City Council President Brandon Scott announced his 2020 bid for mayor Friday in the Park Heights neighborhood where he grew up, making an urgent case for top-to-bottom change in city government.

Scott, who said he was “tired of seeing the tears of young people who’d lost their classmates” to gun violence, was introduced by Cease Fire founder Erricka Bridgeford. “We must stop the bleeding and address the root causes of gun violence,” the 35-year-old Scott told those gathered. “Baltimore needs a mayor invested in the people of this city, not the status quo.”

In his 10-minute address, Scott reiterated recent proposals and pledges to bring professionalism to city government. “Every agency will be held to performance measures,” Scott said. “There will be a focus on resolving 311 issues.”

By declaring his candidacy, Scott became first elected leader to make a formal entry into the race, which many observers predict will eventually come down to a two-person generational battle between the council president and Mayor Bernard C. “Jack” Young, who has given indications he will run, but has not yet declared his intention to seek Baltimore’s highest office next year.

Young, the former council president, became Baltimore’s 51st mayor following former Mayor Catherine Pugh’s resignation earlier this year when she came under fire—and investigation—after receiving more than $800,000 in questionable deals from her Healthy Holly children’s book series. Young had tried to get the council to name Councilwoman Sharon Middleton as his council president successor, but Scott outmaneuvered her for the necessary votes. Young and Scott have been viewed as potential 2020 mayoral rivals ever since with occasional tensions spilling out in public view.

Former Mayor Sheila Dixon, former Baltimore Police Department spokesman T.J. Smith, state Sen. Jill Carter, state Sen. Mary Washington, and state Del. Nick Mosby are said to be considering a bid for mayor as well. Former Democratic candidate for governor, Ben Jealous, recently told the Baltimore Sun he has ruled out a run for mayor, but is considering running for state’s highest office again. Twelve candidates, none currently elected officials, including four Republicans, have declared themselves candidates for mayor with the State Board of Elections.

First elected at 27, Scott, a subject in last year’s well-received documentary Charm City, was one of the youngest candidates ever elected to citywide office. After growing up in Park Heights, he graduated from Mergenthaler Vocational-Technical High School and then studied political science and graduated from St. Mary’s College in Southern Maryland. He got his start in politics as a liaison in the office of then-City Council President Stephanie Rawlings-Blake.

He previously served as chair of the council’s high-profile Public Safety Committee and co-founded the anti-violence group 300 Men March. He has also served as a member of the Budget and Appropriations and Judiciary and Legislative Investigations committees.

Earlier this summer, Scott unveiled a detailed, 29-page legislative and policy proposal highlighting his vision for improving city government, making communities safer, investing in youth, and bringing an equitable framework to governance. He essentially announced his bid with the release of a campaign video earlier this week.

If elected, Scott would be significantly younger than the average U.S. mayor—56, according to a recent study. But the ambitious Scott would be the same age as Martin O’Malley, another ambitious former councilman, when O’Malley ran for mayor and actually possesses several more years of elected experience.

“Brandon is hard-working, there’s no doubt about that, he’s smart, and capable,” former 1st District City Councilman James Kraft, told Baltimore this spring, adding he was not making an endorsement, but expressed confidence in his former colleague’s ability to handle the city’s top job. “He’d also surround himself with smart, good people.”

The upheaval at City Hall following former Mayor Catherine Pugh’s resignation last week continued Monday night, with now former 2nd District Councilman Brandon Scott earning a promotion from his colleagues to City Council president.

As the next in succession, Bernard C. “Jack” Young, the former council president, officially became Baltimore’s 51st mayor following Pugh’s departure. Pugh, who has not made a public appearance in weeks after taking sick leave April 1, came under fire after receiving more than $800,000 in questionable deals from her Healthy Holly children’s book series.

In the first few days following Young’s ascension to mayor, Scott was essentially locked in a 7-7 stalemate among his City Council colleagues with 6th District member Sharon Green Middleton to succeed Young. Scott, however, won over Ed Reisinger, 69, who represents sections of South and Southwest Baltimore, and Mary Pat Clarke, 77, who represents North and Northeast Baltimore, after reaching out several times to the veteran legislators over the weekend, according to reporting by The Baltimore Sun.

Both Reisinger and Clarke have said they will not be running for reelection in 2020.

Fellow Councilman Bill Henry is planning to officially announce his bid for City Comptroller in June. Altogether, it means more council seats will be up for grabs again after a youthful, majority turnover of the council in 2016.

At the same time, Scott, 35, has all but declared he will run for mayor in 2020.

One Democratic leader, who wished to remain anonymous, told Baltimore magazine the Scott has already signed on with top Maryland fundraising consultant Colleen Martin-Lauer, whose previous clients include former mayors Martin O’Malley and Stephanie Rawlings-Blake. “At this point, I don’t know what he’s waiting for,” the Democratic official said.

Most likely, it was the opportunity to assume the mantle of City Council president, add the title and experience to an already solid resume—and bask in the support of fellow Democratic leaders in the City.

Scott, who grew up in Park Heights, graduated from Mergenthaler Vocational-Technical High School, where he ran track. He studied political science and graduated from St. Mary’s College in Southern Maryland and then got his start in politics as a liaison in the office of then-City Council President Stephanie Rawlings-Blake

First elected at 27, one the youngest ever elected to citywide office, Scott serves as chair of the City Council’s high-profile Public Safety Committee and co-founded the anti-violence group 300 Men March. He also is a member of the Budget and Appropriations and Judiciary and Legislative Investigations committees.

Scott would be significantly younger than the average U.S. mayor—56, according to a recent study—should he throw his hat into the ring as expected. But the ambitious Scott would be the same age as Martin O’Malley, another ambitious former councilman, when O’Malley took office and actually possess a few more years of elected office experience.

“Brandon is hard-working, there’s no doubt about that, he’s smart, and capable,” said former 1st District City Councilman James Kraft, who was not making an endorsement, but expressed confidence in his former colleague’s ability to handle the city’s top job. “He’d also surround himself with smart, good people.”

Pugh’s reelection was by no means a done deal before the recent book scandal and FBI and IRS raids. It’s broken wide open now.

Former Deputy Attorney General of Maryland “Thiru” Vignarajah has announced he’s running. Most observers expect former Mayor Sheila Dixon to run again. State Sen. Bill Ferguson and former Baltimore Police Department spokesman T.J. Smith are said to be considering bids. State Sen. Jill Carter, who proposed the legislation that helped launch the Healthy Holly and University of Maryland Medical System investigation, and state Sen. Mary Washington are two more credible potential candidates.

Then there are folks like business leader David Warnock, former Maryland AG Criminal Division head Elizabeth Warnock, and state Del. Nick Mosby, who all ran in 2016 and could conceivably take another crack.

A potential bid by former NAACP chief Ben Jealous, who won the Democratic nomination for governor and recently bought a house in Baltimore, is also garnering a lot of interest in local Democratic circles.

There is always the chance that Young, who has said he’s not interested in running for mayor, could decide he likes the job of mayor and try to win election to the office.

And that’s just the short list.

Gov. Larry Hogan made clear the message he wanted to send at his second inaugural address when he announced earlier this week that former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush would introduce him at Wednesday’s ceremony in Annapolis.

Maryland’s Republican governor invoked Bush’s father, former President George H.W. Bush, as well as former Sen. John McCain and his own father, former U.S. Rep. Larry Hogan Sr., the first Republican to come out for the impeachment of President Richard Nixon, in making the case for moderate leadership and bipartisanship in his address. Hogan did not mention President Donald Trump by name, or the current federal government shutdown, in his 1,700-plus word speech. But highlighting those former establishment-wing members of GOP leaders was widely viewed as a rebuke of the embattled president and de facto head of today’s Republican Party.

“Party loyalty,” Hogan said, quoting his father during the Watergate scandal with words that have a certain resonance at the moment, “and personal affection and precedents of the past must fall before the arbiter of men’s actions: the law itself. No man, not even the President of the United States, is above the law.”

Hogan pledged civility and a “humble, tolerant, respectful, and effective government that has worked together and found bipartisan, commonsense solutions.”

Jeb Bush, of course, was initially the frontrunner to win the 2016 GOP presidential nomination before Trump’s surprising takeover of the party’s base. Hogan praised his model of leadership in purple Florida and his family’s commitment to public service in his address.

“Let’s repudiate the debilitating politics practiced elsewhere—including just down the road in Washington—where insults substitute for debate, recriminations for negotiation, and gridlock for compromise; where the heat, finger-pointing, and rancor suffocates the light, and the only result is divisiveness and dysfunction,” Hogan said.

Hogan also made the pitch that Maryland has “already shown a better path forward” under his first term in the Governor’s Mansion. He apparently has made a believer out of Jeb Bush, a frequent Trump critic. “What’s happening here in Annapolis is the antithesis of what’s happening in Washington, D.C., these days,” Bush told the crowd of several hundred people in Annapolis.

In November, Hogan became just the second Republican governor ever re-elected in Maryland and first to be re-elected in 65 years. In such an overwhelming Democratic state, his moderate style and bipartisan approach has no doubt been due, at least in part, from necessity.

At the same time, Hogan has worked with the Democratic-led General Assembly on a number of issues, including banning fracking, protecting the state’s Affordable Care Act provisions, and directing casino taxes to boost education funding. Last month, Hogan opened an event in Washington, D.C.—“Starting Over: The Center-Right After Trump”—because of his success governing as a moderate in the state.

After his double-digit reelection win over Democratic nominee Ben Jealous this fall, Hogan’s name has been bandied about as potential national Republican leader and even future presidential candidate—should the GOP turn away from Trump and Trumpism. “[Hogan] lays a path that we might want to pay attention to,” Jerry Taylor, president of the nonpartisan Niskanen Center think tank, told The Washington Post.

In his post-election remarks, Hogan blamed Trump for the Republican’s overall poor results, and said he wants to be part of the national conversation about moving the party forward. At his post-inauguration gala, Hogan literally entered the event in carrying a purple surfboard, which he says he road over Maryland’s blue wave.

Larry Hogan Becomes First Republican Governor to Be Re-Elected Since 1954.
In convincing fashion, Larry Hogan became the first Republican governor in Maryland in more than 60 years to win a second term Tuesday.

Not since Theodore McKeldin in the 1950s had voters in the state awarded a Republican a second four-year stay in the Governor’s Mansion, but Hogan’s victory hardly came as a surprise. The popular Anne Arundel County-based real estate developer, who survived a well-publicized bout with cancer in his first term, led Democratic challenger Ben Jealous by double digits throughout the general election season.

Pledging to hold the line on taxes and create a more business-friendly climate in the state, Hogan attracted more than enough centrist and conservative Democrats to his GOP base to easily overcome a 2-1 Democratic registration advantage in the state.

