Josh Kurtz, Maryland Matters

Raskin to introduce first suicide prevention legislation since his son’s death

U.S. Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-8th), whose personal life and political career were incalculably upended by his son’s suicide, is introducing his first major mental health and suicide prevention legislation since Tommy Raskin died on Dec. 31, 2020, at the age of 25.

The Stabilization To Prevent (STOP) Suicide Act would create a grant program at the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, an agency within the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, to expand the use of evidence-based models for stabilizing individuals with serious thoughts of suicide.

The bipartisan bill will be co-sponsored by U.S. Rep. Don Bacon (R-Neb.).

“We have to intervene to help people who are suffering and provide a long-term stabilization plan,” Raskin said in an interview Wednesday.

Raskin has spoken frequently and eloquently about the loss of his son, a Harvard Law student who had long battled depression, during the loneliest days of the COVID-19 pandemic. Tommy Raskin’s death came less than a week before the Jan. 6, 2021, riot at the U.S. Capitol, a defining moment in his father’s political career. The congressman wrote a highly regarded book in 2022 called “Unthinkable: Trauma, Truth, and the Trials of American Democracy,” which examined the dual crises that came to dominate his life.

Raskin was the lead manager of former President Donald Trump’s second impeachment trial and served on the special House committee that examined the causes of the insurrection. He has made the preservation of U.S. democracy a cornerstone of his congressional work and political barnstorming.

But while Raskin has spoken about mental illness and suicide prevention since his son’s illness, and was active in the congressional push to expand the national 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline, the new bill is his first major piece of mental health legislation since his family’s tragedy. The bill, which was several years in the making, is expected to be introduced Thursday or Friday.

“It’s a melancholy event for me,” Raskin said. “The rates of suicide have just been drastically increasing.”

Thomas Bloom “Tommy” Raskin. Family photo.

The bill comes amid U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reports that suicide rates in the United States increased a by about 36% between 2000 and 2022. Almost 50,000 people died by suicide in 2022, the most recent data available. That same year, an estimated 13.2 million adults seriously thought about suicide, and 1.6 million adults attempted suicide.

“It’s almost like we have a Vietnam War every year, with people taking and losing their lives,” Raskin said. “It has been a very stressful and difficult period for people in this country, for young people especially.”

The measure aims to fill a gap in suicide crisis care by providing grants for mental health providers to create or expand programs to deliver outpatient or virtual stabilization services to people experiencing serious thoughts of suicide. The idea is to expand crisis stabilization services for at-risk individuals to better direct care and to relieve pressure from emergency service providers, who are called into action in the most serious cases.

“I wanted to do something that is more sustained and durable,” Raskin said.

Under the bill, the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration would provide grant recipients with training and technical assistance and would publicize an evaluation of services supported by the grant program to ensure the dissemination of best practices. Grant recipients would be required to provide a continuity plan for how they will continue to finance the provision of stabilization services when the grant funding expires.

Eligible grant recipients would include community health centers, rural health clinics, certified community behavioral health clinics, primary care and behavioral health providers, state health agencies, and school-based or campus-based health centers.

Raskin’s office said several mental health organizations have agreed to support the Raskin-Bacon legislation, including the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention, Anxiety and Depression Association of America, Association for Behavioral Health and Wellness, Children and Adults with Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder, National Association of Pediatric Nurse Practitioners, National Council for Mental Wellbeing, National Alliance on Mental Illness, National League for Nursing, Sheppard Pratt, and Trust for America’s Health.

Raskin conceded that with just a few months left in this Congress ― and with both parties once again hurtling toward a budget impasse ― it may be tough to get the legislation through this year.

“Where there’s a will, there’s a way,” he said. “I’m hopeful that this is something we can bring home quickly. If anything, we’re laying down a marker to pass something in the next Congress.”

And, Raskin said hopefully, “mental health is one of those issues where we still get authentic bipartisan engagement, which is good.”

In 2021, in unanimous votes, the Maryland General Assembly passed the Thomas Bloom Raskin Act, a tribute to Raskin’s son, which established voluntary mental health check-ins from trained and accredited mental health professionals through the state’s 211 system. The law also connects callers with crisis services if needed.

Raskin spent 10 years in the Maryland Senate before being elected to Congress.

Raskin said Bacon, one of the last Republican moderates in the House, who represents an Omaha-based district that President Biden won in 2020, was a good partner for this legislation because he has already worked on mental health issues and entered Congress at the same time as Raskin, in 2017.

“He’s someone I’ve known for a long time and feel comfortable working with,” Raskin said.

Maryland Matters is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Maryland Matters maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Steve Crane for questions: editor@marylandmatters.org. Follow Maryland Matters on Facebook and X.

John Bolton airs TV ad attacking MD senate candidate Angela Alsobrooks

The ad looks like any political TV attack ad: Gray, grainy images. Big, bold words that convey negative information. Pictures of scary, rogue international leaders.

The ad, which began airing this week, targets Prince George’s County Executive Angela Alsobrooks, the Democratic nominee for U.S. Senate. But it doesn’t come from Alsobrooks’ Republican opponent, former Gov. Larry Hogan.

Instead, it’s paid for by the John Bolton PAC, the political action committee of John Bolton, former President Donald Trump’s one-time national security adviser, and the U.S. ambassador to the U.N. under former President George W. Bush.

The 30-second spot has a female narrator and is interspersed with pictures of crime scenes and crime statistics.

“Since Angela Alsobrooks took over, violent crime, homicides, carjackings, property crime,” the narrator says, with graphics showing them rising. “If you live in Prince George’s County, you already know it, or you’re a victim yourself. Alsobrooks’ answer is lies and excuses.”

The images then switch to pictures of foreign leaders: Vladimir Putin of Russia, Xi Jinping of China, and Ayatollah Sayid Ali Khamenei of Iran.

“If she backs down to local criminals, will she stand up to international threats like these guys?” the narrator asks. “Angela Alsobrooks — too soft, too inexperienced for dangerous times.”

But Alsobrooks was up with a new TV ad of her own this week, reiterating the oft-repeated Democratic talking point that Hogan is, in fact, a Republican.

The 30-second spot doesn’t offer much context, featuring footage of Hogan in several TV interviews from the past few years. It seeks to remind people that while he may be a critic of former President Donald Trump, he is nevertheless a loyal Republican.

The capper: An interview with Axios earlier this year. Asked if he plans to caucus with Republicans if he’s elected to the Senate, Hogan replies, “Of course I am, I’m a lifelong Republican.”

The ad ends with the standard disclaimer from the Democrat: “I’m Angela Alsobrooks, and I approved this message.”

Bolton’s ad buy is part of a more than $1 million investment he is making in the Senate race on Hogan’s behalf, though the PAC and the former governor’s campaign cannot coordinate activities. The PAC said Bolton’s ads are currently being seen on connect television, cable TV, social media, YouTube TV and YouTube, and satellite radio platforms.

Most people probably don’t remember that Bolton, 75, is a native Baltimorean, the son of a firefighter and a homemaker who grew up in the city at the Baltimore County line, near Catonsville. He won a scholarship to the prestigious McDonough School, where he headed a Students for Goldwater chapter during the 1964 presidential election. Later, as a Yale Law School student, he interned with then-Vice President Spiro Agnew, a Marylander.

Jamie Raskin prosecutes the case against Trump's MAGA allies with humor

CHICAGO — During his first campaign for public office in 2006, when he ousted a 32-year state senator in the Democratic primary, U.S. Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-8th) called his scores of youthful volunteers “the democracy corps.”

That loose amalgamation of youthful energy has morphed through the years into the Democracy Summer, a robust program sponsored by Raskin and the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee that dispatches young people across the country to work for progressive candidates and causes.

But “Democracy Summer” could also describe part of the campaign Democrats are waging against former President Donald Trump and his political allies.

And Raskin has been right in the thick of it.

