MarylandReporter.com (https://marylandreporter.com/category/election-2018/)
Six Democrats running for governor used Larry Hogan as a reliable punching bag at a Saturday forum, pounding away at the current Republican governor in front of an auditorium filled with progressive Montgomery County Democrats. But prominently mentioned only once during the two-hour face off was the two-term Democrat whom Hogan replaced and whose policies the candidates largely agreed with — Martin O’Malley.
In the GOP race for Baltimore County executive, it’s the Republican establishment versus the Trump insurgency, the organized insider versus the populist maverick, a candidate who sticks to the script versus one who shoots from the lip. And good hair versus bad hair.
A group of young Democratic challengers in their 20s and 30s has emerged in Prince George’s County to run for the House of Delegates in 2018 and take on incumbent Democrats. The challengers cite a need for fresh blood and new ideas in a delegation they say has gotten out of touch with the voters and ineffective at getting things done.
Del. Ana Sol Gutierrez, the first Latina ever elected to the Maryland General Assembly, has jumped into the race for Montgomery County Council. Gutierrez, who is serving in her fourth term as a District 18 representative, filed paperwork Monday with the state elections board to run as a candidate in County Council District 1 using public campaign financing.
Legislators learned last week that Maryland’s electronic balloting system may need better security measures to protect voters’ information and that the lawmakers must be the ones to add those protections. The State Board of Elections told lawmakers Sept. 6 that they are powerless to make those changes, and that any security changes must directly come from the legislature.
Several candidates who voted to support public campaign financing in local elections are opting not to use the funding mechanism for their own campaigns, as they run for local office in Montgomery County. Public campaign financing can be used for the first time in 2018 when Montgomery County voters go to the polls to elect a new county executive and a new nine-member County Council.
Anjali Reed Phukan has been the only official candidate for state comptroller for four months now. She filed the same day she became a Republican on April 20, saying she wanted to be an “environmental Republican” like Gov. Larry Hogan. The 39-year-old Montgomery County native is as unconventional as her name
Montgomery Reporter just published as complete a list as we could come up with of candidates in Montgomery County for local, state and federal office. What is Montgomery Reporter anyway? Montgomery Reporter is the edition of MarylandReporter.com devoted to news about Montgomery County government and politics.
Donald Trump may have started an unwelcome trend. An outsider who started as a joke rather than a serious contender in the wide-open GOP presidential primaries last year, Trump pulled off America’s biggest upset. Today he’s president and now just about anyone thinks he, or she, can do the same thing. Exhibit A is Maryland Congressman John Delaney. He thinks he should be president.
Sen. Cheryl Kagan is an unconventional politician, particularly when it comes to fundraising. No breakfast fundraisers or evening receptions for the Gaithersburg senator. Kagan goes more for ice cream socials and afternoon concerts with the kind of singer-songwriters she’s been promoting in house concerts for years, as she did Sunday afternoon at an art gallery in the new Crown section of Gaithersburg, part of District 17.
Given Republican Gov. Larry Hogan’s widespread popularity, it is difficult to grasp why so many Democrats are jumping into the race for chief executive of Maryland. The June 26 Democratic primary – 11 months from now – looks like it will be so chock full of candidates that it may be impossible to predict the winner.
