2016 Election

While state Senator Catherine Pugh easily won last week’s mayoral election, Joshua Harris, the Green Party candidate for mayor, managed to poll about 10 percent of the vote.

“The third party candidate did very well - over 10% is a good, healthy number,” said John Willis, a former Maryland Secretary of State.

Two days after the election, we continue the conversation about what a Donald Trump presidency will mean going forward.

Tom is joined in the studio by Michael Fletcher, a senior writer for ESPN’s The Undefeated, and the co-author of Supreme Discomfort: The Divided Soul of Clarence Thomas.

Joining on the phone is Sheri Parks. She's an Associate Dean for Research, Interdisciplinary Scholarship and Programming at the College of Arts and Humanities at the University of MD College Park, where she is also an Associate Professor in the Department of American Studies. Dr. Parks is the author of Fierce Angels: Living with a Legacy from the Sacred Dark Feminine to the Strong Black Woman.

WYPR's senior news analyst reminds us voting is a celebration of democracy threatened by claims of rigged outcomes and fraudulent campaigns to stop non-existent voter fraud.

When it comes to women in politics, Maryland has been a national leader for decades. It was the first state to have a bipartisan women’s legislative caucus, and it ranks seventh nationwide in terms of the portion of women in the state legislature.

Sen. Barbara Mikulski is a large part of the reason for Maryland’s legacy of woman leadership, said Debbie Walsh, director of the Center for American Women and Politics at Rutgers University. A 30-year Senate veteran, Mikulski is known as the “dean” of women in the chamber and a leader on women’s rights.

Mikulski is retiring when her term ends in January, and on Tuesday, Maryland voters elected Democratic U.S. Rep. Chris Van Hollen to fill her seat. The result is Maryland’s first all-male congressional delegation since 1971.

Catherine Pugh began outlining plans for her administration at a news conference Wednesday morning, her first as Baltimore’s mayor-elect.

For starters, Police Commissioner Kevin Davis will stay, but longtime city Housing Commissioner Paul Graziano will be out.  And she wants to end the city-state partnership that has run the schools since the late 90s.

Baltimore County Republicans gathered to watch the returns last night in Essex, a GOP stronghold where the party faithful became more convinced the election was in the bag for Donald Trump. 

Despite the grim returns in national races, Maryland Democrats celebrated victories in House and Senate races.

Congressman Chris Van Hollen defeated Republican Kathy Szeliga for the open Senate seat vacated by retiring Senator Barbara Mikulski. State Senator Jamie Raskin won his race to replace Van Hollen in congress and former Lieutenant Governor Anthony Brown won his race for Congress.

State Senator Catherine Pugh has staved off a late effort from former Mayor Sheila Dixon to become the mayor-elect of Baltimore City.  Pugh also defeated Republican Alan Walden and the Green Party’s Joshua Harris in the process.

It’s no secret that Baltimore is a heavily Democratic, and majority black, city. And it’s no secret that African Americans have been the Democrats’ strongest voting block for decades. But that doesn’t mean there aren’t Republicans who are black out there, running for office in Baltimore.

What do most Baltimore City voters fear as they cast their ballots?  That Donald Trump will be elected the next president of these United States of America…North America.

With Election Day less than a week away, Sen. Ben Cardin and Rep. Chris Van Hollen visited Baltimore's Lexington Market on Wednesday to remind voters to go to the polls.

Election Day is just a week away and WYPR reporters have been talking to voters around the state about the candidates for president for our series, Maryland Voices.

In addition to the candidates on the ballot this year, Maryland has one statewide ballot measure. A “yes” vote on the measure, Question 1, would change what happens when the state attorney general or comptroller leaves office between normal election cycles.

In Western Maryland, politics can be a sensitive subject.