“Let me remind you that Maryland has always been a state of middle temperate,” Hogan said in his acceptance remarks, adding his administration has sought a bi-partisan approach to governing since its outset four years ago. “I’m proud we are setting an example for rest of America.

Jealous, the former head of the NAACP, had finally gained some momentum in the last couple of weeks of the campaign, but for all intents and purposes, the race was decided shortly after the primaries, according to political observers. “The Republican Governors Association and Hogan ads defined Jealous, who struggled with fundraising, as risky and extreme before he ever responded,” said Goucher College political science professor and pollster Mileah Kromer. “When you allow your opponent to define you in politics, that’s never a good thing.”

“Ben Jealous tried very hard to make the election a referendum on Donald Trump, and then a referendum on health care and the minimum wage, but there never was a defining message,” said Todd Eberly, a St. Mary’s College political science professor. “It was a scattershot approach and just too little, too late.”

Baltimore County Elects Johnny O.
In Baltimore County, which Hogan carried by a wide margin, voters overwhelming elected Democratic Johnny Olszewski, who captured 57 percent of the tally, and defeated Republican Al Redmer.

Olszewski, running on a progressive platform, won a three-way Democratic primary battle in the county by just 17 votes before besting Redmer, who had received the enthusiastic backing of Hogan. The victory marks something of a comeback for Olszewski, a former teacher and Baltimore County state delegate from Dundalk, who lost a bid for the state senate four years ago.

“He’s been to every church and met with every organization and people have gotten to know him and they trust him,” said Shirley Supik, an Olszewski supporter from Woodlawn, at a rally over the weekend. “He’s a man who listens.”

“Education is a priority with him,” added her husband, Jeff Supik, 66, a former general contractor. “He’s shown that and it’s the number one issue in this county.”

There Was (Mostly) a Blue Wave in Maryland.
Hogan’s strong approval ratings translated into 56 percent of the tally in the gubernatorial race, but did not produce any coattails, however. Democrats managed to flip two important suburban county executive seats as well as maintaining their veto-proof majority in the General Assembly.

The GOP went into Election Day with hopes, albeit against long odds, of turning five state senate seats from blue to red—their “Drive for Five” effort—which would’ve enabled Hogan and Republican party to redraw the state’s legislative districts in 2020.

Democratic Attorney General Brian Frosh, who has clashed with Hogan, in particular in regards to federal lawsuits directed at the President Trump, won reelection by nearly 30 points over Republican challenger Craig Wolf.

As expected, Democratic U.S. Senator Ben Cardin also easily won reelection.

Nationally, the Democrats recaptured control of the House of Representatives, but the GOP kept its advantage in the U.S. Senate.

In terms of the Maryland congressional seats up for grabs, there were no upsets in the state. Democrats held onto all seven of their seats in the House, with incumbents Dutch Ruppersberger, Elijah Cummings, Jon Sarbanes, Anthony Brown, Steny Hoyer, and Jaime Raskin all easily winning reelection. In the 6th congressional district, Democrat David Trone won, replacing John Delaney, who did not pursue reelection in order to launch a presidential campaign.

Republican Andy Harris, the lone GOP representative in the Maryland delegation, coasted to reelection in the 1st congressional district.

Democratic Upsets in Howard and Anne Arundel Counties.
In Howard and Anne Arundel counties—both of which Hogan won handily—incumbent Republican county executives unexpectedly lost to their Democrat challengers. In Howard County, County Councilman Calvin Ball upset Allan Kittleman. In Anne Arundel County, Steuart Pittman, a farmer and community organizer, surprised Steve Schuh.

Ball will be the first African-American Howard County executive and plans to invest in education, environmental sustainability, and the opioid crisis.

Of course, the 300-pound elephant in the campaign is managing the $50 million plan to mitigate flooding in Ellicott City. Kittleman announced the plan in August and Ball voted against the three funding bills because his amendments were not included. Ball told The Sun on Tuesday that he would “take time to evaluate all plans in progress for effectiveness and efficiency . . . and make a decision from there.”

Olszewski, Ball, and Pittman’s victories could put them on the early list of potential Democratic gubernatorial candidates for 2022. For Kittleman and Schuh, viewed as possible Republican gubernatorial contenders in four years, their losses make any future Annapolis run more difficult.

During a busy final weekend push to get out voters, Democratic gubernatorial challenger Ben Jealous rallied with comedian and longtime family friend Dave Chappelle, as well as actress and activist Rosario Dawson at historic Gwynn Oak Park on Saturday afternoon.

The site of a series of ultimately successful desegregation demonstrations in the 1960s, the setting provided a particularly compelling backdrop for Jealous, the former NAACP leader who is vying to become the first black governor in Maryland history. Jealous noted that his own mother, who grew up in West Baltimore, “couldn’t play in the park as a child.”

“Oh, we’re going to play in this park,” interrupted Chappelle, a Silver Spring native, to laughter and applause.

“If you want to make Donald Trump’s blood pressure go up,” Jealous continued, “send a civil rights leader to the governor’s office.”

Chappelle, who has known Jealous since they were teenagers, has been a regular presence alongside Jealous on the campaign trail in recent weeks—knocking on doors over the weekend and even helping one potential voter with her groceries.

Dawson, co-founder of Voto Latino, talked about Jealous’ plans to make health care affordable for everyone, expand public education, and raise the minimum wage.

“We have to change the narrative and conversation,” Dawson said. “Right now it feels very hopeless for a lot of people.”

More than 660,000 Maryland voters went to the polls during the eight-day early voting period that ended last week. That record number is more than double the turnout during 2014 mid-term elections, but the expectation among campaign officials is that at least another 600,0000 Marylanders will vote Tuesday on Election Day.

While Jealous was in Gwynn Oak Park, incumbent Republican Gov. Larry Hogan was meeting with voters in Grasonville on Maryland’s Eastern Shore Saturday.

Hogan, running on a business-friendly, anti-tax platform, has received high approval ratings from Marylanders during his first term and has been buoyed by a huge fundraising advantage in his reelection bid.

“If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it,” Hogan told supporters.

Polls have shown Hogan leading Jealous by double-digit margins throughout the campaign season. Jealous and Democratic officials, however, are hoping the party’s 2-1 registration advantage in the state and record turnout—boosted by a blue wave of anti-Donald Trump sentiment in Maryland—can lead to an upset.

Also on hand showing support for Jealous were Maryland U.S. senators Ben Cardin and Chris Van Hollen, Baltimore County state delegate Charles Sydnor, Democratic state senate candidate Jill Carter, Baltimore City Council members Brandon Scott, Ryan Dorsey, and Kris Burnett, and Susan Turnbull, his lieutenant governor running mate.

Krish Vignarajah, former policy director for First Lady Michelle Obama, who ran against Jealous in the Democratic primary for governor, made the event’s opening remarks. She highlighted the need for change in the state, starting with “kids freezing in classrooms and being warehoused in buildings with no air conditioning.”

“I grew up in this area,” said Vignarajah, a Sri Lanka immigrant and Woodlawn High School graduate. “My family fled a civil war when I was nine months old at a time when America was its true self. I went from Woodlawn to the White House and this is how I know we need Ben Jealous in Annapolis.”

Jealous is one of three black Democratic candidates, along with Stacy Abrams, a Yale law school graduate and former minority leader of the Georgia House of Representatives, and Andrew Gillum, the mayor of Tallahassee, Florida, who could become their state’s first black governors if elected Tuesday.

Jealous’ parents—Ann, who is black, and Fred Jealous, who is white—met as Baltimore City schoolteachers. Both were civil rights activists, with his mother participating in the desegregation of Western High School. Their marriage was prohibited in Maryland prior to 1967 and they eventually moved to California where Jealous was born.

Looking over the diverse group of supporters gathered Saturday, Jealous mentioned his father was raised in Maine, where one of his uncles ran a lumberyard in rural community, and where he returns from time to time.

“This crowd looks a lot like a Jealous family reunion,” he observed.

For the last several months, we’ve all become accustomed to televised debates and campaign commercials in preparation for November 6. In addition, promotional material has been handed out, and signs with smiling faces of candidates have been strategically placed on lawns and at busy intersections. Now, Election Day is finally here.

Early voting wrapped up in Maryland on October 31—which was also the last day to register to vote in the general election—where more than 660,000 votes were cast. Tuesday’s turnout is also expected to have record numbers.

We’ve compiled an Election Day cheat sheet to break down everything you need to know, and make your visit to the polls on Tuesday a little bit easier.

Polling Places
All polls are open on Tuesday from 7 a.m. to 8 p.m. In order to vote, you have to know where you need to go. By simply checking in to the Maryland Board of Elections site with your home address, you will find your exact polling location and times. You will also find out more about the candidates within your specific district.

If you moved more than three weeks ago, go to the polling place for your new address where you will be given a provisional ballot. As long as you complete and sign the provisional ballot application, all of your votes will count.

If you moved less than three weeks before the election, you may vote at the polling place for your old address or vote with a provisional ballot at your new address.

What to Bring
Now that you know where you have to be, you want to make sure you are prepared when walking through the door. In most instances you won’t need anything, but be sure to bring your state-issued ID card just in case.

If you’re unsure if you are registered to vote, searching here will let you know.

Races to Watch
Things are heating up on both sides—especially for the gubernatorial race. Current Republican governor Larry Hogan is hoping to keep his position as he goes up against former NAACP president and Democratic candidate Ben Jealous, who is trailing significantly in terms of the polling.

In the attorney general race, incumbent Brian Frosh is being challenged by Republican Craig Wolf.

In the Baltimore County Executive race, Democrat John “Johnny O” Olszewski Jr. is competing with Republican Al Redmer Jr. to replace Kevin Kamenetz—who served two terms and passed away while competing in Democratic primary for governor earlier this year.

Congressional, state delegate, and state senate seats are also up for grabs across the state, along with a plethora of other locally elected positions. Sample ballots are available for residents to review prior to voting to learn more about the candidates, and to minimize the amount of time spent in the booth.

Partisan Parties

There will be plenty of opportunities around Baltimore to watch the election results, but here are a few partisan parties to check out:

Baltimore City Get Out the Vote Rally with Lt. Gov Boyd Rutherford: Join Gov. Larry Hogan and Lt. Gov. Boyd Rutherford on November 5th for a Get Out the Vote Rally with in Baltimore City at Ryleigh’s Oyster Bar. Doors open at 6 p.m. with free appetizers for the first hundred people. There will also be $1 soda specials and happy drink specials during the event. 26 E. Cross St.

Ben Jealous Election Night Watch Party: Come out to celebrate on Election Night with Ben Jealous at the Hippodrome Theatre. Doors open at 7 p.m. RSVP here.

