Baltimore City Circuit Judge Althea M. Handy moved the hearing on Edwards’ request from a courtroom to the sidewalk and then to a garage. The crowded primary also included state legislators Kumar Barve and Ana Sol-Gutierrez. Baltimore and its majority black population have become key prizes in the primary, which has drawn unusual interest from top Democrats who typically don’t weigh in this early.
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Van Hollen also called out real estate mogul Donald Trump (R), the frontrunner for the Republican nomination, saying Democrats don’t “pit people against each other based on religion or ethnicity or race”.
The state of Maryland awarded a victory Tuesday night not only to the Democratic establishment, but also to the mainstream pro-Israel establishment.
The Democratic race for Barbara Mikulski’s Senate seat had always been defined as a choice between the symbolic draw of replacing her with an African-American woman who has a compelling personal story-or choosing a white male with a far more impressive record.
But Van Hollen, who had much of the state’s political class and even many African-American female leaders behind him, argued that Edwards was an ineffective member of the House of Representatives and that his experience should be prized over identity politics.
Towanda Riley said she voted for Edwards because the Senate needs more “girl power”.
In a year when outsiders have captured the national imagination, Maryland Democrats chose the insiders: the deal-making Van Hollen and presidential front-runner Hillary Clinton. “To hell with that”. I know what it means to pay a dollar a minute for overtime for your childcare. As New York magazine wrote previous year: “In 2008, about a quarter of the women in Congress or in a governor’s office had an ‘immediate family relation who ran for state or national-level office.’ For the women who had made it into the Senate before 2008, that proportion was 56 percent”.
County Council member Roger Berliner (D-1) served as another eager local backer of Van Hollen.
In his victory speech, Van Hollen promised to emulate the beloved Mikulski in that regard.
On the Democratic side Reps. “It is whether the people of Maryland want somebody who can be effective, or somebody who’s going to bask in her own feelings of moral superiority because of various and sundry factors, and effectiveness has nothing to do with it”.
Though Edwards and Van Hollen had remarkably similar voting records and positions on the issues, the campaign came down to issues of identity: Van Hollen, who is white, has spent 25 years in public office and is the son of an ambassador, while Edwards, who is African American, is a single mother who went to law school as an older student in order to launch a second career in liberal advocacy work. Barbara Mikulski’s retirement at the end of her term.
Van Hollen will be the overwhelming favorite to win the general election in the fall in heavily blue Maryland.
Voter turnout was steady in Montgomery County and a little lighter in Prince George’s, which could be a good sign for Chris Van Hollen. In Annapolis, he helped pass new education funding, and gun safety and tobacco settlement legisation.Yet some of Edwards’ colleagues on Capitol Hill disagree. Both the Congressional Black Caucus and the Congressional Progressive Caucus refused to endorse Edwards through their political arms, despite her membership in both groups. Chris Van Hollen and Donna Edwards have been locked in a fierce battle to replace Mikulski.
As Mikulski proved, sometimes it’s the small gestures that are the most appreciated.
Maryland voters will soon decide which candidate they prefer.
AP reported a recent poll showing Van Hollen leading, but many expect the outcome to be close.
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But Van Hollen suggested he has a valuable perspective of his own. He was taken to the city’s booking facility, police said.
