ANNAPOLIS, Md. (AP) — As Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan is term-limited, the highly competitive race to replace him has drawn the attention of former President Donald Trump, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and even Oprah Winfrey.
As voters on Tuesday choose candidates in state, legislative and congressional races, the key governor’s race commands the highest prices. Hogan, a rare two-term Republican governor in a Democratic-leaning state, won plaudits from both sides of the aisle for his bipartisan approach and his willingness to challenge Trump.
His legacy on the line, Hogan endorsed Kelly Schultz in the Republican primary for governor. Schultz, who served as labor and commerce secretary in the Hogan administration, is being challenged by Dan Cox, a Trump-backed state lawmaker who sued Hogan over his pandemic policies and later tried unsuccessfully to impeach him.
On the Democratic side, Tom Peres, former U.S. Secretary of Labor and former chairman of the Democratic Party, has the support of Pelosi, a Baltimore native, while best-selling author Wes Moore has won the support of Winfrey and U.S. Rep. Steny Hoyer, Democrat no. 2 in the Chamber. Other top candidates include Comptroller Peter Franchot, former Attorney General Doug Gansler and former U.S. Secretary of Education John B. King Jr.
The big-name endorsements that have emerged in Maryland’s gubernatorial primary illustrate the high stakes for both parties. Democrats see the race as one of their best chances nationwide to flip the governor’s mansion in this year’s midterm elections, while Republicans look to solidify the party’s position.
The Republican primaries provide a potential 2024 preview of the appeal of candidates in the likes of Hogan and Trump, who offer competing visions of the party’s future.
Other top races in Tuesday’s election include races for the U.S. Senate, U.S. House of Representatives and attorney general. Democratic Sen. Chris Van Hollen faces a primary challenger two months after suffering a mild stroke, but is expected to easily win re-nomination. The state’s eight-member congressional delegation has an open seat representing a district in the Washington suburbs. And the daughter of the former state attorney general is fighting for her father’s old job.
It can take days or even longer to determine the winners of the most contested races. That’s because Maryland law prohibits counties from opening mail-in ballots until the Thursday after Election Day.
A total of 10 candidates are on the ballot for the Democratic nomination for governor. Perez has the support of statewide unions, while Moore, the former CEO of the Robin Hood Foundation, an anti-poverty organization, has the support of the state teachers union and the top two leaders of the Maryland General Assembly, House Speaker Adrienne Jones and Senate President Bill Ferguson.
Franchot, who has won four statewide races by wide margins to be state tax collector, brings significant name recognition to the primary. Gansler, a longtime prosecutor, is running as a moderate. King served in President Barack Obama’s cabinet.
Voter Laura Kretschman, a 41-year-old high school teacher, said Moore’s endorsement by the Maryland State Education Association helped her decide to vote for him. She said she is impressed with what Moore has achieved after rising above childhood challenges and being raised by a single mother.
“I teach kids at a school that also come from difficult backgrounds, so I’d like to see what he can contribute to help those students who are struggling and experiencing challenges,” said Kretchman, an Annapolis resident.
Although Moore touted his credentials outside of government, some voters said they preferred a long resume of public service. For that reason, Curtis Fattig, a 67-year-old voter in Annapolis, settled on Perez, who has also served on the Montgomery County Council, as Maryland’s secretary of labor and as an assistant attorney general for civil rights in the Obama administration.
“He’s not a newcomer,” said Fatig, who also likes that Perez has the support of the unions.
In the Republican primary for governor, Hogan has stood firmly behind Schultz, whom he sees as the strongest candidate to face a Democrat in November. Democrats seem to agree, with the Democratic National Committee investing more than $1 million in advertising designed to give Cox a boost in the GOP primary. It’s a tactic they’ve used in other states in an attempt to face an easier opponent in the general election.
Hogan criticized Cox for organizing buses full of Trump supporters to go to Washington on January 6, 2021 for the “Stop Theft” rally that preceded the riot at the US Capitol. Cox said he did not go to the Capitol and left before the riots began.
In a tweet he later deleted, Cox called then-Vice President Mike Pence a “traitor” for refusing to comply with Trump’s demands that he not certify the 2020 election. He apologized for that and condemned the attack on the Capitol.
Trump, meanwhile, has denounced Schultz and Hogan as RINOs, or Republicans in Name Only, a term of derision reserved for party members who don’t stand behind him.
“Get rid of the closeted RINO Larry Hogan who is trying to get another RINO into office, Kelly Schultz,” Trump said in a statement late Monday.
Maryland’s only open congressional seat is in the 4th Congressional District, an overwhelmingly black Democratic district in the suburbs of the nation’s capital. Incumbent U.S. Rep. Anthony Brown is leaving his safe seat to run for attorney general. Former Congresswoman Donna Edwards, who previously held the seat, is running to win back her job and faces former District Attorney Glenn Ivey in Tuesday’s Democratic primary.
The Democratic primary for attorney general has turned into a battle between former Gov. Martin O’Malley’s wife, Katie Curran O’Malley, who is a former Baltimore judge, and the daughter of former Attorney General J. Joseph Curran Jr., and Brown, Lt. Gov. O’Malley, who lost the 2014 gubernatorial race to Hogan.
The two are vying to replace retiring Democratic Attorney General Brian Frosh. Maryland hasn’t had a Republican attorney general in nearly 70 years.
In other races, candidates are on the ballot for all 188 seats in the Democratic-controlled Maryland General Assembly.
Maryland’s primary election was delayed for three weeks by the state’s highest court because of lawsuits challenging congressional maps and state law.
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