A onetime blackface performer named Bobby “Al Jolson” Berger is running for state delegate — and that’s not even the biggest surprise of the Baltimore County Republican primary.
Tim Fazenbaker, a Republican candidate for Baltimore County Council and former member of the Baltimore County Republican Central Committee, was censured by that committee this month for defaming and harassing other Republican members and besmirching the committee’s “good name.”
Meanwhile, state Senate candidate Daniel Eisenhart served his opponent, Sen. Johnny Ray Salling, with a lawsuit at a Memorial Day observance.
The coarsening discourse, attention-grabbing tactics, and efforts to out-MAGA one’s opponent mirror national politics. Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton weathered accusations ranging from securities fraud to infidelity; he still beat incumbent John Cornyn, a genteel former judge, in the Republican primary for U.S. Senate. In Kentucky, relative political unknown Ed Gallrein bested longtime Congressman Thomas Massie after President Donald Trump called Massie a “sleazebag” and a “fool" and hand-selected Gallrein, a Navy SEAL, to oppose him.
In a blue state like Maryland, Republicans have traditionally been in the Cornyn mold: former judges, attorneys, farmers. They’ve had the demeanor of country gentlemen, and their politics have tended to match: quiet, behind-the-scenes dealmaking rather than brash Facebook videos.
In northern Baltimore County, they’re concerned mostly about preserving farmland and stopping development. On the east side, they want to stop more affordable housing and drug treatment centers.
Though Fazenbaker called the council members “sissies” in December for considering a pro-immigration bill, discourse across the aisle is often civil.
But the era of country gentlemen could be on the wane in Baltimore County as more combative, colorful candidates replace them. And as thousands of county residents switch their registrations to independent status, some politicians wonder whether the remaining primary voters are more likely to choose less moderate voices.
“I’m hoping I’m not a dinosaur,” said Timonium attorney Chris West, a centrist Republican retiring after a decade in the Maryland Senate. “If these guys called me for advice, I would tell them to cut it out.”
Northern Baltimore County lost another moderate Republican in April when Councilman Wade Kach retired at age 78. When the Republican Central Committee conducted interviews to find a replacement a month later, several moderate Republicans applied.
Instead, the committee chose Nino Mangione, then a state delegate, who has said he admires Trump more than he admires anyone else.
West has endorsed Mangione’s opponent, the riverkeeper Theaux Le Gardeur. But West says that if Mangione wins, he expects him to be more collaborative on a nine-member council than he was as a state delegate.
Mangione faces Le Gardeur, a moderate, in the Republican primary and progressive Democrat Shawn McIntosh in the general for a full four-year term.
On Sunday, Kach endorsed Le Gardeur. He called Mangione an “ineffective delegate” whose promises to voters do not match his record in Annapolis.
Mangione, in turn, blasted Kach for attempting to double his pension on his way out of office.
Other candidates have also jabbed at one another.
Bobby ‘Al Jolson’ Berger
From 1978 until 2015, Bobby Berger performed in blackface at clubs around Baltimore and out of state. During much of that time, he was a Baltimore City police officer. The city asked him to stop his act in the 1990s, and after a legal battle he retired from the force in 1997.
He then opened Bobby B’s Palace in Essex, where he kept performing in blackface until 2015, when he planned a fundraiser for the officers charged in the death of Freddie Gray. When that sparked pushback, he packed up the makeup for good.
Berger insisted in an interview last week that “there is nothing racist about that show I did.”
After his second retirement, Berger thought about politics.
“I asked about 100 people, ‘Who is the delegate?’” he said. “And nobody could tell me who it was.”
Berger is one of five Republican candidates vying for three seats on the Baltimore County Council. Retail manager Henry Ciezkowski is running, along with incumbent delegates Bob Long, Robin Grammer and Ric Metzgar.
Long has been attacking Metzgar for voting with Democrats. Grammer said no one is attacking him because he’s the most conservative delegate in the General Assembly.
Grammer called Berger’s candidacy “a little weird,” adding, “I don’t take these people seriously.”
Daniel Eisenhart
The Odd Fellows Lodge North Point #4 Memorial Day service started out as it had every year since World War II: somber and respectful. Salling was invited to speak; Grammer was there, too. Then a commotion broke out.
Eisenhart’s brother, a process server, handed papers to Salling and his wife as they were leaving the service early. Salling had accused Eisenhart, a Senate hopeful, of harassing him and his wife and had sought a peace order barring Eisenhart from his property.
The court denied the order, but Eisenhart felt the very attempt was defamatory. So he sued Salling.
Eisenhart said he is challenging Salling because the senator, who often praises Trump, voted to increase SNAP benefits and is too left-wing and pro-tax. Eisenhart made a video about his attempt to serve Salling and put it on Facebook.
“He publicized it. I did not,” Salling said. “He did this to himself.”
Eisenhart said Salling should have behaved better upon being served. “When you get served papers, you just take your papers,” he said.
Salling, a retired steelworker, has been described by West and others as the nicest person in the Maryland Senate. He is courtly, opening the door for colleagues and remembering their birthdays. He said he’s focused on positivity: greeting supporters at early voting sites, working with Trump’s transportation department on the Key Bridge rebuild, and organizing a baseball camp for children in the district.
Tim Fazenbaker
On June 8, the Republican Central Committee voted 24–0 to censure Tim Fazenbaker for a series of Facebook posts, including one where Fazenbaker said of another central committee member: “No self-respecting man hangs out with an alleged pedophile.” The committee did not specify to whom the comment referred; several members did not return calls or emails.
At the central committee meeting and in interviews with John Lee of WYPR, a half-dozen east side residents accused Fazenbaker of harassment. Among them were Salling, Metzgar and Cliff O’Connell, an Essex community leader and body shop owner. Metzgar called Fazenbaker “an evil man” on WYPR.org.
The central committee’s bylaws forbid members from putting out false information to harm candidates, officeholders, or fellow committee members.
Fazenbaker was a committee member but resigned shortly before the censure. The former liquor store owner has run for state delegate, Congress and now County Council for the second time, representing Dundalk. He is again running for the central committee; it is unclear what will happen if he wins given the censure.
Asked about the censure, Fazenbaker said, “I don’t really care.”
Fazenbaker has posted AI-generated images of himself dressed like Trump. He and Eisenhart say they are working together as a conservative flank. They are also friendly with Berger.
Running against Fazenbaker is J.D. Urbach, a moderate Republican supported by the Republican establishment. Outgoing Councilman Todd Crandell supports Urbach. Fazenbaker said he expects the establishment will back his opponent.
“It’s no secret that they don’t want me here, because I’ve challenged them for years,” Fazenbaker said. “They see me building to replace the party. I would call us the new Republicans.”
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