Baltimore City Green Party: Gather your Green Party group and check out this election night watch party. The event runs from 7-10 p.m. with a light fare and plenty of drinks. 131 West N. Ave., 410-685-0039

Al Redmer Election Night Party: Join Team Redmer at 8 p.m. for an election night at Columbus Gardens. Enjoy food, refreshments, and good music. 4301 Kiosterman Ave., 410-256-2737

Election Night Party hosted by Libertarian Party of Maryland: Supporters of Shawn Quinn for Governor will gather at the Savage Fire Hall for a night full of food, drinks, and dancing. 8521 Corridor Rd., 443-684-0924

Joe Hooe’s Election Night Celebration: Joe Hooes’s supporters will join up at The New Lansdowne Inn at 8:30 p.m. to celebrate Hooe’s accomplishments thus far. The event will feature a cash bar, great conversation, and a speech by Hooe himself. 2710 Hammonds Ferry Rd., 410-247-1163

HoCo Dems Election Night Watch Party: Join the Howard County Democrats for Election Night festivities at Kahler Hall. The event starts at 8 p.m., and there will be free food and fun activities for everyone. 5440 Old Tucker Row, 410-730-0770

Good news for procrastinators: There is still time to register and cast a ballot in the 2018 elections.

The bad news: Today is your last chance.

In Maryland, the early voting period—which began on October 25 and allows same-day registration and voting at the same polling place—comes to an end today at 8 p.m. There are seven early voting centers in Baltimore City, 11 in Baltimore County, and more in the surrounding counties.

According to the State Board of Elections, all residents will need to register is a state-issued ID card that shows proof of your name and address. You can also update your address at an early voting center, however, you cannot change your party affiliation until after the election.

Official sample ballots for each jurisdiction are also online. The most significant office up for grabs, of course, is for governor with incumbent Republican Larry Hogan and Democratic challenger Ben Jealous facing off. In the attorney general race, incumbent Brian Frosh is being challenged by Republican Craig Wolf.

In the Baltimore County Executive race, Democrat John “Johnny O” Olszewski Jr. is competing with Republican Al Redmer Jr. to replace Kevin Kamenetz—who served two terms, and passed away while competing in Democratic primary for governor earlier this year. Congressional, state delegate, and state senate seats are also up for grabs across the state, along with a plethora of other locally elected positions.

Early voting turnout is up dramatically in the state—as it is around the country. In fact, early voting numbers in Maryland have doubled since the last governor’s race in 2014, when Republican incumbent Larry Hogan beat Democratic candidate Anthony Brown with more than 400,000 Marylanders coming out to vote.

For Democratic challenger Ben Jealous, who is trailing significantly in terms of the polling, the big early voting numbers have to translate into a record turnout overall to pull a similar upset.

“For Ben Jealous to win, this high turnout has to continue into Election Day,” Mileah Kromer, director of the Sarah T. Hughes Field Politics Center at Goucher College, told the Baltimore Sun. “If he can turn out a younger, more diverse electorate, then he has a chance to win.”

A town hall featuring 100 black men in Baltimore, some prominent and familiar—others less often heard, but no less compelling and thoughtful—discuss everything from President Donald Trump and Colin Kaepernick to fatherhood, police reform, and the challenges facing black boys in the first episode of new series Take on America, airing tonight from OZY Media.

“Black Men in Baltimore,” hosted by award-winning journalist and OZY Media co-founder Carlos Watson and including Jemele Hill, formerly of ESPN and now of The Atlantic, is the first of four televised town halls that “take on America” through the lens of race.

Upcoming episodes include “White Women in Nashville” (airing October 25), “Latino Families in New York City” (airing November 1), and “Asian-American Millennials in San Francisco” (airing November 8). The series—which debuts tonight at 8 p.m. on YouTube, OZY.com, and a variety of PBS stations around the country—aims to generate dialogue that can help Americans understand each other better, and foster “greater insight and understanding at a critical time.”

Among the panelists in the Baltimore episode, filmed earlier this month at the War Memorial building, are Maryland Democratic gubernatorial candidate Ben Jealous, Republican U.S. Senate candidate and Towson University professor Tony Campbell, Black Lives Matter activist DeRay Mckesson, The Wire actor Lawrence Gillard Jr., journalist and author D. Watkins and T.J. Smith, who recently resigned from the Baltimore Police Department after expressing his frustration with the struggling department.

It also features a good number of men most Baltimoreans likely don’t know—local business leaders, nonprofit directors, scholars, organizers, artists, and barbers among them—who care no less deeply about their state of their city and country.

The debut episode features candid, and at times emotional, conversations around the ongoing challenges facing black men in the U.S. today as well as revealing personal stories. Smith, for example, admits that even as a police officer he’s been the target of racial profiling and wrongfully stopped while driving and shopping.

The most moving segments of the episode, not surprisingly, come when the men talk about the obstacles their own fathers and mothers encountered in raising them and the twin trauma of poverty and violence all too common today in many Baltimore neighborhoods.

Politics and pressing issues, such as the continued War on Drugs, mandatory minimum sentencing, and voter suppression efforts—all of which disproportionately affect minority communities—are never far from the discussion, however. Nor are wide-ranging opinions on the best way forward.

With racial tensions running high in the era of President Trump and the run up to the mid-term elections, the aim of the town hall, and the series, according to OZY Media, “is to see how, in today’s incredibly tense political climate, we’re actually more alike than different in our strive for progress, and for outsiders to get an inside look at the conversations these minority groups are really having.”

“I feel passionately that we are at pivotal moment in our nation’s history,” said Watson, the series host in a statement. “We are living in one of the most racially charged eras since the Civil Rights movement, and the world is both more connected technologically, and disconnected interpersonally, than it’s ever-been before. We hope that we will create a forum for substantive dialogue and ultimately inform and inspire action.”

With 10 days before the start of early voting and one month before Election Day, Democratic challenger Ben Jealous is still finding it difficult to make inroads against incumbent Republican Governor Larry Hogan, according to a new Gonzales Poll released Wednesday.

Across the state, 54 percent of likely voters indicate they plan to vote for Hogan, while 36 percent say they will vote for Ben Jealous—an 18-point margin that is only slightly narrower than the 20-point lead Hogan had in a Washington Post-University of Maryland poll released earlier this week.

“Free State voters are on the doorstep of reelecting a GOP governor for the first time since many liked Ike, and we all loved Lucy,” pollster Patrick Gonzales said in a statement accompanying the release of the poll. In the worst of times—the very worst political environment imaginable—a Democrat in Maryland begins the race with 40 percent. Mr. Jealous has not yet reached that minimum threshold a little more than a week before early voting commences.”

Two percent of likely voters say they’ll vote for either Libertarian candidate Shawn Quinn or Green Party candidate Ian Schlakman, and eight percent are undecided.

Meanwhile, support for Donald Trump ticked up five points in Maryland since August—as the controversial Brett Kavanaugh nomination was in the news—with 41 percent of state voters now indicating they approve of the job the president is doing. Statewide, 55 percent disapprove (with 48 percent “strongly” disapproving) of the job that Trump is doing.

Hogan captured a third of the registered Democrats in the state in the Gonzales Poll, running up enormous margins in the Baltimore suburbs (64 percent to 25 percent), the eastern, western, and southern parts of the state. Jealous leads in Baltimore City, but by just 10 percent (50-40) and the Washington metro area by 17 percent (53-36.) Jealous leads in Prince George’s County where Hogan’s father once served as county executive, 64 percent to 23 percent, but is only tied with Hogan in traditionally liberal Montgomery County.

The Gonzales Poll, with a plus or minor margin of error of 3.5 percent, was conducted during the first week of October.

Overall, Hogan remains very popular with 67 percent of voters holding either a “very favorable” (44 percent) or “somewhat favorable” (23 percent) opinion of the governor. By party, 86 percent of Republicans and 59 percent of Democrats hold a favorable opinion of Hogan. Sixty-two percent believe Maryland is moving in the “right direction” and 20 percent believe it is on the “wrong track.”

A mid-September Goucher Poll had Hogan ahead by 22 points, albeit many voters indicating they supported policies backed by Jealous, suggesting the challenger could possibly gain traction. That has not transpired.

In terms of race, the majority of both white Marylanders (68 percent) and black Marylanders (53 percent) approve of the job Hogan is doing.

However, there is a big distinction between white Marylanders’ and black Marylanders’ perceptions of Jealous, who is vying to become the first African-American governor in the state. While black voters in the state overwhelmingly have a favorable opinion of Jealous (65 percent to 7 percent), white voters do not (28 to 44).

Earlier this week, Jealous said the Hogan campaign was using a political ad that mocked his stutter.

The unusual support for a Republican governor in traditionally blue Maryland where Democrats hold a 2-1-voter registration advantage also appears to be helping make the race for Attorney General closer than expected. In that campaign, Democratic incumbent Brian Frosh holds a nine-point lead, 43 percent to 34 percent, over Republican challenger Craig Wolf, with 23 percent undecided.

On Saturday, in one of the slimmest votes in American history of 50-48, Judge Brett Kavanaugh was confirmed to the Supreme Court of the United States amid controversial sexual misconduct claims from Dr. Christine Blasey Ford. He was sworn in promptly after the vote by both Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. and the retired Justice Anthony M. Kennedy—whom he is replacing—in a private ceremony.

This is considered a major victory for the Trump administration and Senate Republican leaders who have made stockpiling conservative judges a signature issue. At 53, Kavanaugh is young enough to serve on the Supreme Court for decades if not more.

“I applaud and congratulate the U.S. Senate for confirming our GREAT NOMINEE, Judge Brett Kavanaugh, to the United States Supreme Court,” President Trump tweeted Saturday afternoon. “Later today, I will sign his Commission of Appointment, and he will be officially sworn in. Very exciting!”

Maryland officials were not pleased with Kavanaugh’s confirmation and made their grievances known on social media:

Senator Chris Van Hollen, who voted no to the confirmation, believes that the allegations against Kavanaugh should have prevented him from obtaining the seat on the high court.

Maryland gubernatorial candidate Ben Jealous also expressed his opposition to the confirmation.

Officials on the other side of the aisle were pleased with the decision to vote him in.

Before the vote, Governor Larry Hogan declined to say whether he would confirm Kavanaugh if he were a senator.

“I’m glad that actually happened, that there was an FBI investigation,” Hogan told The Sun. “I have frankly no involvement in that. I’ve never taken any position on any Supreme Court nominee. I’m not qualified to make those decisions. I’m not a member of the Senate. I haven’t seen the report. I haven’t watched the testimony. I’m working 15, 18 hours a day, seven days a week. I’m not sitting home watching television. I’ve followed what’s happening, but I don’t feel educated enough to make that decision.”

Incumbent Gov. Larry Hogan and his Democratic challenger, former NAACP president Ben Jealous, squared off in a lively, at times contentious, debate Monday hosted by Maryland Public Television.

The two candidates painted vastly different portraits of the state, with Hogan, not surprisingly, making the case that Maryland is on the right track and Jealous challenging that assertion at every opportunity.

