bar. When Schumer passed the hall on his way over, he said he had to stop in.
“We are honored to have Senator Schumer here as well,” Ulman said.
Schumer thanked Gov. Wes Moore and quickly moved raised the candidacy of Angela Alsobrooks, the Prince George’s County executive who is running for the U.S. Senate against former Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan.
“I want to make sure that we elect Angela Alsobrooks,” Schumer said.
Schumer said that while many Marylanders remember Hogan during his term as governor, voters should understand that in the Senate he would hurt democracy, the right for women to make decisions regarding their own reproductive health and working families.
Schumer stressed that Alsobrooks’ victory also would be important for Baltimore.
“The damn Republicans are holding up money for that damn bridge,” Schumer said, referring to the Baltimore’s Francis Scott Key Bridge, which collapsed on March 26 after a ship struck a supporting pier.
Rep. Andy Harris, the sole Republican member of Maryland’s congressional delegation, has said he supports federal spending for the Key Bridge reconstruction.
He disagreed with Schumer’s assertion that this is a partisan issue.
“Chuck Schumer is the Majority Leader in the Senate. If he thought funding the Key Bridge right now is important, he could have put that bill on the Senate floor months ago,” Harris said in a statement to Capital News Service. “But he thinks it’s easier to play partisan political games with the Key Bridge, and blame Republicans for his failure to get things done in the Senate. But he can’t fool the American people any longer.”
Alsobrooks was not in attendance at the breakfast, according to the deputy director of the Maryland party, Joe Francaviglia, but he said that she is expected later this week.
In other news from the breakfast, Moore commented on the diversity of the delegation.
“This is a delegation that looks like America,” Moore said before he headed over to the Wisconsin delegation breakfast, also down the hall, according to a post on his X account.
He noted that the delegation’s seats are close to the stage in the convention arena at the United Center.
“Right now, Maryland’s on the move, and people are paying attention,” Moore said.
Moore boasted that the state had among the lowest unemployment rates in the United States thanks to his administration’s job-creating efforts, a drop in violent crime and homicide rates and a program for high school graduates to take a service year option.
“People are talking about the fact that Maryland’s doing something really unique and different right now: we’re actually working together,” the governor said.
The breakfast honored Lt. Gov. Aruna Miller, who addressed the delegation. Her speech generally focused on how Maryland would contribute to Democratic wins in November.
“Let’s show the nation what Maryland does best: serving blue crabs and blue victories,” Miller said. “Stay strong. Stay blue.”
Miller invited Secretary of the Interior Deb Haaland to the breakfast. Haaland told the Marylanders why representation matters, as she bears the title of the first Native American party leader.
“At a time when women are losing rights by the minute, the climate crisis is hurting communities, and the Republican agenda threatens to make life harder for everyone, it matters more than ever,” Haaland said.
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