Maryland's Increasingly Messy Democratic Party Politics-- Delaney, Trone And... "The Stud Of The Statehouse"

Bernie with Ben Jealous-- the best news in this post about Maryland politics

Maryland Congressman John Delaney is barely a Democrat. Or, to be fair, he's the archetype member of the Republican wing of the Democratic Party. A conservative multimillionaire serving the interests of the very rich, he's passionately anti-progressive and that's very much reflected in his atrocious voting record. ProgressivePunch rates him an "F" and this cycle Delaney's crucial vote score is an abysmal 45.83, not just the lowest of any Maryland Democrat, but way down at the bottom of the barrel among all House Democrats, tied, for example, with right-wing Blue Dogs Lou Correa and Cheri Bustos. The Five Thirty Eight new project that measures congressmembers' adherence to the Trump agenda shows him voting with Trump 19.4% of the time. (Hillary beat Trump in Delaney's district 55.3-40.2%.) Delaney is expected to announce that he's running for governor of Maryland later this month. The good news is that he'll be gone from Congress-- and likely to lose the gubernatorial bid.

First off, Marylanders are pretty happy with their Republican governor, Larry Hogan, who has one of the highest approval ratings of any governor in America. But before Delaney can even deal with Hogan, he has to face a crowded primary field, a field that includes former NAACP head Ben Jealous, who is rallying progressives and who was just endorsed by Bernie Sanders and by Our Revolution. Others in-- or likely to get into-- the race include Prince George's County Exec Rushern Baker, Baltimore Count Exec Kevin Kamenetz, former state Attorney General Douglas Gansler, tech entrepreneur Alec Rosss, attorney Jim Shea and state Senator Richard Madaleno.

As for Delaney's seat, Andrew Duck, an Iraq War vet and anti-Choice political "centrist" who ran for this seat in 2006, 2008 and 2010, Aruna Miller and state House Majority Leader (and stud of the statehouse) Bill Frick have already pulled papers and are soliciting campaign contributions. Although he hasn't officially declared yet, state Senator Roger Manno, is also running for Delaney seat. But the funniest candidate planning to run is another worthless right-of-center Democrat, multimillionaire beer distributor David Trone who recently made a fool of himself running for the MD-08 seat. Trone has the distinction of having spent more of his own money than any other candidate running for a House seat-- $13,414,225-- in history... only to lose the primary to progressive champion Jamie Raskin. Trone's millions bought him 27.1% of the primary vote, 35,400 votes or around $380 per vote. Maybe Trone thinks the more conservative 6th district will be a better match for his rich people agenda, but he also seems to think if he just spends a little more money... Yep he's already been bragging to the media that he's willing to spend a million and a half more of his fortune in MD-06-- $15 million-- than he wasted in MD-08. Trone has a long history of arrests and criminal behavior involved with building his beer and wine empire and I can't think of a better way the the Democrats to further tarnish their brand than by embracing someone like David Trone as a congressional candidate. On the other hand, Trone has written many hundreds of thousands of dollars in checks to the Democratic Party and has regularly contributed large sums to sleazy-- and influential-- Maryland Democrat Chris Van Hollen. He could be a role model for the Orange County lottery winner, who is currently working hard to buy endorsements from easily-bribed Democratic elected officials.

Still, the idea of getting Delaney out of Congress, will be worth every cent of David Trone's $15,000,000 in wasted self-funding. As for Ben Jealous... well, this is what Our Revolution president Nina Turner had to say in herr endorsement statement this morning:

Maryland deserves a leader who understands that social, racial, economic, and environmental justice are essential to building a better future for the next generation. It is imperative that we elect a bold, progressive governor who will fight on behalf of middle and working class families. Ben Jealous has spent his career fighting on behalf of communities who don’t have a seat at a table by working to strengthen voting rights and raise the minimum wage, advocating for an end to mass incarceration and the death penalty, and fighting to ensure health care as a human right. Ben has proven that he’s ready to roll up his sleeves and get to work for the people of Maryland.

Ben Jealous has been a dedicated civil rights leader since college, where he served local NAACP chapters in New York and Mississippi. After writing for and directing a variety of historically black newspapers, he went on to become the president and CEO of the NAACP from 2008 to 2012 where he was credited for reviving the organization by developing strong coalitions, implementing extensive voter mobilization efforts, and working tirelessly as a human rights advocate. In 2014, he became a senior partner at Kapor Capital, a firm that works to fuel progressive change through the tech industry. Jealous was one of the founding Our Revolution Board Members and an active surrogate for Sen. Bernie Sanders 2016 presidential campaign.

Now is the time to elect unapologetic progressive voices across the country. Our Revolution is proud to support Ben Jealous in his run for governor.