Already he’s been on the road to two dozen states this election cycle, campaigning for — and sometimes against — various candidates. He’s been moving frenetically throughout Chicago during the Democratic National Convention this week, speaking to several groups. And on Monday evening, he became the first of three high-profile Maryland political leaders to speak on the convention floor in prime time (Gov. Wes Moore and Prince George’s County Executive Angela Alsobrooks were the others).

All the while he’s been delivering good-humored zingers at his political foes that also expose the severity of the challenges facing the U.S.

Raskin’s floor speech was keyed to his experience as a constitutional scholar — and his roles as the impeachment manager of Trump’s second trial and as a key member of the special House committee that investigated the Jan. 6, 2021 insurrection at the U.S. Capitol. Much of his speech focused on that terrifying day — though he began it by saying, “Hello, America! Welcome to democracy convention!”

He went on to prosecute the case against Trump and his running mate, U.S. Sen. JD Vance (R-Ohio).

“Make no mistake, a man who uses fraud, theft and violence to take power will commit any crime to keep it,” Raskin told the delegates. “We’re going to defeat Donald Trump, the career criminal and incorrigible recidivist con man and his pet chameleon, JD Vance.”

But the convention speech was just part of Raskin’s agenda this week.

According to a schedule provided by the congressman’s campaign office, Raskin has spoken to eight state delegations, including Maryland — almost as many as Moore. He spoke at a meeting of the Democratic National Committee’s Interfaith Council and at a meeting of the DNC’s Climate Crisis Council. And he hosted one of the Maryland delegation’s late-night after-parties, at Harry Caray’s Tavern on Chicago’s Navy Pier — a celebration that seemed very much in Raskin’s image.

There, he hosted a reunion of some members of the indie band The Dispatch, which thrilled some members of the Maryland convention delegation.

“My favorite band,” said the party chair, Ken Ulman.

“The soundtrack to my college years,” said Frederick County Executive Jessica Fitzwater (D).

There, the band played some songs from a rock opera that Dispatch leader Chad Stokes has written called “1972,” which follows a young woman who is attempting to obtain an illegal abortion and features some of the characters she meets along the way.

Raskin advised the schmoozing politicos to go outside if they didn’t want to listen to the music. But first, he introduced the crowd to Harry Dunn, the former U.S. Capitol Police officer whom Raskin credited with saving his life, and to Michael Cohen, Trump’s former attorney and fixer, whom Raskin called “a born-again patriot.”

‘Everyone has their own Sugar Daddy’

At midday Thursday, a large room in a makeshift space in downtown Chicago known as the Democracy House was like an MSNBC junkie’s dream. Assembled there to discuss the prospects for reforming the Supreme Court were Melissa Murray, a New York University law professor and MSNBC commentator; Elie Mystal, the justice reporter for The Nation magazine, who can summon outrage the way most people breathe; Michael Waldman, the director of the Brennan Center for Justice at the New York University Law School, who has written a book about the court; Adrianne Shropshire, the director of Black PAC, an organization that mobilizes Black voters; U.S. Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse (D-R.I.), a senior member of the Senate Judiciary Committee; and Raskin.

For the congressman, shining a spotlight on the Supreme Court is part of his crusade to save democracy.

“There’s a fantastic ethics crisis taking place on the court,” Raskin told the crowd.

When Murray referred to the court as “a millionaire emotional support group,” Raskin chimed in, “Everyone [on the court] has their own Sugar Daddy … The nation’s highest court has the lowest ethics. Anyone in Congress would be in jail” if they accepted favors from rich benefactors the way Raskin said some justices do.

Whitehouse suggested something sinister has been afoot at the high court for years, but that it only began to come into focus after justices voted to repeal Roe v. Wade in 2022.

“You cannot explain this court with the term conservative,” he said. “That is the wrong term to use. You have to use the term covert operation. Or regulatory capture.”

Mystal called Leonard Leo, who as head of the Federalist Society promoted conservatives for federal judgeships, “a groomer.”

“People like [Justices] Neil Gorsuch and Amy Coney Barrett, they were not born, they were made in a lab by Leonard Leo,” he said.

Shropshire said that Black voters have become increasingly alarmed about the direction of the Supreme Court since justices began chipping away at voting rights laws. When Black voters are asked by pollsters what they fear most, the Supreme Court comes in second, behind Trump’s reelection.

“I think all of us have to fall out of love with the Supreme Court of the United States,” Raskin said. “That doesn’t mean fall out of love with the Constitution or the Bill of Rights.”

Raskin lamented that he was planning to speak more about the Supreme Court during his convention address, but joked that he was asked by convention organizers to cut his 5,000-word speech down by 4,550 words. Still, he said, he was proud to use the term “Kangaroo Supreme Court of the United States” on the convention floor.

“I just want to note, this [conversation] is unusually spicy,” Murray said at one point.

‘Mustard that agrees with your Constitution’

Also spicy are the jars of mustard that Raskin has been handing out during convention week, “Jamie’s Strong & Sweet Democracy Mustard,” which features the slogan “Mustard that agrees with your Constitution” on its label.

The mustard was produced by Raskin’s cousins, who operate the National Mustard Museum in Middleton, Wisconsin.

The jars went especially quickly when Raskin addressed the Maryland convention delegation Thursday morning, zinging insults at Trump and Republicans to the great joy of his audience. Noting Vance’s conversion from anti-Trumper in 2016 to Trump’s running mate in 2024, he said, “Everybody’s waiting for the big debate between our amazing nominee, Kamala Harris, and Donald Trump. I’m waiting for the debate between J,D. Vance and J.D. Vance.”

Raskin also said that in response to Republicans’ insistence on referring to Democrats as “The Democrat Party,” he has taken to calling Republicans “Banana Republicans.” When he informed his wife that he had “finally gotten back at them,” she observed, “That was an extremely immature response.”

But he’s still using the line, and there’s no rest for the weary: Raskin next takes his act on the road this weekend to Saranac Lake, N.Y., in the Adirondack Mountains — not exactly a hotbed of progressive politics — where he’ll be raising money for his own campaign and for Democracy Summer.

'Are we on fire?': Behind Kamala Harris’ down-ballot impact

The heat was suffocating when 70 Democratic politicians and activists gathered on a Frederick parking lot the other day for a rally organized by a national Democratic youth group. But the Democrats saw a hopeful metaphor.

“Are we on fire?” April McLain Delaney, the Democratic nominee in the 6th Congressional District, asked the crowd.

Even with the withering early afternoon sun, the energy was palpable — and most of the Democrats there attributed it to the recent change at the top of the ticket, with Vice President Kamala Harris poised to replace President Biden as the party’s White House nominee. Several people said they expect that momentum to accrue to Delaney in the open-seat 6th District race, and especially to Prince George’s County Executive Angela Alsobrooks (D) in her battle against former Gov. Larry Hogan (R) for the state’s open U.S. Senate seat.

“We have to make sure that the energy we all felt after President Biden, with all his accomplishments, stepped down and turned things over to Vice President Harris, that that energy trickles down to these two amazing women,” said Frederick County Executive Jessica Fitzwater (D).

After fretting for the previous month that the presidential election was slipping away, Democrats from coast to coast have sensed a shift, and a surge in enthusiasm, in the race in the two weeks since Biden announced he wouldn’t seek reelection and Harris quickly became the heir apparent. And most Democratic strategists believe at least some of that same boost is materializing in down-ballot races across the country.

But how is that phenomenon materializing in Maryland’s two most competitive general elections — the Senate race and the 6th District race between Delaney and former Del. Neil C. Parrott (R-Washington)? Is it real and is it, for Democrats, sustainable?

Opinions differ.

“Every election is driven to some extent by what’s happening at the top,” said Patrick Gonzales, an Annapolis-based independent pollster and political consultant. But Gonzales said the developments at the top of the ticket play in different ways in the two big Maryland races.

The basic contours and narratives of these two competitive races haven’t changed all that much in the past few weeks. And yet, the Alsobrooks camp clearly believes that their candidate, a Black woman and former prosecutor, benefits from the presence of Harris, a Black woman and former prosecutor — who, incidentally, is a friend and mentor to Alsobrooks — at the top of the ticket. Turnout among Black women, stalwart supporters of Democrats generally, should be supercharged with Harris as the presidential nominee against former President Donald Trump.

