The Runback: It's a Family Tradition
Once Again, Maryland Political Dynasties are Trying to Run Wild
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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, Rashad Dwayne Lloyd for State Senate, Aisha Khan for Delegate, and more.
News and Politics
Bainum's Banner Associated With Democratic Operatives: Every time that we hear something about The Baltimore Banner, we end up with more questions than answers and more concerns about the credibility and potential biases within the paper.
Pittman Misunderstands Economic Development: The best economic plan for Anne Arundel County is not what Steuart Pittman proposes, it’s replacing Steuart Pittman.
COVID Vaccination Mandate Conflict of Interest: MoCo Council Jab Mandate Backer Hans Riemer’s wife is a Pfizer lobbyist.
Cox Tells Voters to Knock Doors in Virginia Instead of Maryland: It’s very clear that Dan Cox is more interested in being a pro-Trump “celebrity” than he is with winning elections here in Maryland
Early Birds: Candidates for Governor are Announcing Their Running Mates Early in the Cycle.
Tucker Carlson's Fever Dream: Fox is giving a platform to January 6th Revisionism. This is dangerous and foolhardy.
Sports
The OCHO: Week 7 Take a look at our newest column about the NFL. Take a look for it every Monday.
Let's Have a Real Playoff, Week #9: Once again, I am beating the drum for 16-team playoff.
The Monday Thought
It’s almost a right of passage in Maryland. At some point, elected officials look at establishing some sort of family political dynasty.
There’s a long-standing tradition of this. The Lees. The Cardins. The Currans. The Cassilys. The Conaways. The Youngs. The Simonaires. But a new generation of politicians are trying to setup (or re-establish) their political lineages.
Judge Katie Curran O’Malley, the daughter of former Attorney General Joe Curran and husband for former Governor Martin O’Malley, inexplicably retired from the bench to run for Attorney General.
Glenn Ivey, the former Prince George’s County State’s Attorney, is making a comeback attempt to run for Congress in the 4th District. He is the husband of Prince George’s County Councilwoman Jolene Ivey and the father to Delegate Julian Ivey.
A new political dynasty that’s trying to create itself are the Luedtkes. Dawn Luedtke, wife to House Majority Leader and failed blogger Eric Luedtke, announced her bid for the Montgomery County Council this week.
They will hardly be the first or the last set of relatives running in this election cycle. Nor will they be the last.
But why is Maryland, in particular, so susceptible to these attempts at familial empire building? Two reasons, both related to name identification.
Multi-member districts: Many of these candidates who are running with their family names are running in multi-member House districts or for at-large County Council races. Those races rely more heavily on name identification than anything else, so often the carry over of the familial name is enough.
The Cost of Doing Business: Maryland media markets are both expensive and dominated by what’s going on down the road in Washington. It’s hard to cut through the noise of that, and once again name identification overcomes a lot of that noise.
Is that a good thing? Absolutely not. There are plenty of second generation politicians who have been abject disasters. From Jon Cardin, to Frank Conaway to Meagan Simonaire, these politicians elected not on their merits but their name showed us why that was the case.
If these politicians can show that they are worthy of their seats, good for them. But I always lend a suspicious eye on any family trying to build up their political capital for their own benefit. As always, caveat emptor.