Red Wave Fizzles — Except on the Eastern Shore
The 2022 election will be remembered for widespread predictions of a Republican surge that turned out to be unfounded. Nationwide, the Democrats held control of the United States Senate and — depending on the outcome of the Georgia senatorial runoff — may even add a seat. Republicans gained control of the House of Representatives by a small margin as the widely expected “Red Wave” of Republican victories failed to materialize.
In Maryland, Democratic candidates swept the four statewide offices: Governor-elect Wes Moore, incumbent U.S. Sen. Chris Van Hollen, Comptroller-elect Brooke Lierman, and Attorney General-elect Anthony Brown. The state Senate and House of Delegates remain firmly in Democratic hands. None of this was a surprise. Maryland remains solidly Democratic, even though an occasional moderate Republican such as outgoing Gov. Larry Hogan can break through and win statewide office.
And — again, to nobody’s surprise — the political tide was undeniably redder on the Eastern Shore. In almost every Shore county, the statewide races went by substantial majorities to the Republican candidates. Only in Kent and Talbot did the Democrats’ gubernatorial candidates score a majority, and those were the only counties where Democrat Heather Mizeur won more votes than incumbent Republican Andy Harris for the District 1 Congressional seat.
While Democrats won most state-wide races, even doing well in some “red’ or “purple” districts, there was good news for Shore Republicans in down-ticket races. The Republican Party has a virtual lock on the Shore’s state Senate seats, and a near monopoly in the state House of Delegates. Del. Sheree Sample-Hughes in District 37A (Talbot and Dorchester counties) remains the Shore’s single Democrat in the General Assembly. Even more telling is that the Democrats didn’t bother to field candidates in a large proportion of General Assembly races on the Shore. For example, in District 36, which includes Kent, Queen Anne’s, and parts of Caroline and Cecil counties, all four Republican incumbents coasted to unopposed victories. While it’s understandable that the state party might not want to put resources into a district where it sees little or no chance of winning, it seems odd that there aren’t a few more grass-roots Democrats willing to take a shot in one of these races. Then again, if no support from the party will be available, the cost of a race is likely to deter anyone from sinking personal funds into such a quixotic gesture.
The picture is much the same for county legislators. There are Republican majorities on the councils or commissions of all nine Shore counties. In four of the nine — Caroline, Cecil, Kent, and Queen Anne’s — there are only Republicans, while Talbot and Worcester have a single Democrat on their panels. Dorchester and Somerset are slightly more balanced, with a 3-2 Republican majority. Still, on the county level, there’s not much question which party has control of issues such as property tax rates, budgets, and local ordinances. Those issues can affect their constituents’ day-to-day lives more directly than anything done by the U.S. Senate or House.
Many other elected local officials — sheriffs, states’ attorneys, judges, clerks of the court — faced no opposition in this year’s election, sometimes because they were popular incumbents and sometimes because no opponent came forward. In some of these cases, political party is almost irrelevant; in others, it may make a difference. And again, on the Eastern Shore, most of those local offices also went to Republicans.
One important elected office — county school board — is supposedly a nonpartisan position, although candidates are usually affiliated with one of the political parties and/or their philosophy. A school board member’s political views — especially in the current highly-charged environment — can have a considerable effect on such issues as censorship and curriculum content. This issue deserves a closer look at how it played out in this year’s election, and Common Sense will address it in a future story.
But for now, in contrast to the Republicans’ struggles elsewhere, with the predicted “Red Wave” failing to appear in most places nationwide, the Republican party remains a strong force on the Eastern Shore.
Peter Heck is a Chestertown-based writer and editor, who spent 10 years at the Kent County News and three more with the Chestertown Spy. He is the author of 10 novels and co-author of four plays, a book reviewer for Asimov’s and Kirkus Reviews, and an incorrigible guitarist.
Common Sense for the Eastern Shore