“I hope you all feel the euphoria that we’ve all felt for the past week,” Alsobrooks told the crowd at the Frederick rally, which was organized by the Tour to Save Democracy, a Democratic youth group that has been stumping in swing congressional districts over the past three weeks.

All along, one of the main arguments for Alsobrooks as she presses her campaign against Hogan, a popular two-term governor who is considered a moderate by modern Republican standards, is that Democrats need to maintain control of the U.S. Senate.

“The question we are asking in this election is not whether we like Larry Hogan, or whether we think he was a good governor,” Alsobrooks said. “The question we are asking in this election is who gets the 51st vote” in the Senate.

Harris’ presence in the race, Alsobrooks said after the youth rally, reinforces that message.

“Nobody understands more than Vice President Harris the importance of keeping the majority in the Senate,” she said.

Asked whether they see a change in dynamic in the Senate race since Harris became the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee, the Hogan campaign did not answer directly. Blake Kernen, a Hogan spokesperson, said, “In politics today, we expect candidates to prioritize their allegiance to party leaders over the interests of their constituents. Marylanders know that’s not Governor Hogan. Governor Hogan has a proven record of independent leadership, challenging hyper-partisanship, advancing Maryland’s priorities and restoring decency and common sense to our nation’s politics. That is what these chaotic times call for, and that’ll be his focus regardless of who’s at the top of the ticket.”

Vice President Kamala Harris speaks to the Zeta Phi Beta Sorority Grand Boule at the Indiana Convention Center on July 24, 2024 in Indianapolis. Photo by Scott Olson/Getty Images.

But Paul Ellington, a Republican strategist and former executive director of the Maryland GOP, said Alsobrooks can’t help but benefit from the Harris presence as the White House nominee.

“This will be like ’08, when the base the county executive is going to need in November is going to be super excited,” he said.

Hogan continues to highlight his political independence. Last week, he debuted a 90-second digital ad that spotlighted the career of the late U.S. Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.), a political maverick, and tried to cast himself in McCain’s image. Hogan was also the rare Republican last week to blast Trump after he questioned Harris’ racial identity during an appearance before the National Association of Black Journalists, though he did not mention the ex-president by name.

“It’s unacceptable and abhorrent to attack Vice President Harris or anyone’s racial identity,” Hogan wrote on X. “The American people deserve better.”

During his successful campaigns for governor in 2014 and 2018, when he defeated Black Democrats, Hogan picked up significant chunks of Black voters and Democratic voters — taking about 30% of each voting bloc in 2018, when he won reelection by more than a dozen points. Several strategists and political analysts believe that he will need to come close to duplicating those numbers to have any chance against Alsobrooks — which will be difficult in a presidential election year, and with an abortion rights initiative on the statewide ballot.

Three leading nonpartisan political handicappers — The Cook Political Report, Inside Elections, and the University of Virginia Center for Politics — all rate the Maryland Senate race as “Likely Democrat” at the moment.

Maryland Democrats, including the Alsobrooks campaign, continue to hammer Hogan on being the choice of national Republicans, and the stakes involved in this election. Alsobrooks, following the youth rally last week, called it “an example” of the burgeoning Democratic enthusiasm as the election grows closer.

Gonzales, the pollster — who plans to be in the field with a statewide survey later this month, after the Democratic National Convention — said both Hogan and Alsobrooks are well-established political figures whose political fortunes may not automatically be linked to national trends.

“My sense is by the time the election rolls around, both Angela Alsobrooks, who is getting known to the voters of Maryland, and Gov. Larry Hogan are two candidates who are going to stand on their own,” Gonzales said. “They both possess distinct political qualities that are going to create an election where the two of them are going to rise and fall on their own.”

‘Western Maryland will show up’ for Trump, Parrott

In the 6th District, the dynamic is a little different. Running in the only swing congressional district in the state, Delaney may benefit from overall Democratic optimism and enthusiasm, but she still has to modulate and moderate her message while staying away from some of the perceived leftwing policies of Harris.

The 6th District, which takes in a piece of Montgomery County and then runs through Frederick, Washington, Allegany and Garrett counties, also has huge swaths of territory where Trump will be a huge asset to Parrott. Delaney said as much, even as she acknowledged witnessing “so much excitement [among Democrats] right now.”

“With Hogan at the top of the ticket, with Trump — and some people would march anywhere with Trump — we have our work cut out for us,” Delaney said. She added that Parrott, as the three-time Republican nominee in the district, is better known to voters at this point than she is, even though her husband, former U.S. Rep. John Delaney (D), held the seat from 2013 to 2019.

Ellington, the GOP strategist, said the national political trends “will have some bleedover” in the 6th District, and that Trump at the top of the ticket benefits Parrott.

“The energy level among the Trump base is high, and Western Maryland will show up for them,” he said.

Parrott did not respond to a request for comment last week.

At the national level, both parties are watching the race carefully and believe it is close – but it has yet to rise to a top priority contest for either side. Two of the three national handicappers currently rate the race as “Likely Democratic,” while Inside Elections recently put it in the “Safe Democratic” category, in part because it judged Delaney to be a stronger Democratic nominee than some of the candidates she defeated in the May 14 primary.

Gonzales said the 6th District’s voter registration is roughly 42% Democratic, 40% Republican, and 18% independent voters. That means Parrott and Delaney have to motivate their political bases while also appealing to swing voters.

While Parrott benefits from the fact that he’s the GOP nominee for the third straight election and enjoys some measure of name recognition as a result, Delaney benefits from the robust spending of the district’s outgoing congressman, David Trone (D), which he used in part to paint Parrott as out of the political mainstream.

Delaney made some of the same arguments last week.

“In my race, whether it’s Hogan or Parrott, they’re both extremists — and we have to work to get that message out,” she said.

But in competitive House races across the country, the National Republican Congressional Committee is trying to paint the Democrats as extremists — and Harris becomes a handy conduit.

Last week, after the U.S. Justice Department announced that it had reached plea deals with some of the architects of the 9/11 terrorist strikes, the NRCC issued 30 separate news releases attacking vulnerable House Democrats and congressional nominees in competitive districts. Delaney did not merit her own targeted attack from the NRCC, but the campaign committee labeled the news as “the Harris terrorist plea deal.”

“Kamala Harris’ terrorist plea deal is yet another example of Democrats’ failure to protect the American people,” said NRCC spokesperson Savannah Viar said of the plea deals, which have since been withdrawn by Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin.

Similarly, the Maryland Republican Party, in a social media post last week, wrote, “This election is not going to be a fight against a typical Democrat, this is a fight to prevent the most extreme far-left President in the history of the United States.”

Is that rhetoric going to carry the day in Maryland with Democrats so much more motivated to turn out than they were just a few weeks ago?

Drew Spiegel, an organizer with the Tour to Save Democracy, the Democratic youth group that hosted the rally in Frederick last week, has been visiting competitive congressional districts in California, Arizona, Texas, Nebraska, Michigan and Pennsylvania for the past few weeks, and the tour was on its way to Syracuse, N.Y., after leaving Maryland.

“You’re definitely seeing more enthusiasm in gatherings and on social media,” he said. “Now it’s starting to translate to the polls.”

Anti-Trump Larry Hogan announces last-minute U.S. Senate bid

Former Gov. Larry Hogan (R), who for years disavowed any interest in serving in the U.S. Senate, has had a change of heart and announced a last-minute bid for Maryland's vacant Senate seat on Friday afternoon — hours before the filing deadline for candidates to enter the May 14 primary.

In an announcement video that lasted 2 minutes and 48 seconds, with Hogan directly addressing the camera, he cast his decision to run as a crusade to bring common sense and courtesy to the broken politics of Capitol Hill.

