For Sept. 19, 2022
What’s MDP saying this week? Our whole team’s energy and enthusiasm are being noticed around the state. We had two incredible events (which I’ll get to shortly) with almost 700 total guests combined. The major news outlets in MD were there and their feedback to us was how big of a difference the atmosphere and energy are between our events and the GOP events. It’s a wide gap. Alsobrooks, Hoyer, Brown, Lierman, Van Hollen, all the leaders we had in the house at our HQ opening in Prince George’s had the place fired up and it must’ve provided a little extra boost – our coordinated campaign team and volunteers knocked almost 4000 doors across the state Saturday and more than 8000 total last week. It’s clear in party leadership and across the campaigns that the energy from top to bottom in this campaign is just … different.
Our messaging is clear and concise. Our organization from top to bottom is talented, hard-working and energetic. We’re united and stronger than ever. We’ve called the other side out every day on their dangerous ideas and we’ll continue to do so. You’ve seen that the other side doesn’t slow down. They’re dangerous and they don’t rest. And neither will we. We’re leaving no doubt this year that Democrats don’t take punches. We throw them. And we have a pretty strong right hook.
Weekend update: For anyone who couldn’t make it to the HQ opening Saturday or the BBQ on Sunday, the atmosphere at both were incredible. Big shoutout to the campaign team, the organizers, ops, volunteers, and our Dems in Prince George’s County, Howard County, and across the state for crushing it with those events. The press and public were very impressed. And voters are taking notice, they enjoy seeing a team and a ticket of genuine, hard-working Marylanders moving toward one goal.
What do we say about the polls?
First, let me break down a summary of this morning’s Goucher Poll:
- 1008 adults, including 748 likely voters, margin of error: +/- 3.6%
- Moore 53-31 over Cox, 7% for 3rd party, only 9% undecided, 70% say they’re set in their choice
- VanHollen up 56-33, 8% undecided
- Brown up 53-31, 15% undecided
- Lierman up 48-35, 16% undecided
- 59-34 in favor of marijuana legalization
- 35% called Cox ‘far or extreme right’, 24% called him conservative
- 36% called Moore ‘progressive or liberal’ 22% called him moderate, only 13% called him ‘far or extreme left’
- economy/taxes, crime/public safety, and education were polled as the three biggest issues for MD voters
Now that the info is in front of you, let me tell you how we’re addressing it as a party after consulting with our comms team and each campaign: We love the momentum and this poll shows how well you guys in the field are connecting with voters and how strong our campaign has been so far. But as our Party Chair said yesterday: It’s not good news, it’s not bad news, it’s just news. It’s just a poll. The only poll that matters is on November 8. Our party is full steam ahead with every resource and effort focused solely on sprinting through the finish line in November. These last few weeks and months have felt great, but we want November 8th, 9th, and every day after that to feel even greater.
The key takeaways I want you to focus on from that poll are: 35 percent of Marylanders think Dan Cox is too far and too extreme right to lead us, the key issues MD voters are focused on are economy/taxes, crime/public safety, and education, and that our campaign is clearly connecting with Marylanders from all walks of life. But remember that polls were wrong on the governors race in 2014 and 2018. Don’t let anyone you know look at this poll and get complacent. We don’t have the luxury of assuming we’re going to win and go into cruise control. Absolutely not. You won’t see that from our side. We need to keep this momentum going and run up the score so we get Dems elected up and down the ballot.
On the campaign trail:
Our outstanding comms advisor, Ernest Bailey, has put together a weekly talking points doc on our gubernatorial opponent – Dan Cox. A few key ones are below:
- Cox took legal action attempting to block the state Board of Elections’ request to be permitted to count mail-in ballots prior to Election Day. Maryland is the only state in the nation that prohibits mail-in ballots from being processed until after the election, which led to delays in ballots being tallied after this year’s primary election.
- Last week, Cox asserted that “a centerpiece of his economic vision” is a radical tax scheme that would eliminate nearly half of all revenue collected from within the state, which would be a fiscal disaster that would dismantle the state budget and lead to brutal cuts to essential services.
Barry Glassman weighed in on the abortion debate and not only showed his anti-choice credentials, he got the job of the Comptroller wrong. The values Barry will bring to the office are dangerous for Marylanders. You can see Brooke Lierman’s great response here.
Glassman was also hit this week in the Sun for his support of developers hurting the environment and destroying a 330-acre ecosystem in Harford County.
Andy Harris – a coward – finally agreed to a debate with our candidate Heather Mizeur at a televised forum in late October.