For Sept. 26, 2022
What’s MDP saying this week? Our message to Dems across the state this week has been that we’re 43 days from Election Day and our entire team – from the top of the ticket, down to our newest volunteers – is WORKING. We’re in every neighborhood, knocking on every door, talking to every Marylander. They all need to know how much we value them and want to make them proud. We leave no one behind.
We’re the party of diversity and inclusion, and we’re proud to wish everyone a healthy and happy Rosh Hashanah. Shana Tovah!
Ballots will be hitting mailboxes soon so we’re officially in crunch time. And for those Marylanders who think this race is already over because of a few poll results, we remind them that November 8 is the only poll we care about. And that polls, specifically here in MD in 2014 and 2018 have been wrong before. We take nothing for granted. And it’s a monumental election here in Maryland with a chance to vote for a barrier-breaking ticket of our first female comptroller, our first black governor, our first immigrant lieutenant governor and our first black attorney general. When voters open their ballot, the choice will be very clear. Vote for Wes, Aruna, Brooke, Anthony, and our entire ticket because voting for them is voting for hope. It’s voting for integrity. And character. Diversity and unity. A real chance to put leaders in place who will leave Maryland in a much better position for our children and grandchildren. The alternative is a QAnon flag hanging outside the Governor’s Mansion and four years of Dan Cox – that’s simply unacceptable.
Thanks to the courts, ballots will be able to be counted in a timely and efficient manner, rather than days after the election. It was an easily fixable situation and we applaud the courts for ruling on the side of the state board of elections. Mail-in ballots will now be counted starting in October as they’re received, rather than two days after the election which would’ve potentially led to a drawn out process lasting into early 2023.
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:
- Last week on DC News Now and again over the weekend on Sixty Minutes In Black America, Cox asserted that the 2020 election was stolen.
- Less than 50 days from Election Day, Cox’s continued refusal to acknowledge the 2020 election results should put any speculation that he will ever moderate his MAGA rhetoric.
- Cox has opposed a smooth election process every step of the way, voting against the legislative effort to fix the issue and opposing the emergency court solution strongly supported by Governor Hogan. Cox had no problem accepting the results of the GOP primary which was pushed back by court order but conveniently shifted his posture to an absolutist position against any court involvement for the general election. Cox doesn’t want to compete for votes, he wants chaos and fertile ground for his conspiratorial claims.
- The late counting of mail-in ballots in 2020 in Pennsylvania, where Cox worked for Trump’s legal team, spurred Trump supporters to claim fraud yet Cox made every effort to force that same situation on Maryland’s election this year.
- Cox is scheduled to join Trump in Florida just three weeks ahead of the eve of the election at Trump’s Mar-A-Lago Club.
- Cox says he and Trump talk “regularly” about his campaign and Trump has “promised to carry [him] through the finish line.”
For any misguided individuals on the other side who may be excited by the idea of Trump helping Cox, I’d like to remind you that Donald Trump lost here in Maryland just two short years ago … by more than a million votes. He lost by 1,008,609 votes to be exact – which is more than the number of votes he actually received here in Maryland. If you’re running for Marylanders, I’d choose someone who’s actually respected by Marylanders for an event like that, but hey that’s not our business. We’re focused on what we can control on our side. Our work ethic, our drive, our joy is contagious on the campaign trail. We’re locked in.
Wes Moore’s service year plan is getting great publicity this week. Maryland would become the first U.S. state to offer a paid service year to every high school graduate under Wes’ plan.
Brooke Lierman’s Build a Better Maryland Tour is off to a great start and makes two stops this week in Annapolis and Prince George’s County. If voters have questions about Brooke’s tour, or if you’re curious yourself, there’s more info here. She is participating in several roundtables around the state over the coming weeks. The roundtables will be an opportunity for Brooke to hear directly from Marylanders and to share her vision to ensure that Maryland’s families and more than 580,000 small businesses have the access and resources needed from the Comptroller of Maryland’s office to thrive.