"Like a vast majority of Marylanders, I’m completely fed up with politics as usual," Hogan said. "Politicians in Washington seem more interested in arguing than in getting anything done for the people they represent. Enough is enough. We can do so much better — but not if we keep electing the same kind of partisan politicians. Look, I don’t come from the performative art school of politics. I come from the get to work and get things done school. And I’ll work with anyone who wants to work on the people’s business."

I am running for the United States Senate – not to serve one party – but to stand up to both parties, fight for Maryland, and fix our nation's broken politics. It’s what I did as Maryland’s governor, and it’s exactly how I'll serve Maryland in the Senate. Let’s get back to work. pic.twitter.com/d0TuZchAtN
— Governor Larry Hogan (@GovLarryHogan) February 9, 2024

Hogan quietly filed at the Maryland State Board of Elections Office in Annapolis on Friday morning, Maryland State Elections Administrator Jared DeMarinis confirmed.

Hogan's decision instantly transforms the race to replace departing U.S. Sen. Ben Cardin (D) — a seat the Democrats felt confident they would hold in November.

The leading contenders in the Democratic primary are Prince George's County Executive Angela Alsobrooks (D) and U.S. Rep. David Trone (D-6th).

Trone and Alsobrooks put out statements shortly after Hogan's announcement, each revealing an aspect of the attacks Democrats are likely to hurl at Hogan throughout the campaign.

Trone's sought to tie the popular former governor to former President Donald Trump, the near-certain GOP presidential nominee, and to Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.), who could be back in charge of the Senate if Republicans pick up just one or two seats this November, depending on the outcome of the White House election.

"Larry Hogan’s candidacy is nothing but a desperate attempt to return Mitch McConnell and Donald Trump to power and give them the deciding vote to ban abortion nationwide, suppress votes across the country, and give massive tax cuts to the wealthiest Americans," Trone said. "Marylanders are tired of empty promises from career politicians like Larry Hogan."

Alsobrooks also leaned into the abortion issue in her statement.

"We know what's at stake in this election — our fundamental freedoms over our bodies," she said. "When I join the Democratic Majority, I'll be a leader in fighting to defend those freedoms because I'm the only person in this race — on either side — who's never compromised on that issue."

Without directly saying so, Alsobrooks also suggested that unlike Trone and Hogan, two wealthy businessmen, she is the only candidate "who understands the challenges Marylanders face."

A change of heart

Hogan's announcement stunned Maryland political leaders on both sides of the aisle.

Over the last two years, the former governor has repeatedly rejected the idea of running for a seat on Capitol Hill.

Hogan's video offered no insight into his change of mind.

"The former governor never showed a great deal of interest in the legislature previously," said state Senate President Bill Ferguson (D-Baltimore City). "I'm surprised he's interested in throwing his hat in the ring for U.S. Senate."

Michael Ricci, a spokesman for the newly minted Hogan Senate campaign, said Hogan has no media availability planned yet for Friday or the weekend.

This breaking news story will be updated.

Feds charge Maryland elections official with Jan. 6 crimes

A Republican member of the Maryland State Board of Elections was arrested by federal authorities this week and charged for his alleged role in the Jan. 6, 2021 insurrection at the U.S. Capitol, the U.S. Department of Justice has announced.

Carlos Ayala, 52, of Salisbury, was charged in a criminal complaint filed in the District of Columbia with civil disorder, a felony. Ayala has also been charged with related misdemeanor offenses.

Ayala, who as confirmed to the state board last May, was arrested Tuesday by the FBI in Maryland and made an initial appearance in the District of Columbia, according to court records. He was released on personal recognizance and must ask for permission to leave the state of Maryland pending trial. He cannot possess firearms while out on bail.

Ayala is being represented by James Trusty, a former attorney for Donald Trump. Trusty could not be immediately reached on Thursday morning.

According to allegations contained in a 13-page charging document, Ayala was identified as being part of a group of rioters illegally gathered on restricted Capitol grounds near the scaffolding erected for the inauguration of then-President-elect Biden, which was scheduled for Jan. 20, 2021. Federal officials say Ayala wore a sweatshirt hood cinched tightly around his head, a grey 3M-style painter's mask with large filters on each cheek, and, at times, carried a distinctive black and white flag affixed to a PVC pipe flagpole bearing the words "We the People" and "DEFEND." An image of an M-16-style rifle was featured prominently on the flag.

The Justice Department said Ayala is seen on video footage climbing over police barricades and making his way to the Upper West Terrace of the Capitol as rioters overran the police lines on the stairs adjacent to the scaffolding. Ayala then moved toward the front of the crowd gathered outside a door on the Senate side of the Capitol. Security footage from inside the Capitol, near the Senate side door, allegedly shows Ayala waving his flag inside one of the windows next to the door.

Although a U.S. Capitol Police officer motioned Ayala away from the window, Ayala allegedly then moved toward the Senate Wing door, which had been previously breached by rioters and where officers had erected a makeshift barricade. Video footage taken from inside the Capitol building shows a rioter positioned to the right side of the Senate wing door, the same area where Ayala was present, jabbing a flag and flagpole at a Capitol Police officer. The officer then grabbed the flagpole and pulled the flag into the building to prevent the rioter from knocking the officer's shield away or injuring other officers.

Court documents state that the flag matched the description of Ayala's flag, which he was holding moments before.

Minutes later, body-worn camera footage shows that Ayala paced in front of officers who had assembled on the Upper West Terrace to clear rioters from the area, the charging document contends. Ayala walked the length of the police line, gestured at the officers, and said, "Join us!"

The alleged crimes Ayala is accused of include knowingly entering a restricted building, impeding the orderly conduct of government business, disorderly conduct in a Capitol building, and obstructing federal law enforcement authorities during civil disorder.

The case is being prosecuted by the U.S. Attorney's Office for the District of Columbia and the Department of Justice National Security Division's Counterterrorism Section, and the DOJ said the U.S. Attorney's Office for Maryland provided "valuable assistance."

The case is being investigated by the FBI's Baltimore and Washington field offices, with "valuable assistance" from the U.S. Capitol Police and the Metropolitan Police Department.

Ayala was appointed to the state Board of Elections last year by Gov. Wes Moore (D) following a recommendation by the Maryland Republican Party, and won state Senate confirmation after the governor rejected one GOP pick for the board and the Senate rejected another.

Moore rejected the state GOP's nomination of William T. Newton last year, asserting that the frequent Republican candidate did "not meet our internal vetting standards."

The governor cited Newton's rejection of the outcome of the 2020 presidential election and a guilty plea involving "a crime of moral turpitude."

Newton pleaded guilty in 2019 to charges of misdemeanor embezzlement in a case involving his mother. Newton was sentenced to probation before judgment contingent on paying $16,495 in restitution in installments of $100 per month.

The Senate last year also rejected the nomination of Christine McCloud, a Howard County hypnotherapist whose election experience was limited to working for one candidate at a poll in the 2022 election.

Ayala is serving a four-year term on the elections board, due to expire in 2027.

According to a report on Ayala's arrest from WBOV-TV in Salisbury, Ayala is a former vice president at Perdue Farms in Salisbury whose mother was married to Frank Perdue, the former president and CEO of Perdue Farms, in the late 1980s.

Ayala is also currently listed as a member of the Administrative Charging Committee of the Law Enforcement Review Board of Wicomico County, WBOC reported. County Executive Julie Giordano (R) told the TV station she did not appoint Ayala to the board.

The DOJ said this week that more than 1,265 individuals have been charged in nearly all 50 states for crimes related to the breach of the U.S. Capitol, including more than 440 individuals charged with assaulting or impeding law enforcement, a felony. Multiple investigations are continuing.

This breaking news story will be updated. Danielle E. Gaines contributed to this report.

Someone files papers for Dan Cox to run for Congress — but he says it wasn’t him

Former Del. Dan Cox, the 2022 Republican nominee for governor in Maryland, appears to have filed to run for Congress in the 6th District on Monday.

But in a brief interview, Cox, who is contemplating the 6th District race to replace U.S. Rep. David Trone (D-6th), said it wasn't him.