Jealous went after Hogan on the state’s economy, noting employment remains below that of other states in the region, the declining performance of public schools, rising health care costs and violent crime rates in Maryland, the cancellation of the Red Line mass transit project in Baltimore, and the still-escalating opioid epidemic.

Firing back, Hogan defended his record of holding the line on tax increases, fees, and business regulations, and cited positive economic progress. When Jealous stated Maryland has been “dead last in the region with job growth,” Hogan, who repeated campaign condemnations of the direction of the state under his predecessor, Martin O’Malley, answered, “We’ve had one of the greatest economic turnarounds in the nation.”

According to a Baltimore Sun post-debate fact-check, Maryland ranks fourth out of five state and the District of Columbia in job creation.

Perhaps the biggest takeaway is voters would be served by another debate—or two—which would help clarify and sharpen the candidate’s facts, positions and agendas. In 2014, Democratic Lt. Gov. Anthony Brown and then GOP-nominee Hogan participated in three televised debates, all of which were held in October, the month before the general election.

Hogan is vying become the first Maryland Republican to be re-elected governor in more than six decades. Jealous, if elected, would be the first black governor in Maryland history and just the third black governor elected in U.S. history. Currently, there are no sitting black governors in the country.

Along with battles over education funding, teacher pay increases (Jealous proposes a 29 percent raise for teachers) and a vision for improving schools, transportation proved a major area of contention. Hogan pitched his work in improving the Washington, D.C. Metro subway, his green light of the Montgomery and Prince George’s Purple Line, and increased spending on highway expansion between D.C. and the Maryland suburbs, and elsewhere in the state. Jealous countered that Hogan’s I-270 and I-295 transportation projects amounted “toll lanes for rich people” and would not solve the state’s daily traffic woes, which include some of the longest commuter times in the country.

Hogan attempted to portray Jealous as an outsider from California, noting he had not registered to vote in the state prior to 2012, but at the same time opened the door to one of Jealous’ most compelling moments of the debate. Jealous, whose parents’ biracial marriage was not legal in Maryland when they wed in 1966, were both Baltimore public school teachers and civil rights activists. Jealous recounted his own life story and that of his family, including his 101-year-old grandmother who never left the city, as well as his frequent summer visits to Baltimore, which he described as “home.”

Hogan touted his bipartisan efforts with the General Assembly to pass tougher gun control measures, stop proposed Trump Administration efforts to cut Chesapeake Bay restoration funding, and passing criminal justice reform legislation to reduce the state’s prison population. He also described Jealous’ Medicare-for-All, universal pre-K and free community college proposals, and other initiatives as too burdensome on taxpayers and “reckless.”

He characterized Jealous’ intention on further reducing the state’s prison population as an effort “to put murderers and rapists and repeat violent offenders back on the street.” Jealous, noting he has lost family members in Howard and Prince George’s counties to violence, responded that Hogan’s remarks were “out of the old [GOP] playbook right from Willie Horton to Donald Trump.”

Jealous also tried to tie Hogan to the president’s immigration policies—the governor sent Maryland National Guard troops to the Mexican border, for example—as well as controversial Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos, a supporter of private charters and private school vouchers. Hogan responded by saying he called the Maryland troops back to the state and merely accompanied DeVos to a reading at Montgomery County school as he did previously with previous education secretaries.

Jealous also forced the governor to defend his record on the opioid epidemic in the state, pointing to huge increases in overdose deaths statewide in recent years, and saying it took Hogan too long, two years, to declare a state emergency after running on the issue four years ago. Hogan replied that he was the first governor in the country to declare a state of emergency around the public health epidemic.

Afterward, Jealous supporters, including former Democratic primary challenger state Senator Rich Madaleno praised his performance. “You can see why the Governor doesn’t want to have another debate,” Madaleno said.

“This is the tipping point in this race,” said Baltimore City Council member Brandon Scott, a former candidate for lieutenant governor on Democratic primary challenger Jim Shea’s ticket.

The Hogan team was equally confident about his performance.

“We’re up 22 points,” said Doug Mayer, Hogan’s deputy campaign manager. “Nothing that happened in that room is going to change that.”

Election Day is November 6, with early voting beginning October 25 and running through November 1.

Outside West Baltimore’s Shake & Bake Family Fun Center, 15 brand new, all-terrain Department of Public Works litter vehicles line the sidewalk. Courtesy of a $500,000 Keep Maryland Beautiful grant from the state, the fleet of golf-cart size street sweepers is being unveiled this morning as the Cardinal Shehan school choir—of Good Morning America fame—kicks off what is billed as Governor Larry Hogan’s “regional cabinet meeting” inside the iconic roller rink.

“Cardinal Shehan school choir—incredible. Wow. I mean they put me in a hard spot,” a beaming Hogan exclaims after a rousing rendition of “Rise Up.” “I’m not sure how you follow anything like that choir.”

The governor has brought his top officials with him, including Pete Rahn, head of the Department of Transportation, and Ken Holt, the state’s housing secretary, but the event has the unmistakable feel of a crowd-for-hire campaign rally. Those cramming into the Shake & Bake—mostly white, largely made up of Maryland government employees in suits and dresses sporting state ID badges—break into applause and standing ovations during the governor’s remarks, while he touts administration efforts in the city. Even the majority of the police officers on hand appear to be from Annapolis.

Tellingly, before Keiffer Mitchell, the former city councilman and current senior advisor to the governor, introduced Hogan, he began his remarks by describing the black renaissance history of Pennsylvania Avenue and the story behind the roller rink, which was started decades ago by former Colt Glenn “Shake & Bake” Doughty.

Neither “The Avenue” nor the roller rink needs an introduction to West Baltimoreans.

It would be easy, in other words, to dismiss the entire orchestration as mere political theater (Hogan implied it was a historic occasion). It is, after all, taking place on the first day of early primary voting, and the governor, without a Republican opponent, is spending the entire day in the heart of Democratic Baltimore, taking headlines away from the opposition. Except, the handful of invitees who live or work in West Baltimore and speak on the governor’s behalf are clearly impressed by Hogan’s outreach and sincerity, including Shionta Somerville, principal at nearby Carver Vocational-Technical High School. Not just today, but over the past four years.

“After his second visit [to Carver], people asked me, ‘How is the Governor?’” Somerville says. “Not people at school but friends of mine outside of school,” she adds with a smile, garnering nervous laughter from the audience, which is fully cognizant that a white Republican governor isn’t likely to engender much affection in heavily Democratic West Baltimore. “I say he’s just down to earth and very charming. I’ve never been very big on politics, but I’m big on people.”

As unlikely as it would’ve sounded at this time four years ago, when he trailed Democratic nominee Anthony Brown by double digits in the polls, Larry Hogan—a first-time Republican elected official in one of the bluest states in the country—is now the second-most-popular governor in the United States. According to a Morning Consult poll this summer, 68 percent of Maryland voters approve of the job Hogan is doing. Only Massachusetts Gov. Charlie Baker, another Republican in a blue state, is more popular, by a single percentage point.

Of course, despite Somerville’s affection and kind words, and Hogan’s genuine talent for retail politics and relationship building, he is not going to carry Baltimore City this November. The overwhelming 10-1 Democratic registration advantage, and his original sins in the eyes of many in the city—cancelling the $2.9 billion Red Line transit project, breaking the decade-in-the-works $1.5 billion State Center redevelopment deal, holding back school funding weeks after the Freddie Gray uprising—are simply a bridge too far.

Also: Larry Hogan doesn’t need to win Baltimore. He didn’t in 2014. With broad support in the state’s suburban and rural counties, he just needs to mitigate the damage. So when Baltimore’s second-highest-ranking elected official, City Council President Jack Young, refuses to answer a reporter’s query about whether he will support the incumbent Republican governor or the Democratic nominee—it should ring alarms among the Democratic party faithful hoping to elect nominee Ben Jealous.

“You heard what people said. Look at his poll numbers,” Young says after offering words of praise for the governor in the lobby of the Shake & Bake as the Hogan event winds down. “I don’t have to tell you [who I’m voting for],” adds Young, suggesting he’s either a genuine fan of the governor, intimidated by his approval ratings, or both. “Who are you voting for?”

By now, most Maryland voters at least know the outline of Larry Hogan’s backstory. That his father, Larry Sr., was a U.S. Congressman and Prince George’s County Executive (also a former FBI agent and one of the first Republicans to come out against Richard Nixon after Watergate). That Hogan worked for his father and held a top appointment in the Republican administration of former Governor Bob Ehrlich, a friend since the pair were in their early 20s. That he was—and still is—the owner of a successful real estate company (while serving as governor, Hogan turned over leadership of his company to his brother and put his assets into a trust). And that he’s a self-described workaholic who didn’t marry until he was 48.

Less well known when he ran four years ago was that he’d run twice for his father’s old congressional seat and lost, which—silver lining here—meant he didn’t have to defend a voting record on Capitol Hill. It also effectively allowed Hogan to position himself as a political newbie in 2014 and an Anne Arundel County “small businessman.” He was anything but, obviously. He served as Maryland chairman of Youth for Reagan and four times as a delegate to the Republican National Convention, displaying sharp political instincts and a knack for savvy messaging from the outset of his stunning upset campaign. Hogan Companies have completed more than $2 billion in real estate deals since they were founded in 1985 and the governor has made roughly $2.4 million in combined corporate earnings and government salary since taking office.

Hogan had begun planting the seeds of what ultimately became his campaign when he launched a Facebook page in 2009 with the name Change Maryland and started trolling Governor Martin O’Malley—“Owe Malley” in red circles—over increases in state taxes, tolls, and fees, and the cost of regulations to businesses. That was five years before he announced his intent to run for governor. “Just a genius use of social media,” says Eberly, political science professor at St. Mary’s College in Southern Maryland. “I can’t think of anything like it before or since.”

In a recent interview at the Governor’s Mansion, Hogan says he was just frustrated at the time by the direction in Annapolis and didn’t necessarily intend to run for office himself. Borrowing from the opposition playbook, he took to Facebook after witnessing the Barack Obama’s groundbreaking use of social media. “It started to grow very quickly,” Hogan recalls. “I couldn’t find anyone I thought could win. [So], I decided to [jump in].”

Later, Hogan memorably—some would say cynically—dubbed an EPA-mandated, storm water management fee initiated by O’Malley “the Rain Tax,” honing his anti-tax message down to a three-word mantra. Avoiding hot-button social issues such as abortion and same-sex marriage that could potentially plague a conservative candidate in Maryland, Hogan—an Irish Catholic who personally doesn’t support the right to choose and says he has “evolved” on gay marriage—simply declared the subjects settled.

Hogan also vowed not to go after the new gun-control laws passed in the state under O’Malley in the wake of the Sandy Hook tragedy, and he has kept those promises. He even went further after the Parkland school shooting announcing he would support a “red flag” bill that would allow judges to temporarily require people to surrender firearms if they are deemed a danger to themselves or others.

