Candidates, parties prepare for the homestretch
Lt. Gov. Anthony Brown, the Democratic candidate for governor, met with supporters at his headquarters in Waldorf.
Waldorf and Lexington Park, MD -- The final weekend before the November 4th General Election featured a flurry of activities from candidates and parties. With polls showing a close race for governor between Democrat Anthony Brown and Republican Larry Hogan, party supporters are hoping for a trickle-down effect for their ballot candidates, and thus are pushing the get-out-to-vote message.
Hard on the heels of a visit to Maryland by Hillary Clinton, Brown has an event Monday featuring First Lady Michelle Obama. Meanwhile, Hogan had a rally Sunday in Baltimore with New Jersey Governor Chris Christie the featured political star.
With its large Democratic majority, the Brown campaign considers Charles County to be one of the potential swing counties. Brown on Saturday paid a visit to his Southern Maryland headquarters on Old Washington Road in Waldorf. He was joined by the President of the Maryland Democratic Party Yvette Lewis, Rep. Steny Hoyer and Charles County officials and candidates.
Hoyer told the party regulars squeezed into a room at the headquarters that they needed to work hard to get out the vote. He said, “Voting is buying a ticket to a better America.”
Hoyer said the Republican message is always “cutting, cutting, cutting.” Hoyer said Hogan, however, never says what programs he is going to cut. He added, though, that Republicans aren’t really good at cutting because they have increased federal spending in recent years.
Hoyer noted that Hogan opposed him in one election. “I know Anthony Brown. I know Larry Hogan Let me tell you that Larry Hogan is no Anthony Brown,” Hoyer said.
Of Brown, Hoyer said, “I have watched him for 20 years grow and mature and become more able every year.”
Brown told the assembled, “We have a shared vision for a better Maryland.” That, he said, includes universal pre-K, increasing the minimum wage, and gun control, all of which he said Hogan opposes.
Brown charged that the Republicans aim to help the small number of rich people at the expense of the middle class.
Brown said over the remainder of time before the election, "All of us are public servants,” with the job of encouraging everyone to vote. He said the Early Voting totals statewide were encouraging for Democratic candidates. “We are going into November 4 with a lot of momentum,” he said.
On Sunday, St. Mary’s County Democrats held a rally and breakfast at their headquarters on Great Mills Road. Hoyer and most of the local candidates attended.
State Senator Roy Dyson (District 29) led the cheer-leading. “This is the best team we have ever had,” Dyson said. He decried efforts, including requiring a photo ID, to limit voting, saying it could disenfranchise minorities and senior citizens. Dyson said bills that would have done that have been killed in his committee.
Hoyer agreed. He said such effort would “impede people making the choice, people making a difference.”
Hoyer said the current Congress is the “most dysfunctional” he has served in and said voters had the right to be angry about its inaction. The unfortunate result, he said, is that many people “believe government is bad.”
Hoyer, who lives in Mechanicsville, shouted out specific praise for Delegate John Bohanan, who he said the county needs in Annapolis.
Hoyer urged everyone in the room over the next 72 hours to go out and, “Make it happen.”
St. Mary’s County Democratic Central Committee Chairperson Dr. Kathleen O’Brien was MC for the event. She announced that Howard Thompson had been appointed as a member of the Central Committee.
Many candidates of both parties, and a handful of Independents, spent the weekend concluding their door-to-door campaigning. St. Mary’s County Commissioner candidate Bob Schaller put an interesting spin on it. He started Saturday morning at Point Lookout jogging, walking and bicycling, and stopping to talk to people along the way, in hopes of making it to the north county line by Election Day.
The Bay Net had not been made aware of any Republican rallies in the area over the weekend.