Someone filed electronic paperwork with the Federal Election Commission on Monday, entering Cox into the 6th District race. But Cox said he and his wife Valerie are still discussing the possibility of him running for Congress next year and haven't made any definitive plans.

"We didn't make a decision," Cox said. "I'd like to know who did this."

Cox said he would contact the FEC to see if he could figure out who filed the paperwork and how to stop the unauthorized candidacy from moving forward.

It's possible, though not likely, that someone else named Dan Cox is seeking the congressional seat.

However, the FEC registration uses the same address that Cox used for his 2022 campaign for governor, a post office box in Frederick. In 2018, when he won a seat in the House of Delegates, and in 2016, when he unsuccessfully ran for a congressional seat in the 8th District, Cox used a P.O. Box in Emmitsburg.

Cox's entry into the race would no doubt delight Democrats, as they struggle to hold on to Trone's seat now that the three-term congressman has decided to run for U.S. Senate in 2024. The 6th District is far and away the most competitive in Maryland, and Democrats are fretting that without a self-funder like Trone as their nominee, the seat could slip into Republican hands, depending on the overall political dynamic in 2024.

Cox ran a campaign last year powered by his support for former President Trump, which resulted in a solid victory in the Republican gubernatorial primary over Kelly Schulz, the establishment favorite, but led to a wipeout in the general election against now-Gov. Wes Moore (D).

Cox's potential candidacy so excited one of the Democrats seeking Trone's seat, Del. Joe Vogel (D-Montgomery), that he put out a statement calling Cox an extremist who is "completely out of step with the voters of Maryland’s 6th Congressional District.

"We’ll hold Dan accountable on this campaign for his lies about the 2020 election, ties to the Proud Boys, embrace of QAnon, participation in the January 6th insurrection, and his support for abortion bans," Vogel said.

In fact, the race for the 6th District is still very much developing in both the Republican and Democratic primaries. So far, five Republicans have either filed paperwork with the FEC or the Maryland State Board of Elections to become candidates.

Just last week, former Del. Neil C. Parrott, Trone's Republican challenger in 2020 and 2022, announced that he had set up an exploratory committee ahead of a third possible bid for the seat, which will enable him to begin raising money. And former Del. Brenda J. Thiam (R-Washington) filed documents with the FEC to become a candidate, though she has made no public announcement about her plans.

In an interview last week, Del. Jason C. Buckel (R-Allegany), the House minority leader in Annapolis, told Maryland Matters he was still contemplating the race — but that he would likely make a decision in late August rather than late July, as he had originally planned, as he continues to consider the political climate as well as his personal and professional responsibilities.

Half a dozen Democrats have announced intentions or filed to run for the seat so far, but others are expected to follow.

Second quarter FEC reports, showing the candidates' financial activities from April 1 to June 30, are due to be filed on July 15, which will provide an early glimpse into their fundraising abilities.

Steny Hoyer at Dem gala: ‘Don’t write any obituaries’

Hundreds of Maryland Democrats braved evening rush hour traffic in two metropolitan areas Thursday to salute one of their own, celebrate recent political victories, and look ahead to the campaigns of 2024.

Officially, the Maryland Democratic Party's annual dinner at Martin's West catering hall in Woodlawn was a tribute to 84-year-old U.S. Rep. Steny H. Hoyer (D-5th), whose political career began in 1966. And the praise for the veteran lawmaker was effusive. But most people present — including Hoyer himself — were less interested in looking back than in mobilizing for the 2024 election.

Democrats in Maryland are still thrilling over their historic victories in 2022 — taking back the governor’s office, electing a diverse statewide ticket, maintaining supermajorities in the General Assembly, and dominating most large county governments in the state. But among most party stalwarts, there remain jitters about 2024, with President Biden’s popularity waning and polls showing him in a tossup race with former President Trump, despite Trump's myriad legal troubles.

"We’ve got to wake up, folks," U.S. Rep. Kweisi Mfume (D-7th) urged the crowd. "We’ve got 16 months to turn this around."

Speakers during the three-hour program — which ran almost twice as long as advertised, with a dinner break — included Maryland Democratic Chair Yvette Lewis, U.S. House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.), U.S. Sens. Ben Cardin (D) and Chris Van Hollen (D), Gov. Wes Moore (D), and Hoyer himself.

But the speaking program was only part of the attraction. With an open-seat Senate election on tap in 2024, and the cascading political dominoes it's creating, schmooze and gossip were at a premium at the black tie-optional event. The three current leading Democratic candidates for Senate — Prince George's County Executive Angela Alsobrooks, U.S. Rep. David Trone (6th) and Montgomery County Councilmember Will Jawando — were on hand, and Trone and Alsobrooks appeared in a video tribute to Hoyer, along with several other elected officials, including Biden.

Jawando, the least well known of the three contenders, said he was heartened about his prospects after pressing the flesh in a room full of 850 Democrats.

"It confirms what I always knew — that it's wide open," he said in an interview. "And this is insiders. So you can imagine how wide open it is with voters."

Adding to the night's political intrigue, Hoyer has not yet said whether he's seeking a 22nd full term next year. And there is some speculation that Rep. Dutch Ruppersberger (D-2nd), 77, who was recruited to run for Congress by Hoyer two decades ago, might retire.

Anyone expecting political announcements out of Thursday's event walked away disappointed. Hoyer hinted that he's ready to stay on the scene.

"Don't write any obituaries," he told the crowd.

Still, the usually loquacious Hoyer spoke for just 13 minutes, and seemed a little embarrassed by all the attention.

"I was listening to this program going on and said, 'Isn’t it a shame Steny died?'" he joked. "I’m just glad that I could hear it."

Mainly, Hoyer thanked everyone present for being part of his political journey. But he saved special praise for Cardin, who entered the Maryland General Assembly at the same time he did, in 1967, and Moore, whom he endorsed early in the 2022 Democratic primary. Hoyer compared the new governor to John F. Kennedy, whose appearance at the University of Maryland when Hoyer was a college student inspired him to get into politics.

"I like politics for what you can do," he said. "Not to just be. But to make a difference in people’s lives."

Hoyer, who has been a widower for 26 years, introduced the crowd to his fiancee, Elaine Kamarck (the two are marrying on Saturday). As he finished his speech, Lewis, the party chair and a former opera singer, led the crowd in song, singing the popular 1960's pop hit, "Chapel of Love."

Jeffries, who heads a new House Democratic leadership team that took over this year after Hoyer and other senior leaders relinquished their leadership posts, offered the fieriest speech of the evening, comparing the Democrats and their agenda to congressional Republicans. He referred to the Democrats as "Team Normal. Team Reasonable. Team Getting Stuff Done. Team Looks Like America.

"And what do you see on the other side?" he continued. "Team Chaos. Team Extremism."

Jeffries had the crowd leaping and cheering when he praised labor unions, calling them "an essential part of the American Dream. It's who we are and what we represent."

Jeffries even managed to crack jokes about the Jan. 6, 2021 insurrection at the U.S. Capitol, noting his discomfort as higher-ranking congressional leaders were led away by security officers. But he used the story to make a political point.

"I was waiting for somebody to come get me," he said. "But, y'all, they never came. And I said to myself, 'It's a good thing I'm from Brooklyn.' Why do I say that? Because you have to be prepared to protect our democracy."

The evening ended with a 25-minute speech from Moore, who largely restated themes from his successful campaign and thanked the audience for their role in producing such sweeping Democratic victories across the state last year.

"This was not about an election. This was about progress," he said. "This was about giving us the opportunity to work together. This was about giving us the opportunity to work collectively. This was the opportunity to see each other."

Moore, like many other speakers, suggested that the party's success in 2022 could serve as a template for 2024 — in Maryland and beyond.

Devang Shah, the state party treasurer, said the event raised about $350,000, about $100,000 more than last year's gala.

The Maryland Republican Party, struggling to pick up the pieces after its setbacks in 2022, held its annual fundraising dinner last week. South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem (R) was the featured speaker.

