As voters Tuesday choose candidates in state, legislative and congressional races, the pivotal governor’s race is getting top billing. Hogan, a rare two-term Republican governor in a Democratic-leaning state, won praise from both sides of the aisle for his bipartisan approach and willingness to challenge Trump. His legacy on the line, Hogan has endorsed Kelly Schultz in the Republican primary. Schultz, who served as Labor and Commerce secretary in the Hogan administration, faces a challenge from Dan Cox, a Trump-backed state lawmaker who sued Hogan over his pandemic policies and later tried unsuccessfully to refer him. On the Democratic side, Tom Perez, former US Labor Secretary and former Democratic Party chairman, has the support of Pelosi, the daughter of Baltimore, while best-selling author Wes Moore has won the support of Winfrey and Rep. USA Steny Hoyer. No. 2 House Democrat. Other top contenders include Superintendent Peter Franchot, former Attorney General Doug Gansler and former U.S. Secretary of Education John B. King Jr. Big-name endorsements in Maryland’s gubernatorial primary show the high stakes for both parties. Democrats see the contest as one of the best chances nationwide to flip the governor’s mansion in this year’s midterm elections, while Republicans want to solidify the party’s position in office. The Republican primaries provide a possible 2024 preview of the appeal of candidates in the mold of Hogan and Trump, who offer competing visions of the party’s future. Other top races in Tuesday’s election include contests for the U.S. Senate, U.S. House 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-election. The state’s eight-member congressional delegation has an open seat representing a district in suburban Washington. And the daughter of the former state attorney general is vying for her father’s old job. It can take days, or even longer, to determine winners in the most closely contested races. That’s because Maryland law prohibits counties from opening mail-in ballots until the Thursday after Election Day. In all, 10 candidates are on the ballot for the Democratic nomination for governor. Perez has support from statewide labor unions, while Moore, the former CEO of the Robin Hood Foundation, an anti-poverty organization, has been endorsed by the state’s teachers union and the top two leaders of the Maryland General Assembly. , the President of the Parliament, Adrienne. Jones and Senate President Bill Ferguson. Franchot, who won four statewide races by wide margins to be the state’s 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 Kretchman, a 41-year-old high school teacher, said Moore’s endorsement from the Maryland State Education Association helped her decide to vote for him. She said she is impressed by what Moore has accomplished after overcoming 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 maybe what he can offer to help those students who are struggling and facing challenges,” said Kretschman, an Annapolis resident. While Moore has touted his credentials outside of government, some voters said they prefer a long resume of government service. For that reason, Curtis Fatig, a 67-year-old voter in Annapolis, settled on Perez, who also served on the Montgomery County Council, as Maryland’s labor secretary and as an assistant attorney general for civil rights in the Obama administration. “He’s not young,” said Fatig, who also likes the fact that Perez has union support. In the Republican primary for governor, Hogan has stood firmly behind Schultz, whom he sees as the strongest candidate to run against a Democrat in November. Democrats seem to agree, with the Democratic National Committee plowing more than $1 million behind an ad aimed at boosting Cox in the Republican primary. It’s a tactic they’ve used in other states in an effort to face an easier opponent in the general election. Hogan criticized Cox for organizing busloads of Trump supporters to go to Washington on January 6, 2021, for the “Stop the Steal” 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 heed Trump’s demands that he not certify the 2020 election. He apologized for that and denounced the attack on Capitol Hill. Trump, meanwhile, has labeled Schultz and Hogan as RINOs, or Republicans in Name Only, a term of derision reserved for party members who don’t fall in line. “Get rid of Shutdown RINO Larry Hogan who is trying to get another RINO into office, Kelly Schulz,” Trump said in a statement late Monday. Maryland’s only open congressional seat is in the 4th Congressional District, a Democratic-Black majority district in the suburbs of the nation’s capital. Incumbent US Rep. Anthony Brown is leaving his safe seat to run for attorney general. Former Rep. Donna Edwards, who previously held the seat, is running to get her job back and faces former County 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 daughter of former Attorney General J. Joseph Curran Jr., and of Brown, O’Malley’s running mate who lost the 2014 governor’s race to Hogan. The two are vying to replace Democratic Attorney General Brian Frosch, who is retiring. 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 by three weeks by the state’s highest court because of lawsuits challenging congressional and state legislative maps.
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