Four years later, in his reelection campaign, he’s plugging positive job growth numbers in the state (although Maryland’s unemployment rate remains above the national average and neighboring Virginia and Pennsylvania), and his successful efforts to roll back tolls and push the first day of public school to after Labor Day.

“It’s been a pendulum swing from O’Malley,” says Jennifer Duffy, of the Cook Political Report, a national independent, non-partisan newsletter that analyzes elections. “Hogan doesn’t have an enormous record of accomplishment, and he’s not putting forth a grand vision for the second term, but he’s not raising taxes and he’s focused on deregulating rules for businesses. Maryland’s one of the wealthiest states in the country, has high-ranking public schools, and that’s enough for a lot voters who see no reason to change course.”

The attacks on O’Malley and the Rain Tax have also returned. The Maryland road signs Hogan changed after taking office still say, “We’re Open for Business.”

Hogan’s political success as a Republican governing a blue state is also something of a phenomenon, rarely seen in recent years outside of New England. (See Massachusetts governors Charlie Baker, William Weld, and Mitt Romney; Vermont Gov. Phil Scott; and New Hampshire’s Chris Sununu.) It has put him on the radar of the national Republican strategists who ponder the possibility of a Hogan presidential run—should a more moderate post-Trump GOP ever emerge.

“Larry Hogan is an interesting guy to watch,” says Rick Wilson, a longtime Republican strategist and author of Everything Trump Touches Dies. “He may not be on the radar of the average voter outside Maryland, but political nerds know him.”

“He’s charismatic, he’s a people person, and he loves to talk. He’s been that way for 35 years.”

To understand how Hogan ascended to the stunning position he’s in, which includes a 22-point lead over Jealous in last week’s Goucher College poll, it is worth remembering that he was not really known—think Q rating terms—even after he was first elected. In a low-turnout year, he won by garnering roughly 19 percent of the voting-age eligible population. Ordering the National Guard into Baltimore in the midst of the Freddie Gray uprising 97 days into his first term raised his profile, but he still was not a well-defined figure outside the political class.

That changed two months later when he held a press conference, his wife Yumi by his side, and informed Marylanders he had been diagnosed with an aggressive form of non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma after discovering a lump on his neck during a trade mission to Asia. Staying on the job despite the tough rounds of chemotherapy—his bald pate a visible testament of the battle—the newly elected Hogan, gregarious and self-deprecating by nature, proved more than just relatable to the average Marylander, but courageous as well. “The best news is that my odds of getting through this and beating this are much, much better than the odds I had of beating Anthony Brown,” Hogan joked during the announcement.

Now, there remains a narrative that Hogan’s bout with cancer, fraught as it could’ve been, remains at the core of his statewide appeal. Undoubtedly, it provided a sympathetic boost and a turning point in his approval numbers. But to credit his record popularity three years later to mere goodwill would be not just unfair, but a mistake.

“Let me preface this by saying I don’t think a cancer diagnosis is ever a good thing, for anyone, ever,” says Mileah Kromer, a Goucher College political scientist and pollster. “That said, a lot of people in the state didn’t really know who Larry Hogan was up until then—they hadn’t had time to fully shape an identity around him—and then that did it. Every family has been affected by cancer. His approval numbers were in the 40s at the time, and they shot up. That is all true. But to focus only on that is to miss Hogan’s gifts as a politician.”

Those gifts include Hogan’s remarkable skill in navigating a General Assembly with veto-proof majorities in both the state House and Senate, and dancing, on a nearly daily basis it seems, around the chaotic presidency of Donald Trump, the face of his party, just 35 miles down the road.

Democrats in Maryland, which Trump lost by 26 points, would love nothing more to tie Trump like a lead weight around the governor. Mostly, however, Hogan nimbly sidesteps the Twitter barrage and controversial policies coming from the other Pennsylvania Avenue—the one in D.C. But he has also taken some questionable positions and made some questionable statements for the leader of a blue state.

He remained mostly silent in the wake of the president’s Muslim travel ban and called efforts to limit state cooperation with ICE’s ramped-up deportation of immigrants “absurd,” for example. (In his first year in office, Hogan told the federal government Syrian refugees were not welcome in Maryland.) Two of his officials signed off on the state’s participation in a controversial Trump Administration effort probing alleged voter fraud. He joined embattled U.S. Education Secretary Betsy DeVos on a visit to a Montgomery County school, but declined to comment on the nomination of Brett Kavanaugh to the Supreme Court, a pick many legal observers believe could imperil Roe v. Wade.

Most of these potentially polarizing episodes don’t stick to Hogan, however, and his ability to defuse problematic issues and appear pragmatic and reasonable have become a hallmark.

Hogan makes walking the difficult tightrope between the president’s words and deeds in more liberal Maryland almost look easy, says Richard Vatz, a professor of rhetoric and communications at Towson University. Stylistically, says Vatz, he’s able to alleviate middle-of-the-road Democratic voter concerns while not alienating the Republican base, by presenting himself as “not Trump” rather than “anti-Trump.” “When he does agree with the president’s agenda,” Vatz adds, “he goes out of the way to say he supports the policy, not necessarily the person behind it.”

“The real ‘Trump effect’ is that he is making Hogan look like a moderate,” Kromer says.

The General Assembly did override Hogan vetoes to pass a paid sick leave bill and higher renewable energy benchmarks, among other legislation, but overall he’s proved adept at avoiding losing fights in the state legislature, the importance of which he learned from his stint in the combative Ehrlich Administration. He maintains a solid rapport with powerful Senate President Mike Miller, who has known Hogan, through his father, since the governor was a teenager. “I let a lot of pitches go by,” Hogan says. “Where there is common ground, we work together.”

Hogan has let an automatic MVA voter registration, Planned Parenthood funding, and oyster sanctuary bills become laws without his signature to avoid veto override fights. He worked with the legislature to prevent Marylanders from losing their health care coverage following Trump Administration policy changes related to Obamacare and to oppose EPA cuts to Chesapeake Bay restoration funds. He collaborated with the General Assembly in putting together a $5-billion incentive offer to lure Amazon to Montgomery County.

But Hogan has also developed a knack for getting behind popular legislation he initially opposed. The fracking ban and the education lockbox amendment to the state constitution—which he now refers to as the “Hogan Lockbox” in a television ad—were first put forth and pushed by Democratic legislators. This week, Hogan began displaying a red apple, the trademarked logo of the 80,000-member Maryland State Education Association, on social media and campaign materials even though the teacher’s union has endorsed his Democratic opponent.

Hogan’s greatest gift as a politician, however, apparent to anyone who has crossed paths with him on the boardwalk in Ocean City, walking in Dundalk’s annual Fourth of July parade, or mingling at the Shake & Bake for that matter, is not his flair for branding or his political agility, as remarkable as those skills are. It’s a rare combination of personality traits for politicians: Hogan is not just an astute political animal, he is a happy warrior on the campaign trail, fun to be around, and disciplined off it.

No one has to ask the governor twice to pose for a selfie.

“He’s charismatic, he’s opinionated, he’s a people person, and he loves to talk,” says his old boss Ehrlich, who now works for the D.C. office of law firm King and Spalding. “He’s been that way for 35 years. Not all politicians are outgoing, but it helps, and he’s very outgoing.”

Hogan makes walking the difficult tightrope between the president’s words and deeds in more liberal Maryland almost look easy.

None of this, however, matters to progressive Democratic leaders and activists in Baltimore.

When Hogan brought his team to the Shake & Bake, local lay minister Glenn Smith, vice president of the Baltimore Equity Transit Coalition, led a small protest on Pennsylvania Avenue. Hogan’s spiking of the shovel-ready 14-mile, $2.9 billion Red Line transit project remains an issue because the lack of reliable public transportation remains the biggest impediment to employment in many neighborhoods, Smith says. “This was 13 years of planning, working with community leaders and community associations, and then just to come in and call it a ‘boondoggle,’ instead of, ‘How can we fix this? What can be improved?’ And to send $900 million back to the federal government—who does that?” says Smith, whose organization is trying to revive the once-in-a-generation initiative. “It felt punitive and mean-spirited.”

The governor admits no formal review document of the project was ever produced. State funds that would have been spent in Baltimore were diverted to highway projects in other parts of the state with higher concentrations of white residents, precipitating a civil rights complaint from the NAACP Legal Defense Fund and the ACLU, which the Trump Administration dismissed shortly after taking office.

At the same time, Hogan did green-light the Purple Line transit project, connecting suburban Prince George’s and Montgomery counties. Those two decisions together seemed to underscore a shift in the power structure in the state from Baltimore City to the booming D.C. suburbs.

Subsequently, the Hogan Administration’s $135 million effort to improve the MTA bus system in Baltimore has failed to become the “transformational” public transit system he promised. According to a study by the Central Maryland Transportation Alliance, on-time scores have not improved, and access to all jobs has marginally decreased since the change. More recently, an independent review after a four-week closure of the Metro Subway over potentially dangerous and long-ignored safety issues found troubling problems with the state transit agency, including poor inspection and maintenance practices and a failure to follow industry standards. Baltimore region commute times rank among the worst in country, surpassing even Los Angeles.

Meanwhile, Hogan, who says there are no new plans to address transportation woes within Baltimore City, has backed two high-speed rail projects, the Northeast Maglev and Elon Musk-pitched Hyperloop initiative between Baltimore and D.C, which further agitates some Baltimoreans. “The big problem for Baltimoreans is not getting to Washington, but getting across the city. Moving east-west has been a problem since the 19th century,” says former Johns Hopkins professor and Baltimore City historian Matthew Crenson. “The Maglev and Hyperloop make me furious.”

When Hogan opened his Baltimore City campaign office on North Avenue, City Council members Brandon Scott, Zeke Cohen, and State Delegate Brooke Lierman organized a counter press event across the street.

“There is a record here, and it is not a good record for Baltimore,” Lierman told the Real News Network, highlighting the Red Line, as well as the $1.5 billion redevelopment of State Center, now mired in lawsuits after Hogan’s decision to pull out of the deal. “I’m on the Appropriations Committee. Every year, it is a battle to make sure we are funding the priorities in Baltimore,” she added in an interview with the Real News Network. “Whether that’s the Baltimore Regional Neighborhoods Initiative, whether that’s funding for the Enoch Pratt, every year he cuts those initiatives out of his budget, and the General Assembly has to put that money back in and find money.”

Cohen, a former Baltimore City teacher and chair of the City Council’s Education and Youth Committee, said Hogan has underfunded city schools “somewhere in the range of $290 million to $360 million per year, depending on what study you follow” and alleged that when city school boilers “were bursting across the city and the children were in freezing classrooms . . . Governor Hogan was nowhere to be found.”