Biden fires up Democratic faithful at midterms rally with Maryland party leaders

Fresh from a series of policy wins, President Joe Biden kicked off the general election campaign season Thursday night with a well-attended rally at Richard Montgomery High School in Rockville.

Roused by an exuberant crowd in deeply Democratic Montgomery County, leading national and state party leaders expressed growing hope for Democrats nationally in the November mid-term elections.

“Let me state the obvious, there’s a lot at stake in this election,” Biden told the crowd of more than 2,400 in the school gymnasium.

The event was studded with Maryland’s own Democratic powerhouses, including House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer, Rep. Jamie Raskin, Sen. Ben Cardin and the Democratic nominees for governor and lieutenant governor, Wes Moore and Aruna Miller.

Moore sat on stage with Biden during the president’s speech.

After being introduced by Moore, Biden opened his 29-minute speech with generous remarks about several Maryland Democrats who had spoken before him, sprinkled with some good-natured ribbing.

“Wes is the real deal. Folks, he is a combat veteran. The only drawback is, he’s a Rhodes Scholar.”

Speaking of Maryland’s U.S. senators, Ben Cardin and Chris Van Hollen, Biden told the crowd, “You have literally two of the best senators in the United States.”

“They’re strong and principled and effective,” he said. “Keep them. You need them. No, I need them.”

Biden turned next to the two members of the House of Representatives who spoke, House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer and Jamie Raskin.

“Steny Hoyer, he’s been my friend for a long time. And how about that Jamie Raskin? He’s done an incredible job coming out of tragic circumstances for his family.”

A long list of party celebrities and statewide candidates served as warm-up acts to Biden, offering many of the same talking points about Democratic accomplishments of the past 18 months — the recently passed Inflation Reduction Act, bipartisan infrastructure act, gun reform laws — and drew contrasts with the Republican party under the influence of former President Donald Trump.

Some of the loudest bouts of applause throughout the night were for Biden’s student debt relief plan announced earlier in the week.

Vows to restore and protect reproductive rights also received especially loud cheers.

Biden promised the crowd that if Democrats win a majority in Congress, he would codify the rights once guaranteed by Roe v. Wade and said “I’m going to ban assault weapons in this country.”

“Were going to do it for your kids. Who are going to learn how to read and write in school, instead of duck and cover,” Biden said.

But the Democratic luminaries also stressed that they would not take anything for granted in the upcoming general election.

“People have said to me since our primary win: ‘Isn’t it great that you have to go up against Dan Cox?’” Moore told the crowd. “My answer is clear and consistent: Do not underestimate what we’re up against.”

Moore continued: “It is not ‘great’ that in November we are facing an election denier. An insurrectionist who called for Mike Pence to be hung for certifying a free and fair election,” Moore said. “For me, patriotism meant leaving my family and wearing my country’s uniform and leading soldiers with the 82nd Airborne in Afghanistan. For Dan Cox, patriotism meant organizing buses to join him at the capitol on January 6th.”

The emotional crest of the 2 1/2 long program was delivered by Raskin, long a folk hero in his Montgomery County-based district but rapidly becoming a national progressive icon due to his regular prosecution of the legal and political cases against Trump and his defense of U.S. democracy.

To wild cheers and applause, Raskin sought to delineate the differences between Democrats and Republicans, name-checking Thomas Jefferson, Franklin and Eleanor Roosevelt, John Lewis, “the great Elijah Cummings,” and “the last great Republican president, Abraham Lincoln” along the way.

He ended his speech by quoting Frederick Douglass and Thomas Paine.

“Tyranny, like hell, is not easily conquered,” Raskin said. “…The more difficult the struggle, the more glorious the end.”

Hoyer, known over his 55 years in Maryland politics for his long and passionate speeches, lamented having to follow Raskin on the program.

“These are the times that try Steny Hoyer’s soul, going after Jamie Raskin,” he quipped.

Republicans counter

Maryland Republicans and conservatives had hoped to use Biden’s appearance in Rockville for some counter-programming – and to publicize their own agenda.

But it didn’t entirely work out as planned.

Del. Dan Cox (R-Frederick), the GOP nominee for governor, had scheduled a news conference for Thursday afternoon outside the Montgomery County Circuit Courthouse in Rockville, just a few blocks from where the Democratic rally was taking place, but he abruptly canceled about two hours beforehand and issued a statement instead.

Promises of a large protest from the conservative group Help Save Maryland also did not appear to materialize. No demonstrators could be seen around the vast perimeter of Richard Montgomery High School for the 90 minutes leading up to the Democratic rally. Three separate Democratic operatives reported seeing two teenaged boys near the premises earlier in the day, one with a “Let’s Go Brandon” banner – a coded epithet for Biden – and the other wearing a “Reagan ‘84” T-shirt.

Two hours before the doors at Richard Montgomery opened, the Republican National Committee hosted a telephone news conference with Del. Neil Parrott (R-Washington), who is challenging U.S. Rep. David Trone (D) this year (Trone addressed the Democratic rally in a video).

“We’re here to discuss the costly failures of Joe Biden and Democrats like David Trone,” Parrott said at the top of his 20-minute presentation. “He can’t run away from his 100% voting record where he’s supported the Biden policies and Nancy Pelosi’s policies.”

Parrott, who lost to Trone by 20 points in 2020 but has a considerably better chance of winning this time thanks to new congressional district lines and a more favorable national political climate for the GOP, used the forum to discuss his life and career in politics and as a traffic engineer.

Parrott criticized Democratic programs for contributing to the nation’s high inflation rate, but mostly pledged to bring “good government policies” to Congress. He highlighted his work to defeat Democratic gerrymandering attempts in Maryland.

Parrott also accused Trone of being out of touch with his district, which takes in a piece of western Montgomery County and then extends west to Frederick, Washington, Allegany and Garrett counties.

“I’ve focused on my constituents,” he said. “My opponent votes in a partisan manner…Trone is totally supporting President Biden. Trone doesn’t live inside the district. He’s a D.C. insider. I live right in the center of the district, in Hagerstown.”

Parrott urged reporters who were listening in to pay attention to his race.

“As you’re following this election, you’re going to see that it’s close,” he said. “People want good government. They want more money in their pockets.”

In his statement, Cox sought to tie Moore to unpopular Biden policies.

“I will win this November and vigorously serve the people of Maryland as governor because the failed policies of the Biden Administration which Wes Moore is praising, advancing and will implement are disastrous for Maryland,” he said. “This could not be better highlighted as it is today with President Joe Biden’s visit to Richard Montgomery High School to campaign for Wes Moore in-person while Wes Moore appears to be avoiding in-person debates with me.”

Cox also made reference to past COVID-19 public health protocols, a staple of his campaign stump speeches.

“The people of Maryland want their freedom back. We want our state back. I will work hard and will implement the constitutional and pro-freedom policies that Marylanders want and deserve.”

Biden’s speech was briefly interrupted by a protester who attempted to shout at the president about the stolen 2020 election but he was quickly shouted down by the crowd and removed from the high school gymnasium.

The heckler was quickly escorted out. He was wearing a suit and as he was being removed he held up two fingers on each hand in a “V,” Nixon-style, and took a brief bow.

Attracting crowds

For hours before the rally, traffic snarled in downtown Rockville, with a massive line of wannabe attendees circling the high school property.

More than 2,400 people crammed into the school’s gymnasium, with nearly 1,300 others in overflow spaces in the school’s cafeteria and auditorium.

Before heading to the main event, Biden briefly appeared in both overflow rooms to greet supporters.

When Biden walked onto the stage in the school’s auditorium, the surprised crowd of several hundred stood up and cheered, according to a pool report.

“The good news of being in an overflow room is you can leave when I start to speak,” Biden told the crowd, which he addressed for about four minutes.

In the cafeteria, Biden posed for a group photo with the crowd, bending down so everybody could fit in the frame. He took three photos with different parts of the crowd behind him.

