Streeter: The case for not panicking about Maryland’s fall election

We are in a politically volatile time, in the same way that a sleep-deprived toddler with a sippy cup full of Monster Energy drink is volatile. It’s all disinformation and tantrums and the feeling that you should duck ... right ... now.

They are arresting people for touching the same reflecting pool that Jenny and Forrest Gump ran through. A Maryland gubernatorial campaign made juvenile AI photos of candidates hugging like over-financed middle schoolers. It was suggested that Gov. Wes Moore was part of a billionaire’s secret cabal. There just seem to be few adults in the room.

We’re not even 48 hours past Maryland’s primaries — which went largely as expected — but my nerves are still frazzled as I already think about the fall.

Because I have a generally bleak opinion of humanity at present, and given the overall unpleasantness of national politics, I’m really scared that the five months leading up to the general election will be full of meddling, lies and nastiness.

The purpleness of our allegedly blue state also concerns me. Some of the red representatives to emerge from the primary, like newly chosen Republican gubernatorial candidate Dan Cox, are unabashed MAGA loyalists — a strain of the party that makes me very, very nervous about democracy, my rights and my blood pressure.

There’s obviously no crystal ball, but with everything happening in the world, we could certainly use some relative calm and predictability. Please, for the love of all that’s holy, tell me we aren’t in for more turmoil.

No, seriously, tell me.

“I don’t think it’s going to be like that,” said Maryland political advocate Tiffany Carlock. “Once we get past the primary, we know which person is going to be the likely winner. The drama is mostly in the primary.”

She noted that the last significantly vicious general election campaign was between former Gov. Larry Hogan and now-Sen. Angela Alsobrooks (who, in full disclosure, is my cousin). I remember because I had to stop myself from commenting on posts and put my phone down then, so I understand what happens when, to paraphrase “The Real World,” campaigns stop being polite and start getting real.

Carlock and two other local political experts I spoke to seemed cautiously optimistic that the potential for spectacle at that state general election level would be low come November.

“I don’t think it will get really nasty,” said Matthew Crenson, professor emeritus and academy professor in Johns Hopkins University’s department of political science.

His reasoning is that Maryland voters are, by and large, hip to the attempted subterfuge and can clear it fairly quickly. That includes a (since-corrected) Wired magazine suggestion, amplified by some local left-wing activists online, that made it appear Moore was a member of far-right billionaire Peter Thiel’s secret society, Dialog, because the politician had a long-ago speaking engagement with them.

“It’s been debunked so quickly,” said political commentator Elizabeth Booker Houston. She said Maryland is unique in that there are fairly contested issues in other states “that we are not going to argue about, like abortion. And voters seem to be of one accord about not building that ICE warehouse in Hagerstown.”

So what are the issues that Maryland voters are fretting about in the fall? Probably the same ones they’re worried about now, like inflation and its effect on grocery and gas prices, which, even if they decrease, “are not gonna go down that fast,” Crenson said. “It’s going to take a long time for the supply chain to adjust. It’s a mess.”

The issue of data centers is also likely to be a big one this fall for Moore, who Booker Houston said is neutral on the topic. “He’s waiting to see how Marylanders react.” She added that his endorsement of Will Jawando, who is currently leading in the Montgomery County executive race and is solidly anti-data center, hints that the governor isn’t as committed to them as his opponents have suggested.

“I think he will become educated enough not to get hoodwinked as well. Ignorance is easier to fix than maliciousness,” Booker Houston said.

The data center issue looks to be a big deal for other races as well. “I don’t think people running for county executive would have made a comment about it if it wasn’t important, because it goes back to the economy,” Booker Houston said. “They’re making utilities sky-high. There’s an impact on getting residential property that is affordable. And it doesn’t create jobs.”

No one can see into the future, but Crenson thinks the most solid prediction is that even with a number of independents in Maryland, the state of national political discourse and general negative attitudes suggest that the further reddening of Maryland won’t happen.

“The edge the Democrats have is so overwhelming, I don’t see this developing into a real contest,” he said. “The atmosphere created by [President] Trump at the national level will turn many independents into Democrats. He has created an atmosphere that makes it very difficult for Republicans to get a footing in the election.”

Whatever happens this fall, it would be nice to see a relatively drama-free election. My nerves can’t take much more.