The state’s largest public employee union announced scores of endorsements Wednesday — minus two high-profile names that were conspicuous in their absence.
The American Federation State, County and Municipal Employees did not include Gov. Wes Moore or Attorney General Anthony Brown, both Democrats, on its list of 177 federal, state and local candidates from 13 jurisdictions. AFSCME Council 3 President Patrick Moran says there’s a simple explanation.
“In both of those instances, we’re just waiting to get their questionnaire back. We have to have answers to those questions before we make an endorsement, or before we do anything,” he said. “We’re just working through that process. Sometimes it takes people longer than others, but hopefully I feel confident that with at least one of the two will get there.”
But Moore and the union have had a challenging relationship in the last four years. Moore, who entered office promising to increase hiring, has had some success, but has not come close to his promise of cutting state vacancies in half. Last year, he instituted a voluntary separation program to cut positions that some union members compared to Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency efforts.
And some who were hired were brought on at salaries that compressed wages of longtime union members, who have also received little in the way of cost-of-living increases.
Comptroller Brooke Lierman (D) was the only statewide candidate to receive the union’s endorsement. Lierman has no primary, but will face Lanham Republican Sonya Dunn in November.
Other endorsements included Senate President Bill Ferguson (D-Baltimore City), who faces a primary challenge from social media personality and charter boat captain Bobby LaPin, and Harford County Councilmembers Patrick Vincenti and Allison Imhoff, both Republicans.
Vincenti, the council president, is challenging County Executive Bob Cassilly in the Republican primary. Imhoff was appointed to replace Aaron Penman, whom a state appeals court later determined was wrongfully removed from office, but who has decided to not run and is backing Imhoff.
Sen. Mike McKay (R-Western Maryland), who faces no primary opponents, also picked up an endorsement.
“We’re going to back someone that, again, supports good policy,” Moran said.
Blue state, red state
When he was fighting back efforts during the legislative session to have Maryland join other states redrawing their congressional district maps for partisan advantage this fall, Senate President Bill Ferguson (D-Baltimore City) often pointed to Indiana, where a redistricting push fell short in the state Senate.
If Maryland were to redraw its eight districts, states like Indiana would be forced to join in, he reasoned. Ferguson was able to hold his caucus together and the redistricting bill was banished to the Senate Rules Committee where it died without a vote.
But the U.S. Supreme Court last week gutted Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act, on racially based congressional districts, sending sending some Republican states scrambling to redraw their districts in time for this year’s elections. And on Tuesday, challengers endorsed by President Donald Trump defeated five incumbent senators in Indiana’s primary elections.
All that could mean a change in Maryland.
“We’re trying to have conversations amongst members about what the best path is given the legal constraints of the state constitution,” Ferguson told Maryland Matters during a campaign event Wednesday.
Ferguson called the outcome “incredibly disheartening.”
“It doesn’t change the fact that Maryland’s Constitution is still a challenge for redistricting here … and so something we’re evaluating and looking,” he said. “But … we still have to confront the reality that our state constitution is in a different place.”
In 2022, Judge Lynne A. Battaglia struck down a congressional map using a standard that had once only applied to state legislative districts. Congressional districts, she ruled, must be compact and contiguous districts and respect natural political boundaries. The decision resulted in a hastily drawn compromise map — the current map, which favors Democrats in seven of eight districts.
It’s likely too late for the state to redraw maps for the 2026 election: Ballots go out Monday. But under one scenario, the General Assembly could meet in a special session sometime after the June 23 primary to consider a constitutional amendment that cures the so-called Battaglia decision.
But the clock is running. In order to get that amendment on the ballot for November, lawmakers would only have about a month after the primary to pass the amendment and have language ready for the November ballot. If approved by voters, the change would clear an impediment Ferguson said prevented the state from acting this session, but would not affect the 2026 elections.
Ferguson was noncommittal when asked about the chances of a special session. He also did not dismiss it out of hand, either.
“Right now, we’re just evaluating the status of where things stand and monitoring what’s happening nationally as well as what’s viable here in Maryland,” Ferguson said.
Public money, private money
Campaign finance is proving a key issue in the four-way Democratic primary for Howard County executive. Look no further than the first campaign ad by County Council member Deb Jung for proof.
The ad shows Jung sitting at the front of a classroom crowded with young students.
“When Deb Jung is elected as Howard County executive, our children in schools will come first. Corporate donors? Lobbyists? Not so much,” a narrator reads, as the camera pans to a disgruntled lobbyist sitting among the students.
Then, Jung rips apart a large check reading “Corporate Donation.”
“Deb’s funded by small donors, so she’s only accountable to us,” the narrator says.
Jung, a council member since 2018, is among the candidates in the race accepting public financing, which uses public dollars to match small campaign donations, along with fellow Council member Liz Walsh, who also joined the council in 2018, and restaurateur Bob Cockey.
Former Del. Vanessa Atterbeary (D-Howard) is the only county executive candidate who is not accepting public financing. She argues that neither Jung nor Walsh should be using public financing, since that fund is intended “to help first-time candidates get off the ground — not to help experienced candidates.”
“The other two women have been in office and already have a base of support, so they should not be using public financing,” Atterbeary said in an April interview.
January’s campaign finance report showed Atterbeary with about $600,000 on hand, well beyond her competitors.
“They use these buzzwords like corporate money, dark money,” Atterbeary said. “But the fact of the matter is I’m proud to have received money — since we started this campaign, we’ve received contributions from individuals and from businesses all across the county, all who live here, work here, have an interest in the county and want to see me be successful.”
The stakes are high because the winner of the Democratic primary will likely take office, since no members of any other party have filed to run for the seat.
