Candidates in overdrive for primary
Candidates for offices from the presidency to Baltimore's mayor campaigned across Maryland on Saturday, making a final pitch to voters in what has become the state's most gripping primary election season in decades.
Rowdy battles for the presidential nominations, a testy Senate race to replace a matriarch of Maryland politics and a hard-fought mayoral contest that has forced the city to examine its past and future will all be on the ballot.
Marylanders will head to the polls on Tuesday for the first time since the death of Freddie Gray and the subsequent violence raised difficult questions for policymakers and voters about the role government has in addressing poverty, education, the economy and racial tension.
“Just like in the rest of the country, there are lots of people in Maryland who are frustrated,” said Rep. Elijah E. Cummings, a Democrat who has endorsed in some contests and remained silent in others. “People are looking for candidates who will not just go along to get along.”
At the top of the ticket is a presidential campaign the likes of which Maryland has not seen since 1984. Democratic front-runner Hillary Clinton is expected to perform well in the state, and the four others voting on Tuesday — Pennsylvania, Delaware, Connecticut and Rhode Island. If Clinton sweeps those states, it will make it exceedingly difficult for rival Bernie Sanders to catch up.
Fueled by support from a younger generation of Democrats — and an immense campaign account — Sanders has refused to cede territory, or write off Maryland. The senator from Vermont filled the Royal Farms Arena in Baltimore on Saturday in his first appearance in the state since December.
“On Tuesday, the people of Maryland can say it is time for a political revolution,” Sanders told the crowd. “The history of this campaign is we win when voter turnout is high. Let us have the highest voter turnout on Tuesday in Maryland history.”
The Republican side of the presidential contest has been dominated by front-runner Donald Trump, who is expected to visit Hagerstown today — his second visit to the state in the past week. Polls show Trump ahead in Maryland, but Texas Sen. Ted Cruz and Ohio Gov. John Kasich will have an opportunity to pick up delegates in the state to force a contested convention in Cleveland this summer.
Cruz and Kasich have both campaigned in Maryland since Trump won the New York primary on April 19.
Two Democratic candidates to fill retiring Sen. Barbara A. Mikulski's seat have been waging an intense fight. Reps. Donna F. Edwards and Chris Van Hollen have fiercely debated entitlements, guns and trade even though their differences are more based in style than substance.
The race, which has centered on Baltimore, has flooded airwaves with millions of dollars in advertising, much of it from outside super PACs. Van Hollen, of Montgomery County, has long held a fundraising advantage in the race. Edwards, of Prince George's County, has been buoyed by money from Emily's List — a Washington-based group that helps to elect Democratic women.
Edwards has accused Van Hollen of being an insider, too willing to compromise; Van Hollen has questioned Edwards' effectiveness, suggesting she is a purist not unlike the tea party politicians who have tied Capitol Hill in knots.
Edwards, meanwhile, has noted the historic significance of her potential election: She would be the second black woman to serve in the Senate — following Carol Moseley Braun of Illinois, elected to a single term in 1992 — and the first from Maryland. She reinforced that message on Saturday at an event with female business leaders in Baltimore.
“There's been some people who have belittled the idea of thinking about issues of race and gender in this contest,” she told about two dozen women gathered at the Hotel Monaco. “That's easy to do when you've already got your voice at the table.”
Van Hollen has countered by pointing to a longer list of endorsements from black officials in the state. He also crisscrossed the state Saturday, visiting barbershops in Baltimore and meeting with volunteers at a campaign field office in Prince George's County. “Don't let anybody tell you that that last phone call or that last door knock doesn't make a difference,” Van Hollen told the field team. “You've got to always run like you're way behind.”
Republican candidates for Senate, including Del. Kathy Szeliga of Baltimore County and Baltimore attorney Chrys Kefalas, also were set to actively campaign this weekend. The Republican nominee will face an uphill run in deeply Democratic Maryland, but they have pointed to GOP Gov. Larry Hogan's success in 2014 as a model.
Competitive races are underway in two U.S. House districts, the Prince George's County-based 4th District and the Montgomery County-based 8th District.
Baltimore voters, meanwhile, will choose a candidate who will almost certainly replace Mayor Stephanie C. Rawlings-Blake, given the city's largely Democratic electorate. The crowded field has debated dozens of times about the economy, education and policing strategy.
The candidates were on campaign overdrive Saturday, trying to connect with as many voters as possible at weekend community events. They had good reason, too, because many voters have said they remain undecided.
“Today is an opportunity to listen to the candidates who are present and really get a feel for them other than just reading about them,” said Keisha Dover, 36, at an event at Coppin State University.
Raymond James, 51, said he was also “still thinking.” He's narrowed his decision to the two candidates leading in polls, state Sen. Catherine Pugh and former Mayor Sheila Dixon, but said he hasn't decided which one to trust to make good on their campaign promises. “Half the time they get in and don't do what they're supposed to do,” he said. “I want to pick someone who's going to do the job.”
During a period of a few hours, Pugh, Dixon and candidate David Warnock all passed through the Coppin event, greeting campaign staff and walking through the arena seating at the school's Physical Education Complex to shake voters' hands as local hip-hop artists performed.
Pugh, on the microphone, said that “what this city needs is a leader who understands that when you lift the least of us, you lift all of us.”
Dixon said she “knows what it takes to run a successful city,” and urged those there to inform others about the need to vote on Tuesday.
“Somebody gotta shake 'em and wake 'em up, y'all,” she said.
A record number of people turned out across the state to cast ballots during early voting, which ended Thursday. Statewide, more than three times as many people cast a ballot as in the 2012 presidential election, and increases were particularly pronounced in Baltimore and Montgomery County.
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