On the way to the rally, Biden stopped at a fundraiser at a private home in Bethesda. About 100 people were on hand and the event was expected to raise $1 million for the Democratic National Committee and the Democratic Grassroots Victory Fund.

He told the crowd gathered that he “underestimated how much damage the previous four years had done in terms of America’s reputation in the world” and that the party has “got to win” in November.

WATCH: President Joe Biden joins Wes Moore for DNC rally Thursday at local schoolwww.youtube.com

Elections official dies — and governor may be unable to appoint a Democratic replacement: report

Malcolm L. Funn, one of two Democratic members of the State Board of Elections, died unexpectedly Tuesday of complications from hernia surgery. He was 77.

The Calvert County resident’s death comes at a critical time for the state elections board, as it works to certify the results from the July 19 primaries and sets rules and procedures for the upcoming general election — and it adds some uncertainty to the board’s short-term agenda and work product.

Funn’s death also throws the partisan makeup of the board into greater imbalance: State and local elections boards by law have three members from the governor’s political party and two from other parties, so with Funn’s death the state board currently has three Republicans and just one Democrat. Every vote of the state elections board must pass with a supermajority; with only four board members at present, every vote must now be unanimous.

A spokesman for Gov. Lawrence J. Hogan Jr. (R), Michael Ricci, said Friday that the governor planned to appoint another Democrat to the board, who would serve through the end of Funn’s term in 2024, after receiving a recommended candidate from the Maryland Democratic Party, as is customary.

But other state officials said it was unclear whether Hogan had the ability to appoint a replacement; state law prevents a term-limited governor from making key appointments to executive branch agencies after the final primary election before his term runs out. The elections board’s status as an independent agency complicates the matter.

“I’ve asked the question myself,” William Voelp, the Republican chair of the State Board of Elections, said in an interview Friday. “There are some gymnastics.”

Nikki Charlson, Maryland’s deputy elections administrator, said the agency is seeking advice from the Office of Attorney General “on whether and how this vacancy can be filled.” A spokeswoman for Attorney General Brian Frosh (D) did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Local boards of elections in Maryland traditionally have alternate members who can serve if another member dies or leaves office. But the state board does not.

What may make it likelier that the governor can appoint a replacement for Funn is that in this instance, Hogan would simply ratify the selection of the state Democratic Party rather than advancing a candidate of his own. Because the General Assembly is not in session, his selection would serve until at least early next year, when the state Senate would begin its confirmation process. Assuming the new board member is confirmed by the Senate, he or she would serve through the end of Funn’s term — June 30, 2024.

Brandon Stoneburg, a spokesman for the Maryland Democratic Party, said there is no “pre-made list” of candidates, but that whenever the state receives official word that Hogan can replace Funn, the party’s executive committee would meet to discuss possible candidates and forward a name to the governor. Whenever there is a Democratic vacancy on the State Board of Elections, the legislature’s presiding officers have a major say on the appointment.

“Especially in an election year, we should have a full complement of members on the elections board,” said state Sen. Cheryl Kagan (D-Montgomery), the vice chair of the Education, Health and Environmental Affairs Committee, which has jurisdiction over elections. “I think it’s important to have strong bipartisan representation so Marylanders have faith in the process and the results of the general election.”

The state elections board has scheduled an emergency meeting for Monday afternoon to, among other things, discuss adjusting calendar dates for certain official steps in the election process to accommodate the fact that a court ordered the state to hold its primary in July, three weeks later than originally scheduled. But it’s also possible that the board will discuss Funn’s vacancy and may also designate one of its members to take over his position as vice chair. Later this summer, the board will hold a meeting to officially certify the primary election results.

But other pressing business remains to be sorted out in the weeks ahead, including whether the board wants to pursue legal action to force the state to open and count general election mail-in ballots before Election Day. Hogan this spring vetoed a bill from Kagan that would have enabled early counts of mail-in ballots during the primary; as a result of his veto, mail-in ballots weren’t opened across the state until two days after the primary, leaving some results still up in the air.

“I cannot speak for the entire board, but I would lean toward wanting to seek court relief to begin counting eight days early,” Voelp said. He added that the board had considered litigation on the timetable for mail-in ballot counting before the primary but felt there wasn’t enough time to successfully pursue a court case and prepare for possible early ballot-counting.

The questions and uncertainty come as Funn’s former colleagues mourn his sudden passing.

“Malcolm and I were kindred spirits and very good friends,” said Voelp, who received an email from Funn at 11:19 p.m. on the day before he died.

Hogan, in a statement provided to Maryland Matters, said Funn “was a deeply dedicated member of his community, and an example for all of us to emulate.”

Former state Sen. Patrick “P.J.” Hogan — no relation to the governor — who served with Funn on the elections board, said he was “shocked and saddened” to learn of his death.

“I enjoyed working with him very much,” he said. “I found him to be inquisitive and thoughtful and very practical as we debated all the nuances of the elections, especially during the two years of the pandemic.”

In contrast to other states, P.J. Hogan, said, the state elections board is “very collegial,” and Funn epitomized that.

Through his life, Funn had a long list of civic engagement, including serving on the Calvert County Planning Commission and the county liquor board, as first vice president of the Calvert County NAACP, and on several other local boards. He was also active with the group Strong Schools Maryland.

The vacancy on the state elections board highlights that the composition of all elections boards in Maryland will change if Democrat Wes Moore is elected to replace Hogan as governor. If that happens, Democrats would gradually take 3-2 control of all those boards.

The terms of elections officials in Baltimore City and the 23 counties run concurrently, giving Moore the opportunity to reconstitute them almost immediately. The terms of local elections board members start the first Monday of June of the year following a gubernatorial election.

The new governor would replace members of the state elections board as their terms expire. The terms of all three Republican members — Voelp, Severn Miller and T. Sky Woodward — expire on June 20, 2023.

If Del. Dan Cox (R-Frederick) is elected governor, the elections boards would retain their 3-2 Republican majorities.

Trump-backed Dan Cox slammed for the 'cynical policies of conspiracy theories and fear': report

Wes Moore, whose by-the-bootstraps life story has led to stints as an entrepreneur, nonprofit CEO, and best-selling author, claimed victory Saturday in the Democratic primary for governor, taking him one step closer to the pinnacle of Maryland politics in his first run for elected office.

The Associated Press called the primary for Moore at 11 p.m. Friday, but Moore waited until late Saturday afternoon to acknowledge the victory, waiting for his nearest competitor, former U.S. Labor Secretary Tom Perez, to concede.

“Thank you not just for your votes, but for the votes of confidence,” Moore told a roomful of cheering supporters Saturday at his campaign’s field office on Madison Avenue in West Baltimore.

As of Saturday afternoon, the Maryland State Board of Elections showed Moore with 33.77%, Perez with 28.34%, state Comptroller Peter Franchot with 21.47%, and seven other Democratic candidates splitting the rest. Franchot conceded on Friday.

In his concession statement Saturday, which came at about 3:30 p.m., Perez, who also served as Maryland Labor secretary and as chair of the Democratic National Committee, pledged his full support to Moore and his running mate, former Del. Aruna Miller (D-Montgomery).

“I congratulate Wes Moore and Aruna Miller on their hard-fought victory,” Perez said. “Now is the time for us to unite, and I look forward to aggressively working with them to flip Maryland blue this November.”

Moore now heads to a general election with the Republican nominee, Del. Dan Cox, an arch-conservative who has parroted former President Trump’s line that the 2020 White House election was stolen. Some Republican leaders — chief among them Gov. Lawrence J. Hogan Jr., who supported Cox’s chief GOP primary opponent, former state Commerce Secretary Kelly Schulz — have tried to distance themselves from Cox. Hogan, who has branded Cox “a QAnon whack job,” earlier this week predicted that Cox could not win the general election.

Moore wasted no time trying to draw contrasts between himself and Cox.

“The choice could not be more clear,” he said, accusing Cox of fomenting divisiveness and promoting “cynical policies of conspiracy theories and fear.”

