Welcome to another week of The Runback. Have you been enjoying The Duckpin? Do you have comments or suggestions? Do you want to write for us? Let me know at theduckpin@gmail.com. And please be sure to follow us on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and YouTube. Thanks in advance.
2022 Candidate Information
We have launched a one-stop-shop for candidate information for the 2022 Election. Bookmark this page, as it will be updated through the 2022 Election. This includes our first round of candidate surveys, which include Reid Novotny for State Senate, John Zittnauer for Montgomery County Council, and more.
News and Politics
Cox Dodges Questions in Frederick, Asserts Hogan Was Part of "Shadow Government": In a tasteless display from the candidate and his lemmings alike, Delegate Dan Cox dodged questions from the audience about his support of the Republican nominee for Governor at a meeting in Frederick.
Cox, Fisher, Ghrist Join Crackpot Senator's Quest: Three Maryland Republicans are among the small group of legislators nationwide calling for a "fifty state audit"
Cox's Curious Timing With Clownish Impeachment Caper: "When crazy meets stupid" doesn't even begin to tell the whole story. Even for a clown like Dan Cox, this is clownish behavior.
Few Healthcare Workers Left Their Profession Because of Vaccine Mandates: The Data Do Not Match the Narrative.
Scam Likely? Dan Cox Robocall Hits Maryland Phones: Hilarity Ensues
Will Ethics Charges Doom Jamie Raskin's Wife's Fed Nomination? Jamie Raskin Slapped with an Ethics Complaint Over his Wife's $1.5 Million Payout
Montgomery Republican Central Committee Stumping For Peroutka? Second Central Committee involving itself in a Republican Primary
KO Public Affairs Again Pushing Clients Using Center Maryland: KO's continued involvement once more raises questions about potential bias with The Baltimore Banner
Sports
NFL Mystery Box: SUPER BOWL: It all came down to this.
Shameless Plugs
In my latest for The Capital, it's no surprise that Larry Hogan is not running for the U.S. Senate.
The Monday Thought
This feature could be about the fact that I accurately predicted that the Rams would win the Super Bowl way back in September. But it’s not.
I wrote this fifty-one weeks ago:
For some offices, they can file with confidence. Candidates for Governor, Comptroller, Attorney General, U.S. Senate, and countywide offices already know the jurisdictions in which they are running.
The challenge comes with everything else.
Candidates who will be running for Congress, State Senate, the House of Delegates, and County Council will not know what districts they will be running in until after we complete the redistricting process. The completion of that process will be more challenging than it has been in the past.
The Maryland Court of Appeals on Friday pushed Maryland’s 2022 primary campaign candidate filing deadline back by a month after several petitions were filed against the state’s new legislative districts earlier this week.
The new deadline will be March 22 at 9 p.m., according to an order from Maryland Court of Appeals Chief Judge Joseph M. Getty. The March 4 deadline to withdraw a certificate of candidacy has also been extended to March 24; the March 8 deadline to fill a vacancy in candidacy for a primary election is extended to March 28; and the March 9 deadline to challenge a candidate’s residency is extended to March 29.
Now the manner in which we got here is not exactly the same that I predicted last year. In my prediction, I suggested that since the 45th day of the Session was not until three days after the deadline that the legislative districts would not go in effect until then. My assumption was predicated on the fact that the Democrats in the House and Senate would not be able to agree on the districts due to the need to protect their own hides.
I guess even I underestimated how little Democrats in the General Assembly are allowed to think for themselves.
The delay now means that the deadline will be just a hair over three months before the primary. Any further delays by the court could potentially impact the date of the primary. Which would change a lot of the calculus for a lot of the campaigns that are already underway. Kudos to Chief Judge Joe Getty for setting expectations and a timeline that *should* get all of the legal challenges to these districts out of the way prior to the new filing deadline.
Of course, it should never have gotten to this point. The districts railroaded through by the Democrats in the General Assembly are an unconstitutional mess drawn by Democratic politicians for Democratic politicians. There was little, if any, practical public input as I wrote about here time and time again. The districts drawn by the non-partisan, non-political Governor’s Redistricting Advisory Commission created fair lines that more accurately represented the people of Maryland and provided for much-needed diversity in the process. Those districts, of course, never got a vote.
The way forward is to make sure, somehow, in some way, that we follow the non-partisan process in the future. It should not be left to the Court of Appeals to fix the messes that Democrats intentionally make.