For Oct. 31, 2022
What’s MDP saying this week?
We’re down to single digits in the countdown to Election Day. All the hard work, all the strategizing, the door knocking, the phone-calling has all led to this next week.
Your hard work and the historical ticket that we’re voting into office is getting noticed. President Biden will be here for a third time next week and Vice President Harris was here this weekend. Why? Because they know that Maryland delivers. We lead. We’re a beacon for the rest of the states to emulate.
A video surfaced this weekend of an official on the other side who was telling GOP voters that they needed to vote late in the day on November 8 to clog up the lines in an effort to undermine the voting system. They’re already planting seeds to claim fraud or question election integrity. That’s the only play left in their miserable playbook. You have NO policies and NO solutions when your only strategy is telling people to stall in line. It’s beyond pathetic. They can delay. But they can’t deny.
Some voters ask about turnout or complacency. Some think we have this wrapped up and should just take the month off. Not. A. Chance. Elections aren’t won with registration numbers, they’re won with votes. We haven’t won anything. The only poll that matters is on November 8. We remind them that our team is working. Our organizers and volunteers are relentlessly hitting doors and calling voters. Our mail-in ballot numbers are exceeding expectations. We have a story to tell and it resonates with voters.
On our podcast this week, Wes Moore shared some advice that he received from Madam Speaker Jones and it’s very relevant here: Just be you. Don’t spend a moment trying to be like them. Make them try to be like you. Keep that in mind.
The key about our ticket is their character. There are some people who are politicians and try to do good. Our ticket are genuinely good humans who happen to do politics.
We also remind voters and our teams that November 8 isn’t a finish line. It’s the starting point in this new era of Maryland. An era where no matter what your zip code is, no matter what your family background or financial status is, you’ll have a prominent seat at the table. You’ll have a voice in determining the next decade for Maryland. This is not a moment, it’s a movement (I saw Hamilton at the Hippodrome this week so had to add a Hamilton line in here).
And on November 8, we can all embrace the moment and the history that is being made when it’s announced that we’ve won all the way up and down the ballot – that’s the key wins up and down the WHOLE ballot. Seven days and a wake-up to go, let’s work.
What happened last week?
A poll came out that showed Wes leading big over Dan Cox. October polls don’t mean anything on election night. Have a mindset that we’re down 10, and let’s keep working.
The only thing to take from the poll were the key issues at the forefront of voters’ minds. The top 5 issues were: reproductive freedoms, inflation, womens’ rights, economy and crime. Those are all issues where our candidates have strong morals and policy ideas. The other side has either regressive or non-existent thoughts on all five of those issues.
On the campaign trail:
Our talented and dynamic comms advisor, Ernest Bailey, has put together weekly talking points on our gubernatorial matchup. A few key ones are below:
- Today, Wes Moore cast his ballot and was joined by his family and an excited crowd of supporters. Earlier this week, Aruna Miller cast her ballot as well.
- This past week, Wes Moore and Aruna Miller continued their bus tour across the state and met with Marylanders participating in early voting.
- Wes earned an endorsement from President Barack Obama, who released an ad promoting Wes as “the leader Maryland needs” and urging Marylanders to vote.
- Business Insider profiled Wes Moore and his empowering message of patriotism – Maryland Democratic gubernatorial nominee Wes Moore says MAGA can’t ‘define what it means to be a patriot’
- At the end of the week, the Moore campaign released its latest finance report, showing a staggering surge in grassroots support across Maryland in the final weeks of the election, with more than 70 percent of donations coming from those giving $100 or less and over 20,000 individual donors.
- This weekend, Wes rallied with Vice President Kamala Harris and Maryland Democrats to encourage Marylanders to get out to vote in the final days of the election.
- Instead of working to earn votes, the Cox campaign continues to demonstrate that its foremost priority is to rile up its conspiratorial MAGA supporters by baselessly casting doubt on the legitimacy of this election.
- Last week, Cox launched a voter intimidation campaign, calling for volunteers to police election drop boxes overnight, to “photograph and video any suspicious activity” and even encouraging confronting voters. Cox’s team dubbed this the “Stop the Maryland Steal” campaign.
- Also last week, the Cox campaign denied press access to a rally from which footage leaked showing a speaker encouraging supporters to “Vote on November 8th as late in the day as possible,” adding that everyone standing “in long, long lines at 6 o’clock” would help them.
- These anti-democratic efforts come just weeks after the Cox campaign was revealed to be working with an election conspiracy group to recruit 600 volunteers to prepare to launch an Arizona-style hand count audit the morning after the election. Before that, Cox made the main theme of his campaign an effort to delay this year’s election results, along with his continual refusal to commit to accepting results post-election. Cox is clearly laying the groundwork to deny this year’s election results just as he continues to contest the 2020 presidential election results.
In the News:
- MD Dems outraised the GOP by large margins.
- MD Matters questioned Dan Cox’s endgame.
- Jaime Harrison joined our party chair and ticket for a rally at UMD.
- President Biden is coming to Maryland on Election Eve.