2022 Election — CSES Endorsements
Maryland’s 2022 midterm election is on Nov. 8, less than two weeks away — and early voting begins even sooner. This is a good time to summarize the state of the races and to offer readers of Common Sense for the Eastern Shore our endorsements for the offices that matter to our district. We include hyperlinks to the candidates’ websites to let you, our readers, read what the candidates have to say for themselves.
At the top of the ballot is the race to succeed term-limited Gov. Larry Hogan. The major party candidates for governor and lieutenant governor are Republicans Dan Cox and Gordana Schifanelli and Democrats Wes Moore and Aruna Miller.
Moore, the author of five books, is a Rhodes scholar, a former Army officer who served in Afghanistan, and a former intern at the U.S. State Department. He spent four years as the head of a nonprofit organization fighting the effects of poverty in New York City, raising more than $650 million to fund schools, food pantries, and shelters. Moore also founded a company to produce content for the Oprah Winfrey network as well as PBS, HBO, and NBC. He has been active with several veterans’ rights groups.
Endorsed by former President Donald Trump, Cox has a long record of supporting right-wing extremist positions, including hiring three buses to take Trump supporters to the Jan. 6 insurrection at the U.S. Capitol. He tried to prevent Congress from certifying the 2020 election results and called then-Vice President Pence “a traitor” in a tweet he has since attempted to deny. And while he has scrubbed several right-wing positions from his website — including “a natural right to gun ownership” and a promise to audit the 2020 election — there is little doubt that he still supports these positions.
For those of us at Common Sense, the choice is easy: we unequivocally support Wes Moore for governor.
The comptroller of Maryland is the state’s chief financial officer who oversees tax collection and enforces business licenses, among other duties. With the retirement of long-time incumbent Peter Franchot, the Republicans have nominated Barry Glassman and the Democrats Brooke Lierman to fill the office.
A former state delegate and state senator, Glassman served two terms as Harford County’s executive. Endorsed by Hogan, the Maryland Farm Bureau, and the Fraternal Order of Police, he says that as Harford executive, he resisted calls to raise taxes while launching digital programs to improve customer service. And on his campaign website, he describes himself as “a passionate advocate for education, the economy, and public safety.” Lately, questions have been raised about whether Glassman is really the moderate Republican he claims to be.
Lierman is an attorney who specializes in civil rights and disability rights. She has represented District 46 in the Maryland House of Delegates since 2015. She is endorsed by Reps. Steny Hoyer and Jamie Raskin, the Baltimore Sun, the Maryland and D.C. AFL-CIO, and former U.S. Sen. Barbara Mikulski. She supports legislation to establish a constitutional right to abortion, increased support for Baltimore public schools, and universal pre-K. She received a 100% score from the Maryland League of Conservation Voters. If elected, she would be the first woman to serve as comptroller.
While Glassman has solid experience in government, we think that Lierman’s support for education, a woman’s right to choose, and her impressive voting record on the environment make her Common Sense’s choice for comptroller.
For attorney general, the Republican candidate is Michael Peroutka and the Democratic candidate is Anthony Brown.
Until 2014 when he became a Republican, Peroutka was a member of the Constitutional Party, and was that party’s candidate for president in 2004. A former Anne Arundel County Council member, he is endorsed by gubernatorial candidate Cox and the Maryland Right to Life Political Action Committee. On his website, Peroutka states that the state government used the “health crises” to justify curtailing rights, including the rights to practice religion, to make personal medical decisions, and to run a business. He is on record as wanting to make abortion and same-sex marriage illegal. And he has stated that when the state’s laws conflict with his religious beliefs, he will not enforce them.
Anthony Brown, who served as lieutenant governor for two terms with Gov. Martin O’Malley, has been U.S. congressman for Maryland’s 4th District since 2017. He also served two terms in the Maryland House of Delegates, representing Prince George’s County. A retired U.S. Army colonel, he served in the Iraq war and was awarded a Bronze Star. He earned a law degree from Harvard and applied his expertise while in the Army’s Judge Advocate General’s Corps.
Brown’s experience in both state and federal government and his extensive legal experience make him an obvious choice for this important position. Common Sense endorses Brown.
Incumbent U.S. Sen. Chris Van Hollen, a Democrat, is being challenged by Republican Chris Chafee.
Van Hollen is completing his first term in the Senate, after serving as congressman for Maryland’s 8th District from 2003 to 2017. While in the House, he served as chair of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, and later as ranking member of the House Budget Committee. The son of a career foreign service officer, Van Hollen spent much of his early life in Pakistan, India, and Sri Lanka before returning to the U.S. to attend Swarthmore College. His committee assignments in the Senate have included the Budget, Appropriations, and Foreign Affairs committees.
On his website, Chaffee focuses on inflation, which he blames on the Biden administration’s covid and omnibus spending bills. He also calls attention to the opioid crisis, which he says is at an unprecedented peak under Biden. “We need to secure our borders, defend and honor our law enforcement, follow and enforce our constitution, protect the second amendment, stop using our children as political pawns,” he says on the website. He is endorsed by Maryland Right to Life and is opposed to abortion rights.
Sen. Van Hollen is an active and effective voice for Maryland, and Common Sense has no hesitation in endorsing him for a second term.
In the First District U.S. Congressional race, incumbent Republican Andrew P. Harris is challenged by Democrat Heather Mizeur.
As the only Maryland Republican in Congress, Harris has held the First District seat since 2011. Over that time, he has consistently been one of the most conservative members of the House. He currently serves on the Appropriations Committee. He was a consistent supporter of Trump’s agenda, agreeing with the former president’s positions on 92% of his votes. Not surprisingly, he voted against impeaching Trump, and was among a handful of Republican congressmen at a meeting in December 2020 where a strategy for overturning the election was concocted. For a detailed list of the votes that earned him his nickname of “Dr. No,” see our August 16 story in Common Sense.
Mizeur has many years of experience in government, having worked as a congressional staffer in her early 20s and serving in the Maryland House of Delegates representing Takoma Park, where she lived before moving to the Eastern Shore and starting an organic farm. She puts the focus on growing the economy in the district, drawing on its strengths in agriculture and commercial fishing while working to attract manufacturing and other high-tech business. She makes a case for herself as a consensus builder and has made it a point to meet with Republicans to answer their questions and share her vision for the District.
This is another easy choice. Common Sense enthusiastically endorses Heather Mizeur for Congress.
Endorsements by Common Sense for the Eastern Shore:
For Governor – Wes Moore (D)
For Comptroller – Brooke Lierman (D)
For Attorney General – Anthony Brown (D)
For U.S. Senate – Chris Van Hollen (D)
For First District Representative – Heather Mizeur (D)
Common Sense for the Eastern Shore
