This article was republished with permission from WTOP’s news partners at Maryland Matters. Sign up for Maryland Matters’ free email subscription today.
This content was republished with permission from WTOP’s news partners at Maryland Matters. Sign up for Maryland Matters’ free email subscription today.
Legendary former U.S. Sen. Barbara A. Mikulski (D), the first woman to be elected statewide in Maryland, offered her first endorsement of the 2022 election cycle to a candidate seeking to become the second woman to win a statewide election.
Mikulski announced Friday that she was backing Del. Brooke E. Lierman (D-Baltimore City) for comptroller.
“Her work overseeing our state’s budget on the Appropriations Committee, her stewardship of our pensions from her work on the Joint Committee on Pensions, her connections to her constituents, and her effective leadership in passing landmark legislation at the state level have all made her the clear choice to be our next State Comptroller,” Mikulski said in a news release.
Mikulski was elected to the U.S. Senate in 1986 and served for 30 years. Lierman would become the first woman elected as comptroller if she wins — and the second woman to win statewide office. Kathleen Kennedy Townsend is the only woman to serve as lieutenant governor, another statewide office, but she was elected on a ticket headed by a man, former Gov. Parris N. Glendening (D), because candidates for governor and lieutenant governor run together.
“Brooke will break a glass ceiling as our State’s first female Comptroller and will build a state that supports its families, communities, and small businesses,” Mikulski said.
Lierman’s Democratic primary opponent is Timothy J. Adams, the first Black mayor of Bowie and the founder and CEO of the multimillion-dollar defense contracting firm Systems Application & Technologies. Harford County Executive Barry Glassman is the lone Republican comptroller candidate.
Check out our tracker to see more endorsements in the comptroller race.
House majority leader backing Moore for governor
Maryland House Majority Leader Eric G. Luedtke (D-Montgomery) is prepared to endorse Wes Moore for governor.
Luedtke and Moore, a best-selling author and former foundation CEO, are scheduled to appear together outside Paint Branch High School in Burtonsville, which is in Luedtke’s district, Saturday morning.
Could Luedtke’s endorsement signal a trend of legislative leaders aligning with Moore, who is one of 10 Democrats running for governor this year? Stay tuned. Moore has the endorsements of two committee chairs in Annapolis and more than a dozen rank and file members of the General Assembly.
House Speaker Adrienne A. Jones (D-Baltimore County) has donated money to Moore’s campaign, but has not formally endorsed him.
To catch up on endorsements for all of the governor candidates, click here.
Incumbents diverge in District 43
Just days after Sen. Mary L. Washington (D-Baltimore City), who represents the 43rd District, announced that she was endorsing one of the nonincumbents seeking a delegate seat there, Logan Endow, the district’s remaining House member endorsed a different nonincumbent who is running for delegate.
Del. Regina T. Boyce (D), who is completing her first term, announced in an email to supporters she’s hoping that Elizabeth Embry, an assistant state attorney general, is elected to serve alongside her.
Just as Washington did, Boyce noted that the district as currently drawn will only be sending two delegates to Annapolis from Baltimore City instead of three, because part of the 43rd District has been extended into the Towson area. On top of that, two long-serving lawmakers from the 43rd, Dels. Maggie L. McIntosh (D) and Curt Anderson (D), are retiring.
“As I run for re-election to the Maryland House of Delegates, I know one thing for certain: there is no ‘I’ in team, and the 43rd District needs a partner and teammate in the next legislative term,” Boyce wrote in an email. “We need someone who is smart, dedicated, and an experienced public servant, who is battle-ready and will be an effective voice for the people of Baltimore City, and Maryland, on day one.”
She described Embry, who ran for mayor in 2016 and for lieutenant governor in 2018, as an ideal teammate who knows the city well who “will hit the ground running in Annapolis next January to be the effective leader we need.”
“Elizabeth shares a vision for a better and stronger Baltimore, as we all do, with the know-how to get there. She will be a loud strong voice for the 43rd District, the City, and Maryland,” Boyce said. “I know that you will not find a team of women stronger-willed and thoroughly prepared to represent you in Annapolis than Elizabeth and me.”
In an interview, Washington said she thinks highly of Embry and would be pleased to serve with her but felt Endow was the better choice. Left unclear is whether Washington will endorse Boyce; the senator said the two are keeping lines of communication open and that there is no tension over their decisions to endorse separate nonincumbent candidates.
Of course, there’s no telling if the district lines will remain intact…