Cohen also called out Hogan for referring to unionized teachers as “thugs.”

Dave Werkmeister, a 34-year-old IT sales professional and Patterson Park Neighborhood Association member, voted for Hogan four years ago. Hogan won the city’s first district, the geographical bottom of the so-called “White L,” and may very well do so again, but Werkmeister says he’s been disappointed in Hogan’s actions related to Baltimore. “[The Hogan Administration] put out a map of all the major transportation projects in the state, and literally Baltimore City had been removed from the map,” Werkmeister says. “Symbolically, that said everything to me.”

The low point, in terms of Hogan’s rhetoric toward the city, probably came during the trial of the first police officer in the death of Freddie Gray. On WBAL Radio’s C4 Show, Hogan expressed “concern” that while people were venting their frustration over the death of Gray, who had died in police custody, no one was protesting about the 330 other people murdered in city. As City Councilman Brandon Scott responded, that was not just factually wrong—given the 300 Men Marches, Enough is Enough rallies, Citizens on Patrol Walks, and litany of vigils and efforts—it was disrespectful to the thousands of residents who want nothing more than to quell violence in the city.

It was also dismissive of the troubling and criminal problems within the Baltimore Police Department, highlighted by a Department of Justice investigation and punctuated by the recent convictions of eight members of the department’s Gun Trace Task Force.

In 2015, Hogan’s top housing official, Kenneth Holt, told a gathering at the annual summer conference of the Maryland Association of Counties that he was looking to loosen state lead paint poisoning laws, suggesting current statutes could motivate mothers to intentionally poison their children in order to receive free housing.

“Larry Hogan may be doing a great job for other parts of the state,” Werkmeister continues. “And I am not about to tell someone who lives in another part of the state, in another county, that he’s not. I don’t know that. I live here.”

At some point, pollster Kromer believes, one way or another, the city’s high crime and poverty rates, criminal justice problems, school funding shortages, and lack of reliable transportation, affordable housing, and living-wage jobs—will have to be addressed by Hogan. If for no other reason than Jealous, whose parents have Baltimore roots and who needs a big turnout in the city for the race to be close, will bring it up.

Hogan would rather keep the focus on the State of Maryland than the state of Baltimore, Kromer says. “But Baltimore will be litigated.”

If the election were today, 54 percent of likely Maryland voters would cast their ballot for incumbent Republican Larry Hogan in the race for governor, according to the latest Goucher College poll. Thirty-two percent say they would vote for Democratic candidate Ben Jealous.

Green Party candidate Ian Schlakman and Libertarian candidate Shawn Quinn each received one percent of the support of likely voters.

Nine percent of voters remain undecided. Another quarter of likely voters indicated they could change their mind, leaving some hope for Jealous, who trails Hogan significantly in fundraising efforts and only began airing his first television commercial after the poll concluded. Interestingly, by a margin of 47 percent to 36 percent, likely voters say they value a governor who is more focused on bringing about change than ensuring stability.

Statewide, likely Republicans voters favor Hogan by 91 percent to 1 percent margin. Currently, registered Maryland Democratic voters only break for Jealous by 10 points—48 percent to 38 percent.

“The cross [tabulations] tell the story,” St. Mary’s College political science professor Todd Eberly commented on Twitter. “The lesser known GOP candidates running against Cardin, Frosh, and Franchot are getting crushed. But Hogan is receiving strong support from core Democratic voters.”

In the first half of the Goucher College survey released yesterday, a significant majority of Marylanders backed policies—typically viewed as progressive Democratic initiatives and supported by Jealous—while also strongly supporting Hogan. Seventy-one percent of Marylanders now back raising the statewide minimum wage to $15 an hour—up from 66 percent in February 2018—with 25 percent in opposition. By a margin of 54 percent to 33 percent, Marylanders hold a favorable opinion of a Medicare for All/single payer healthcare system. And 62 percent of Marylanders support the legalization of marijuana for recreational use.

The single, one-hour televised debate between the two candidates is scheduled for 7 p.m. Monday and will be broadcasted on Maryland Public Television.

“Ben Jealous has faced a months-long barrage of negative ads and has a substantial disadvantage in campaign fundraising—and it’s prevented him from defining his candidacy to the public and making gains on his opponent,” said Mileah Kromer, director of the Sarah T. Hughes Field Politics Center at Goucher College. “Hogan’s electoral strength continues to be grounded in political moderation and the confidence the public has in him to handle economic issues. We have less than two months to see whether Hogan can maintain his bipartisan voting coalition or if Jealous can turnout enough progressives to make up the difference.”

The Jealous campaign appeared to suffer an unforced error earlier this week when they vetoed a Hagerstown Herald-Mail reporter from the upcoming MPT debate panel and then rescinded the move after an up road from other local media outlets.

The economy/jobs (25 percent), education (13 percent), racial/social justice (13 percent), President Donald J. Trump/national political concerns (13 percent), and healthcare (11 percent) were highlighted by likely voters as the most important issues in making a vote for governor.

Overall, 66 percent of likely voters expressed more confidence in Hogan in terms of economic development and job creation, 51 percent had more confidence in Hogan in handling education concerns, and 51 percent had more confidence in Hogan in regards to healthcare issues.

Sixty percent of likely voters said their opinions toward embattled President Trump, the GOP’s national standard-bearer, “will have no or little effect on their choice for governor.”

A Hogan endorsement, the poll found, holds less sway perhaps than his strong survey numbers suggest. Just 38 percent of likely voters said they would be more likely to vote for a candidate endorsed by the governor. Meanwhile, Democratic incumbents Sen. Ben Cardin and Maryland Attorney General Brian Frosh both maintain significant leads on their challengers.

Fifty-six percent of likely voters in the state indicate they will vote for Cardin and 17 percent for Republican challenger Tony Campbell. Independent Neal Simon captured eight percent support.

Fifty-eight percent of likely voters in the state indicate they will vote for Frosh and 26 percent for Republican challenger Craig Wolf.

“Ben Cardin and Brian Frosh are both in a strong position to easily win their reelection bids in November,” said Kromer. “They both earn strong support from their Democratic base, as well as a solid percent of independent voters.”

Maryland residents overwhelmingly support a $15 minimum wage, the legalization of recreational marijuana, and a Medicare for All/single-payer healthcare system.

Interestingly, while backing those policies—typically viewed as progressive Democratic initiatives—Marylanders also strongly support Republican Gov. Larry Hogan.

According to the latest Goucher College survey conducted last week, 71 percent of Marylanders now back raising the statewide minimum wage to $15 an hour—up from 66 percent in February 2018—with 25 percent in opposition. By a margin of 54 percent to 33 percent, Marylanders hold a favorable opinion of a Medicare for All/single payer healthcare system. And 62 percent of Marylanders support the legalization of marijuana for recreational use.

Marylanders also continued to express strong support for incumbent Gov. Larry Hogan (64 percent approval) and the general direction that the state is headed (55 percent).

“The underlying issue [in terms of support for Hogan] is taxes,” said Mileah Kromer, director of the Sarah T. Hughes Field Politics Center at Goucher College. “Marylanders are, by and large, focused on economic issues and Governor Hogan has had a consistent message—that he has not raised taxes over the past four years.”

A majority of Marylanders (56 percent) consider the amount of state taxes they pay “too high.” Nearly half (48 percent) believe the current tax system advantages the wealthy, with 13 percent believing the current system is fair to everyone.

All of these issues that Marylanders are in support of are policies that have been put forth by Hogan’s Democratic challenger in the race for governor, Ben Jealous. Kromer cautions, however, support for a single-payer healthcare system is not quite as strong as support for improving the Affordable Care Act in Maryland.

“Support for a state-based Medicare for All plan distinguished Ben Jealous as a candidate for governor from the rest of field during the Democratic primary,” said Kromer. “However, opinions toward adopting a single-payer healthcare system are nuanced. Marylanders do view Medicare for All favorably, but a majority still prefers that elected officials focus on improving the way the Affordable Care Act is working for Maryland.”

Overall, the percentage of Maryland residents disapproving of President Donald Trump is among the highest in the country. With a margin of error +/-3.4 percent, 71 percent of the adults in the state disapprove of the president, who is battling controversies from the Russian investigation, his immigration and trade policies, and his nomination of Brett Kavanaugh to the Supreme Court.

Just 23 percent of Maryland residents approve of the job the president is doing.

Forty-five percent of Marylanders believe Hogan has distanced himself “about the right amount” from President Trump. Twenty-four percent of respondents indicated they believe Hogan has distanced himself too little from President Trump.

Almost half of Marylanders view the governor as a moderate (48 percent), 27 percent see him as a conservative, 10 percent think of him as a progressive, and 14 percent say they don’t know.

Tomorrow, Goucher will post other survey results, including poll numbers on the Hogan and Jealous race. In the latest Gonzales poll, Hogan led Jealous by 16 points in the state. The two candidates are scheduled to meet in a single televised debate September 24.

About the Goucher Poll:
The survey was conducted Tuesday, September 11, to Sunday, September 16, 2018. During this time, 813 interviews with Maryland adults were conducted noon to 9 p.m. on Monday to Friday and 1 p.m. to 5 p.m. on Saturday and Sunday. Interviews are conducted by a staff of professionally trained, paid, student interviewers. Interviews were not conducted with adults who were reached at business or work numbers. Eighty-three percent of the interviews were conducted on a cell phone and 17 percent were conducted on a landline.

More than 2,200 Maryland residents died in 2017 from unintended drug and alcohol-related intoxication, setting an all-time mark for the state in the seventh consecutive year.

Of 2,282 drug and alcohol-related deaths in Maryland last year, 2,009 were opioid-related, according to a report released Thursday by the Maryland Department of Health. Those numbers have more than tripled since 2011, when the number of opioid-related deaths in the state first began to rise. The statewide data from the first quarter of 2018—which shows a nearly 20 percent increase in unintended intoxication deaths over the same period last year—indicates the ongoing public health crisis is only worsening.

Baltimore magazine chronicled the opioid crisis and its impact on Hagerstown and Washington County in our July issue.

In Baltimore City, 761 people died from drug and alcohol related deaths in 2017, a significant increase from the 694 fatalities in 2016—and a seven-fold jump since 2011—driven by opioid-related overdoses. Baltimore is one of hundreds of jurisdictions in the U.S. that has sued pharmaceutical manufacturers and distributors of opioids for their alleged criminal roles in bringing the drugs to market.

Baltimore City, by far, has the highest death rate for unintentional intoxications deaths in the state at 45.1 deaths per 100,000 residents. It is followed by Cecil County (31.4), Caroline County (31.4), Caroline County (29.9), Allegany County (29.0) and Washington County (28.8).

“We are seeing an epidemic of overdoses in Maryland and around the country and these numbers are terrifying,” said Baltimore Health Commissioner Dr. Leana Wen in response to the report. “We are not even at the peak of the epidemic and we don’t know what the peak looks like.”