The fall campaign pits a political novice against a first-term state lawmaker with few legislative accomplishments in a race that Democrats are favored to win. But Democrats, eager to take back Government House after eight years of Hogan, will have to cope with overconfidence and national political headwinds that could boost Republicans.

Moore pledged that Democrats would not take the general election for granted.

“There’s some sense that [Cox] hasn’t been taken seriously in the past,” he said. “I will take my opponent very seriously.”

Although this is first campaign for office, Moore lined up a seasoned campaign team and attracted a steady stream of support from an array of elected officials, including U.S. House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer, both presiding officers of the General Assembly, former Gov. Parris Glendening, Prince George’s County Executive Angela Alsobrooks, Anne Arundel County Executive Steuart Pittman, and Reps. Dutch Ruppersberger and Kweisi Mfume. He also raised more money than other candidates by a substantial margin.

Two dozen elected officials attended the Moore victory celebration, including Baltimore Mayor Brandon Scott (D), who remained neutral during the gubernatorial primary, and Del. Brooke Lierman (D-Baltimore City), the newly-minted Democratic nominee for state comptroller. Ruppersberger, Alsobrooks and Miller spoke before Moore did.

Moore, 43, was born in Takoma Park and lived in the Washington, D.C., area, but his family’s fortunes took a turn for the worse when his father died of an undiagnosed disease when Moore was 3. His family later moved to the Bronx, and after struggling, Moore eventually went to military school and served in the Army. He got his bachelors degree from Johns Hopkins University, became a Rhodes Scholar, started an education business in Baltimore, and eventually became CEO of the Robin Hood Foundation, a New York-based anti-poverty organization.

On Saturday, Moore reiterated his central campaign theme that he plans to lift up Marylanders of all economic stations. He noted his family’s economic struggles while he was growing up, and said, “I’ve seen the consequences of a society that leaves too many people behind. I don’t need a white paper to explain it. I’ve lived it.”

Moore had been urged to run for office before — both for mayor of Baltimore and for Congress following the death of the late U.S. Rep. Elijah Cummings (D) — but turned down those entreaties. When he announced his candidacy for governor in June of 2021, he said he was moved to become a candidate this time because of the unequal devastation in Maryland wrought by COVID-19.

Moore argued throughout the campaign that even though he was seeking the Democratic nomination against several veteran officeholders, he had the most well-rounded experience and was best-equipped to confront the state’s challenges.

On Saturday, he paid tribute to his vanquished Democratic primary opponents and asserted that he would need their help to defeat the Republicans.

“We have good relationships with the other folks who have run for governor and we know we’re going to move in partnership with them,” Moore said. “We need them now. We’re going to need them in November. And we’re going to need them beyond.”

Moore would become the first Black governor of Maryland if he is elected, and his running mate, Miller, would become the first lieutenant governor of Asian descent and the second woman to serve in that position.

“We didn’t get in this race to make history,” Moore said. “We got in this race to make child poverty history. We got in this race to make educational inequality history.”

Democrat drops $10 million to prop up his re-election campaign in Maryland: report

As he prepares for a tough general election against a yet-to-be-determined opponent, U.S. Rep. David Trone (D-Md.), whose entire political career has been buoyed by his personal wealth, dropped $10 million of his own wealth into the campaign in late June — a reminder that his resources can be a buffer against any unfavorable political winds.

Trone spent more than $1.3 million between April 1 and June 29, according to newly filed campaign finance reports, and retained $10,760,327 in his campaign account in late June. That dwarfed the cash on hand of the leading Republican candidates who are competing in the six-way July 19 primary. Trone reported campaign debts of $13 million —all from loans he made to his campaign.

Del. Neil C. Parrott (R-Washington), who was the 2020 GOP nominee against Trone, reported $344,756 in the bank as of June 29, after raising $140,119 since April 1 and spending $57,148 in that period.

Matthew Foldi, a former journalist with conservative media outlets who entered the race only recently but has come out of the gate with a noteworthy array of endorsements, reported raising $186,896 since April 1 and having $98,800 on hand on June 29 after spending $124,274. He loaned his campaign $35,800 during this period.

Foldi has racked up endorsements in recent weeks from several Republican congressional leaders, including House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.), and also recently won support from Gov. Lawrence J. Hogan Jr. (R).

Despite Trone’s millions, money won’t be everything in the congressional general election. It’s shaping up to be a good year for Republicans, and congressional redistricting put more conservative territory into the 6th District, removing a good chunk of the Montgomery County portion of the district and substituting it for all of Frederick County.

Even with his personal fortune, accumulated as CEO of the national liquor store chain, Total Wine and More, Trone received a recent $4,000 contribution from House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s (D-Calif.) campaign committee, and $5,800 from Charles Wagner, a California vineyard owner.

As of a week ago, the Cook Political Report rated the 6th District race in the “Lean Democratic” column.

The political tipsheet lists 81 House races across the country of being competitive to one degree or another. Besides the 6th District, no other Maryland races rate a mention on the list — meaning the handicappers do not, at this point, expect the seats to flip from one party to another

Here is a snapshot of fundraising in other Maryland congressional districts:

District 1

Democrat Heather Mizeur, a former state delegate, has outraised Rep. Andy Harris, the lone Republican in the state’s congressional district, this election cycle — and that was also true for the latest reporting period.

Cycle-to-date, Mizeur has reported raising $1,954,067 to Harris’ $1,341,558. Between April 1 and June 29, she raised $248,179, while Harris pulled in $162,821.

But Harris, who is seeking his seventh term, has no major primary opponent and had more cash on hand than Mizeur at the end of June: $1,849,850 to $1,103,317.

Mizeur is squaring off in the Democratic primary against David Harden, a national security consultant who was the subject of a flattering New York Times Opinion profile last week. Harden reported $37,162 on hand as of June 29, after raising $55,756 since April 1.

District 2

Nicolee Ambrose is the clear GOP fundraising frontrunner, and she remains the choice of most of the Republican establishment. Ten-term Rep. Dutch Ruppersberger (D) retains a massive war chest.

Ambrose, the Republican National Committeewoman for Maryland, reported raising $165,409 between April 1 and June 29 and finishing the reporting period with $105,141 on hand.

Ambrose reported a $5,000 contribution from Citizens United — a national conservative organization run by David Bossie, Maryland’s Republican National Committeeman — and a $5,000 contribution from the Conservative Leadership PAC, a political action committee that tries to get young voters behind conservative candidates. Harris contributed $4,000.

Ellen “EJ” McNulty, a former Hogan administration official who is also seeking the seat in the Republican primary, reported just $3,934 on hand.

Ruppersberger was sitting on $1,386,227 as of June 29.

District 3

Eight-term incumbent Rep. John Sarbanes (D) had just shy of $1 million in his war chest on June 29 — $978,748 — dwarfing the campaign treasury of the most high-profile Republican in the five-way primary, former radio host Yuripzy Morgan. She reported $24,660 on hand.

District 4

The leading Democrats, former Prince George’s County State’s Attorney Glenn Ivey and former Rep. Donna Edwards, are pretty evenly matched financially, but he has the edge: $321,127 on hand to $243,247. Much of the spending in the race is coming from outside sources.

District 5

U.S. House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (D) remains a champion fundraiser — and he also funnels plenty of money to his needy colleagues. Hoyer raised $634,780 between April 1 and June 29 and parceled out $771,789 during that time. He finished the fundraising period with $1,272,529 on hand.

District 7

Rep. Kweisi Mfume (D) is the overwhelming favorite to win another term. He banked $523,183 as of June 29.

District 8

Rep. Jamie Raskin (D) is similarly well-situated for re-election, and he’s become a fundraising juggernaut since gaining prominence during President Trump’s second impeachment and now through his work on House panel investigating the Jan. 6 insurrection at the U.S. Capitol.

Raskin raised $677,679 since April 1 and finished the reporting period with $2,780,601 on hand, after distributing $360,641 — much of it to colleagues.

U.S. Senate

As he marches to an almost certain second term, U.S. Sen. Chris Van Hollen (D) had $4,059,190 in his campaign account at the end of June.