Fentanyl, a powerful opioid painkiller, which is also made illegally and sometimes mixed with cocaine and heroin, continues to be one of the factors driving overdose fatalities.

“In the first three months of 2018 alone, we’ve seen 500 fentanyl-related deaths,” Maryland Department of Health Secretary Robert R. Neall said in a statement. “We’re asking those with a substance use disorder to immediately seek treatment and for more individuals to learn how to use and carry naloxone.”

Wen said the city needs more resources to combat the crisis, including additional funding to make naloxone, a medication that can be used by non-medical professional citizens to rapidly reverse an overdose, more available. “Everyday residents in Baltimore saved 1,130 people in 2017, but we are rationing its use,” Wen said. “Imagine how many more lives we could save if we had the money to do so.”

Wen added that the city also needs greater state and federal support to help treat those with addiction issues. “Treatment is not a one-off,” she said. “It needs to be sustained to be effective.”

The new numbers and report quickly became campaign fodder in the current race for governor between incumbent Republican Larry Hogan and Democratic nominee Ben Jealous.

“The opioid epidemic is one of the most challenging public health crises of our time and it is clear that Larry Hogan’s incremental steps are not getting the job done,” said Maryland Democratic Party spokesperson Fabion Seaton in a statement. “Ben Jealous has proposed a bold and innovative plan to take the opioid epidemic head-on, but Gov. Hogan shouldn’t wait to implement these solutions, he should implement them now. Lives are at stake and time is of the essence.”

The state Health Department called tacking the opioid epidemic “a top priority” of the Hogan-Rutherford Administration in a press release accompanying the report.

“Every day, numerous state agencies and other stakeholders are working together on the statewide response. We are seeing success on the prescriber side as hospitals and medical providers have been driving innovative solutions to reduce inappropriate prescribing,” said Clay Stamp, executive director, the state’s Opioid Operational Command Center. “Yet, we have to stay focused on and resolute in our three-pronged strategy – prevention and education, enforcement, and expanding access to treatment and recovery.”

On Friday, U.S. Rep. Elijah Cummings (D-MD) and U.S. Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) will hold a roundtable discussion with Baltimore community leaders on efforts to combat the epidemic. Earlier this year, Cummings and Warren introduced the Comprehensive Addiction Resources Emergency (CARE) Act, which is modeled on the Ryan White Comprehensive AIDS Resources Emergency Act. That act was enacted nearly three decades years ago with bipartisan support to boost federal investments and local decision-making to stem the HIV/AIDS epidemic.

Ben Jealous, the son of former Baltimore City school teachers and a former NAACP president, handily beat Prince George’s County Executive Rushern Baker for the Democratic gubernatorial nomination Tuesday.

Jealous, an unabashed progressive with support from the Maryland teachers union and Sen. Bernie Sanders, will face off against incumbent Republican Gov. Larry Hogan, presenting voters with a clear choice in November. Despite a 2-1 Democratic advantage in registered voters in the state, Jealous is expected to have his work cut out in challenging Hogan, whose approval ratings have consistently ranked in the mid-60s during his first term. Unopposed in the Republican primary, Hogan also starts the general election campaign with a nearly $8 million fundraising lead on Jealous.

“Hogan will lose because he doesn’t know how run to against some who can build people-powered grassroots campaign,” Jealous told supporters at his campaign’s victory party at the Reginald F. Lewis Museum in Baltimore.

Jealous will certainly try to tie Hogan, considered a moderate Republican, to the head of his party, President Donald Trump, who received just under 34 percent of the vote in Maryland in 2016.

“A [Jealous] vs. [Hogan] race isn’t just interesting nationally because of what Jealous represents for the future of the Dem Party,” Goucher College political science professor Mileah Kromer commented on Twitter last night, “it’s also what Hogan represents for the future of Republican Party.”

In another high-profile primary race Tuesday, incumbent Baltimore State’s Attorney Marilyn Mosby won another four-year term, defeating defense attorney Ivan Bates and former prosecutor Thiru Vignarajah, who essentially split the opposition vote. Mosby tallied just less than 50 percent support of Democratic voters with 96 percent of the precincts reporting last night.

Mosby became a national figure in 2015 after filing charges against six city police officers involved in the arrest of Freddie Gray, who died while in custody and maintained the support of numerous Baltimore political leaders, including Rep. Elijah Cummings, former Rep. Kweisi Mfume, and Mayor Catherine Pugh.

In Baltimore County, the Democratic nomination for county executive remained in a three-way deadlock after voting ended. Former Del. John Olszewski Jr., state Sen. Jim Brochin and County Councilwoman Vicki Almond posted 33.1 percent, 32.7 percent, and 31.8 percent of vote with more than 98 percent of the vote counted last night. However, a significant number of provisional ballots—nobody will know until July 5 how many—were likely cast yesterday after the Department of Motor Vehicles announced they failed to update the registrations of 80,000 voters over the past year. In the GOP nomination for Baltimore County executive, Insurance Commissioner Al Redmer easily defeated state Del. Pat McDonough.

In city state senate races, two incumbents, Nathan McFadden in East Baltimore, and Barbara Robinson in West Baltimore, lost to challenges from younger state delegates, Del. Cory McCray and Del. Antonio Hayes, respectively. Another state delegate, Del. Mary Washington appeared to be on the verge of upsetting state Sen. Joan Conway with 96 percent of the voting in Tuesday.

In another high-profile state senate race, Sen. Jill Carter held off a challenge from former school teacher J.D. Merrill, the son-in-law of former mayor and governor Martin O’Malley.

In a state house race that garnered regional and even some national attention, state Del. Robbyn Lewis, a public health expert and the first African-American woman to represent District 46, exceeded expectations in easily fending off a big-money challenge by newcomer Nate Loewentheil, a former Obama Administration official.

With 80 percent of the vote, U.S. Sen. Ben Cardin won the Democratic primary in his bid to return to Capitol Hill. He’ll be challenged by Tony Campbell, an author, minister, and political science professor at Towson University.

In District 6, the only open congressional seat in Maryland, Democrat David Trone, who spent nearly $12 million, will face defense consultant Republican Amie Hoeber, who also won GOP’s 2016 nomination. Rep. John Delaney is resigning his seat in a bid for the Democratic presidential nomination in two years.

In deep blue Baltimore, the primaries held later this month, for all intents and purposes, will decide much of the city’s elected leadership. That means today is an important deadline for voters: It is the last day for Marylanders to register for the upcoming June 26 contests.

(In order to cast a ballot in Maryland, voters must register at least 21 days before the next election.)

Also important: Maryland’s primaries are closed, which means voters must be registered with a party affiliation to cast a ballot later this month. Today is also the last day to change political affiliation if you are already registered to vote.

The good news? Registering or changing affiliation just takes a few minutes online. Simply head to the State Board of Election’s website, scroll to your local (Baltimore City or county) board of elections, and then follow links to voter info and voter registration.

To submit a registration electronically, voters must provide a valid Maryland-issued state ID number or driver’s license number. It’s too late to register by mail, but you can also still register in-person this afternoon in Baltimore until 4:30 p.m. at The Department of Health and Mental Hygiene.

In Baltimore, major races include the battle for city state’s attorney general where incumbent Marilyn Mosby faces challenges from defense attorney Ivan Bates and Thiru Vignarajah, a former deputy attorney general for Maryland.

The biggest race this year, of course, is for governor. According to a new Washington Post-University of Maryland poll released Tuesday morning, former NAACP president Benjamin Jealous has jumped past Prince George’s County Executive Rushern L. Baker III and ahead of the rest of the Democratic pack.

Jealous, who had been trailing Baker during the primary season to date, now leads Baker among likely Democratic voters 21 percent to 16 percent. The rest of the field, Valerie Ervin, Rich Mandaleno, Jim Shea, Krish Vignarajah, and Alec Ross, track from 8 percent to 2 percent support. However, the largest percentage of the vote—39 percent—remains up for grabs.

Meanwhile, incumbent Gov. Larry Hogan, running unopposed in the Republican primary, maintains broad support, with a 71 percent job-approval rating, including nearly two-thirds approval among Democrats.

Races up for also grabs also include the state delegate and state senate positions—all of Maryland’s congressional seats—and one the state’s U.S. Senate positions where Sen. Ben Cardin is running for re-election.

In Baltimore City, other contests include Clerk of the Circuit Court, Register of Wills, Judge of the Orphan’s Court, Sheriff, and Democratic and Republican Central Committee seats.

The Incumbent: Larry Hogan, Republican
In April, a national Morning Consult poll reported that Gov. Larry Hogan had the second-highest approval rating among governors in the country—a finding that came as no surprise to followers of Maryland politics. The 62-year-old Republican has maintained extraordinary support from state voters, typically posting approval ratings in the mid-60s since his win in 2014. Hogan’s secret in a state where registered Democrats outnumber Republicans 2-1? He blends a dog-loving, Everyman persona with savvy political instincts, carefully picking his battles in General Assembly and avoiding entanglements in President Donald Trump’s seemingly endless capacity for controversy.

According to the late April Goucher Poll, the percentage of registered voters likely to vote for Hogan in November remains in the mid-40s, with roughly a quarter of voters still undecided. While all the action this month is in the June 26 Democratic primary, it is only a prelude to what will be a no-holds-barred general election race in November. A Hogan win would certainly garner him national attention in what is expected to be a blue wave nationally.

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The Contenders
The question heading toward this year’s primary has been: When will the Democratic candidates distinguish themselves from each other? And who, if anyone, will jump out in front of the crowded field? (Polling numbers as of 2/22/18. Forty-seven percent of people polled voted “undecided.”)

Rushern Baker III
The Prince George’s County Executive has held a lead, although not a commanding edge, from the start. A sharp, committed manager, Baker, 59, restored confidence in the P.G. County government following the corruption scandal of predecessor Jack Johnson and has boosted economic development. In 2015, Governing magazine named him one of the top public officials of the year. Polling at: 19%

Ben Jealous
A decade ago, Jealous became the youngest president and CEO of the NAACP, earning kudos for returning the historic civil rights organization to relevance and registering voters. Charismatic and unapologetically progressive, Jealous, 45, has garnered endorsements from U.S. senators Bernie Sanders, Kamala Harris, and Cory Booker, as well as several local unions, including the Maryland State Education Association. Polling at: 10%

Richard Madaleno Jr. 
Vice-chair of the state senate Budget and Taxation Committee and a legislative leader in the Maryland General Assembly, Madaleno should be better known across the state than he is. A married father of two, Madaleno, 53, of Montgomery County, is vying to become the state’s first openly gay governor. He will contend for the progressive vote with Jealous. Polling at: 2%

Alec Ross
A technology policy expert, Ross, 46, served as senior advisor for innovation to Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. Ross came to Baltimore—where he resides with his wife and kids—after graduating from Northwestern University. He taught at a West Baltimore middle school for two years, and later co-founded One Economy, a non-profit that delivers internet access and technology education to low-income communities. Polling at: 3%

Jim Shea
Shea, 65, grew up in Baltimore County, where his mother worked in the public school system. He has never held elected political office, but he did lead the largest law firm in the Baltimore metro area. He has promised to bring a Fortune 500 company to Baltimore, keep the Preakness here, and he picked City Councilman Brandon Scott, 33, as his running mate. Polling at: 2%

Krishanti Vignarajah
A Sri Lanka-native and daughter of two Baltimore City schoolteachers, Vignarajah, 38, served as Michelle Obama’s policy director, helping the former First Lady launch the popular Let Girls Learn initiative. A Woodlawn High School graduate, she earned a law degree from Yale University and is the only woman running in the Democratic primary in a state that has never elected a female governor. Polling at: 2%

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Editor’s note: The print version of this story included information about Kevin Kamenetz’s planned run for governor. Baltimore magazine sends heartfelt condolences to his family, friends, and constituents.

With deep roots in the city, not to mention its national headquarters, the NAACP kicks off its annual national convention in Baltimore this weekend.

Elected officials scheduled to speak at the convention over the next several days include Maryland Rep. Elijah Cummings and Maryland Sen. Ben Cardin. Sen. Kamala Harris (D-CA), Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) and Sen. Cory Booker (D-NJ)—all considered possible Democratic presidential contenders in 2020—are also scheduled to appear.

The convention officially begins Friday with an opening press conference slotted for Saturday at 9:30 a.m., during which the NAACP has said it will be making an announcement about the future of the organization. The nation’s oldest and largest civil rights organization has been without a president since its board of directors announced it was letting go of Cornell Brooks last month. 

Earlier this week, President Donald Trump said he had declined an invitation to address the convention. The White House said later it would be open to meeting with NAACP leadership for a dialogue. 

Among the recent issues in contention between the civil rights organization and the new president have been the Trump Administration’s efforts to collect detailed voter data from state governments.

In a statement, Leon W. Russell, chair of the NAACP national board of directors, described the nation as finding itself “in a new period of turmoil” with looming cutbacks in education funding, civil rights enforcement and health care. 

“This year’s convention takes place at a pivotal time for our country, and for our association,” said Russell.

“Our theme for 2017 (“steadfast and immovable”) reminds us that as an organization, our intent is to fulfill the vision and mission of our founders, and we will leave Baltimore united and committed to making our nation a better place for all,” said Derrick Johnson, vice-chair of the board of directors.

The five-day conference features seminars, committee meetings, workshops, exhibits and panel discussions, as well as keynote addresses from NAACP staff, civil rights and faith leaders, elected officials, and media and youth leaders.

Tessa Hill-Aston, president of the NAACP’s Baltimore City branch, who put in the city’s bid to host the convention three years ago, said five-day event offers an opportunity for Baltimore leaders to engage with city and national leaders in addressing concerns that are common across the country. She said the convention is expected to bring 5-6,000 visitors to the city.

“Baltimore has specific problems [to address], in criminal justice, for example, but many of the issues here are also issues in Chicago and Detroit and other cities across the country,” Hill-Aston said. “There are national level issues that we need to address, discuss and find solutions for.”

The Baltimore branch of NAACP, the second chartered in the country, was founded in 1912 and was led by numerous notable civil rights figures in the past, including Carl Murphy, Lillie Carroll Jackson, Juanita Jackson Mitchell and Enolia McMillian.

Baltimore, of course, is also the birthplace of Thurgood Marshall, the legendary civil rights lawyer and Supreme Court justice who successfully argued Brown v. Board of Education in 1954, thereby ending the country’s legal doctrine of segregation. Marshall, for whom the University of Maryland law school library named its library in 1980, founded the NAACP Legal Defense and Education Fund in 1940.

For three decades, another Baltimorean, Clarence Mitchell Jr., led the NAACP’s office in Washington D.C., where he became known as “the 101^st Senator” for his efforts in helping pass the key civil rights legislation of the 1950s and 1960s.

Two recent NAACP presidents also have deep connections to Baltimore. Former NAACP president Kweise Mfume, current chairmen of the board at Morgan State University, was born and raised here, and Ben Jealous, a Democratic candidate for governor in Maryland, spent summers visiting his grandparents in Baltimore.

Once the youngest president and CEO of the NAACP, Ben Jealous announced his candidacy for Maryland governor outside his cousin’s Northwest Baltimore flower shop on Wednesday, May 31.

Jealous, 44, who has no previous political experience, is seeking the Democratic nomination for the June 2018 primary. He is now the second Democratic candidate to formally announce candidacy joining tech expert Alec Ross, who announced his bid last month. Other possible Democratic incumbents include: Baltimore County Executive Kevin Kamenetz, former Attorney General Doug Gansler, State Sen. Richard S. Madaleno Jr., Rep. John Delaney, Prince George’s County Executive Rushern L. Baker, and Baltimore lawyer James L. Shea.

After resigning from the NAACP, Jealous continued to be an advocate for social injustice by leading movements to abolish the death penalty in Maryland, defend voter rights, secure marriage equality, and combat racial profiling. More recently, he endorsed and became a proxy for Bernie Sanders during his 2016 presidential campaign, citing that his experiences with Sanders, among other qualifications, make up for his lack of political experience.

“I’m a community organizer—I’ve spent my life doing that,” he said. “I’m a civil rights leader. Pulling together, solving problems, and serving people are what I do.”

Dr. Mileah Kromer, assistant professor of political science at Goucher College, says that Jealous brings something different to the table than the other potential candidates. She labeled Jealous as a “true resistance” democrat that many within the party are looking for in the mold of Bernie Sanders. Similar to Sanders, he has a persona that appeals to a younger, more progressive demographic, especially African American voters.

“He has an ability to talk with a lot of credibility on important social justice issues,” Kromer said. “There’s no better messenger on racial and social justice issues than a former head of the NAACP.”

Although Jealous has the national recognition and civil rights experience, Kromer says that it may not be enough to compete with seasoned elected officials. Not all Democrats fall under the progressive umbrella, so he faces the challenge of appealing to those individuals less interested in social issues, and more concerned with economic development.

“Democrats want to know, who’s electable? Who can beat Larry Hogan?” Kromer said.  “Right now, all polls show that Hogan is one of the most popular elected officials in the country.”

In a poll of 85,000 registered voters released in April by Morning Consult, 73 percent of Marylanders approve of Hogan. A Goucher College poll from February shows Hogan with a 63 percent approval rating, and 57 percent of poll responders leaning towards a 2018 Hogan vote.

Without providing detailed proposals, Jealous said that, if elected, he will raise minimum wage to $15, enhance transportation by extending state highways and bridges, grow local businesses, and improve public safety.

“We will close corporate tax loopholes. We will end mass incarceration. We will cut the murder rate, and we will lock up the shooters,” he said. “We will restore trust by better training officers, and also holding officers who kill unarmed civilians fully accountable.”

But some advocates of the opposition are skeptical that Jealous’ lack of political experience make him unprepared to keep those promises.

“The voters of our state rejected this kind of rhetoric and the failed job-killing policies the Maryland Democratic Party represents when they elected Governor Larry Hogan in 2014,” said Brian Griffiths, editor-in-chief of conservative news outlet RedMaryland.com. “We are confident the voters will make the right choice again in 2018.”

However, support for Jealous came from all over the state to attend the rally, including Robert Julian Ivey, a council member of Cheverly, Maryland.

“It’s just so important that we put someone against Hogan that can stand up to for the ideals that the people of Maryland believe in,” Ivey said. “He’s someone that can stand up and keep organizing, and keep being an activist.”

Similarly, Karen Warwick of Anne Arundel County is hoping that Jealous will be “Maryland’s Bernie.”

“For the progressives nationwide, we were all in for Bernie,” she said. “But here in Maryland, we have a chance to elect this person that holds the same values as Bernie to be the governor of the state.”

Jealous may have the nationwide recognition, experience with social justice, entrepreneurial savvy, but the list of potential candidates that he is up against all have extensive resumés, with experience running and winning elections.

“It’s a long road to Hogan,” Kromer said. “There’s a lot before he gets to go head-to-head, and there’s a long journey to get to there.”

Also Wednesday, a number of other prominent Baltimore leaders formally endorsed Pugh, including attorney Billy Murphy, who has been representing Freddie Gray’s family; former Rep. Kweisi Mfume; former NAACP chief and Baltimore native Ben Jealous; and Rev. Jamal Bryant, pastor of the Empowerment Temple in West Baltimore.

Mosby said his decision to leave the race, “wasn’t about the polls,” which put his support at 5 percent, essentially tied with City Councilman Carl Stokes in fifth place, behind Pugh, Dixon, attorney Elizabeth Embry, and businessman David Warnock.

“If the polls were always right, my wife wouldn’t be city state’s attorney, Gregg Bernstein would. And Anthony Brown would be governor,” Mosby said. “This election will be strange. It’s tough to call. There are a lot of people after the unrest that signed up to vote. There’s the presidential race, the senate race, and a large number of ex-offenders who are able to vote for the first time.”

On the campaign trail, Mosby talked often of his personal story as the son of the city and a struggling mother in Northeast Baltimore, who went on to become an engineer. He said that he would focus on serving out the remainder of his first term in the City Council and representing the 7th District.

The City Council is currently examining a $535 million tax increment financing deal for the proposed Under Armour/Port Covington project—believed to be one of the largest urban redevelopment plans under consideration in the country.

“I’m disappointed he’s dropping out of the race, but at the same time I understand the political realities,” said Mosby supporter Kirk Wesley. “Nick ran on a message of new ideas, and the need for new candidates—instead of repeating the same mistakes made by the same people for the past 30 years. I think his candidacy, given where he came from, gave some hope to people who may have felt a sense of hopelessness.”

Mosby said that he hasn’t made any long-term career decisions. He added that his pressing concern at the moment was informing his two daughters, ages 5 and 7, when they return home from school that he was leaving the race and wouldn’t be mayor.

Early primary voting in Maryland begins April 14 with same-day registration offered during the early voting period, which continues through April 21. Early voting centers in the state can be found here.

On a light-hearted campaign note, the Stoop Storytelling Series and Open Society Institute-Baltimore are presenting “The Stoop Mayoral Show” this evening at The War Memorial, 101 N. Gay St. The free, unique election year event features Baltimore’s mayoral candidates “telling 5-minute true, personal tales about their first job” and “offers a different way to get to know the candidates.” Festivities, including music and food trucks, begin at 6 p.m. with stories to follow at 7 p.m. The event is sold out, but standby and standing room tickets will be available on a first-come, first-serve basis. The show will also be broadcast on WYPR and WEAA