Dear Friend,
You probably know by now the news about the outrageous Supreme Court ruling overturning Roe v. Wade and Planned Parenthood v. Casey on Friday, and you may have seen or been part of the sweeping response from hundreds of thousands of people across the country. It was great to be at demonstrations and rallies around Maryland throughout the weekend to voice our opposition to this ruling and the right wing extremist majority dominating this third branch of government. Three of the rallies hosted more than 200 people (on short notice) and at some of the events, people shared their personal stories, in some cases for the first time in public. Powerful. We’re grateful to our allies in the Maryland Abortion Access Coalition for organizing the protests. We also put out a statement on the SCOTUS decision.
How can we ensure Maryland remains a state where abortions are safe and legal? Here’s what we can do right now: Elect dedicated pro-choice candidates, including more women and LGBTQ individuals, who will take bold action on issues like abortion rights to counter the moves that the GOP Justices and their supporters in the Senate are making to turn back the clock on our basic rights and protections. Let’s keep turning our anger into action.
Dozens of great candidates around the state are running in the Democratic Primary election - Check out the list of Progressive Maryland’s endorsed candidates. It includes folks running for the Maryland General Assembly, City Council, State’s Attorney, County Executive, County Council and Central Committee seats across the state. Here’s how you can support them:
Thank you, and see you on the campaign trail! In Solidarity,
The PM Team |
2022 Maryland Elections:
Elections play a central role in this struggle for a better state, a more just country, and a stronger democracy. We need more elected officials who will fight for abortion rights, tougher gun laws, envrionmental protection, the separation of church and state, voting rights, drug policy and police reform, and healthcare for all. Let’s do this! Let’s show our opposition the power of grassroots progressives in the Primary (and give them a glimpse of what we can do in November!) We have three weeks to contact and talk to voters about the Democratic primary!
Make your plan to vote! Here are the options and dates to help you decide: - If you’re not registered, click here right now. DEADLINE TO REGISTER TO VOTE IS TOMORROW, JUNE 28TH!
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Mail In Option: Request a ballot now (and up July 12) Click here to learn how you can request a mail-in ballot.
- Voting by mail? Once you receive it, review your ballot, review information about the candidates, fill out the ballot and follow the instructions for mailing or dropping at a Ballot drop box location.
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Early Voting: Thursday, July 7 – Thursday, July 14 Check the local Board of Elections website for voting locations and hours.
- Tuesday, July 19: Primary Election Day Check your local Board of Elections website for polling locations and hours.
No matter which method you use, be sure to mark your calendar and set aside the time you need to cast your vote!
Make your plan to volunteer, starting this week! Get some sunshine and some steps in with our door knocking team. Or make phone calls from home. We’re canvassing and phonebanking every day– all you need to do is find a couple of hours in your schedule to help these wonderful candidates and meet some of our amazing volunteers! Sign up today! Contact Yves for more information. We’re doing textbanks, too. We need folks to talk to voters and pass out lit at Early Voting sites and at EDay polling sites. Let us know if you want to be part of that effort.
Remember, you have rights when it comes to voting. If anyone tries to stop or impede you, call the Election Protection Hotline at 1-866-687-8683. Find more resources here.
Our friends at Maryland Matters also have an election guide. PM Endorsed Candidate Corner
Check out Progressive Maryland’s endorsed candidates. You can learn more, too, from our posts and individual candidate websites and social media pages. Upcoming Events:
Meet Del. Sheila Ruth, District 44B Tonight! Monday, June 27 at 7 pm. Come out to support one of Maryland’s most progessive legislators and healthcare for all champions, Del. Sheila Ruth. She’ll hold an in person event in Towson on Monday June 27 at 7 pm. Details here. Meet Dannine Johnson, candidate for District 6 Prince George’s County School Board Tonight! Monday, June 27th from 5:30 - 8:30 in Largo. Dannine is an MPLI alumnae and has been endorsed by Progressive Maryland! Details here.
Meet Januari McKay, candidate for State Delegate District 23B, and Mckayla Wilkes, candidate for Congress, District 5, at an event Thursday, June 30 6pm-8pm. Details below: |
Task Forces & Campaigns Updates: ✊🏾 Justice Task Force: Police Accountability Please sign this petition by the ACLU to urge the current Prince George’s County Council members to pass a strong police accountability board! 💰 Healthcare Campaign: Make Medicines Affordable!
Ninety seven U.S. House and Senate members (all Democrats) sent a letter last week to HHS Secretary Becerra urging him to use his executive authority to lower prices on essential medicines. We want to thank Rep. Raskin, Rep. Brown and Rep. Mfume for signing on to the letter.. PM is partnering with People’s Action and other organizations to spotlight how, despite their enormous profits, the Rx industry keeps raising the cost of life saving and life sustaining medicines. The letter led by Rep. Doggett and Sen. Warren is covered here by Politico. We need to pass Medicare For All in this country to deal with all of the cost issues and shortcomings in our broken system. In the meantime, this kind of immediate executive action could provide real relief to patients and families who are struggling with the soaring cost of essential medicines. Contact Patty to get involved in our campaign on drug pricing or Medicare For All.
💛 Drug Policy Campaign: The Overdose Crisis
Some very good news: The Overdose Crisis Cohort won House passage of the Mainstreaming Addiction Treatment Act, which they have been advocating for for two years! We want to thank our Drug Policy Task Force leaders and members for their hard work on this issue. It’s paid off and now it’s onto the Senate! |
Local Chapter Updates:
Progressive Harford Welcome to our new members who are helping us build a great chapter in Harford! .Thank you! We’ve launched our voter outreach activities! Please contact Zack to learn how to join and how to get involved.
Anne Arundel County Chapter
Progressive Maryland is leading a campaign on behalf of Fair Elections Maryland to win public financing for County Executive and County Council races in Anne Arundel. The first step in the process is a petition effort to collect the 10,000 signatures from registered county voters required to bring the question to the ballot in November. Congratulations to the team that’s doing a great job collecting signatures every day. If you want to help or learn more, send an email to [email protected].
PM has worked to win Fair Elections for several years in a number of jurisdictions including Montgomery County, Prince George’s County and Baltimore County. We’re excited that we have an opportunity to bring the system to another one of our state’s largest counties. Progressive Montgomery Contact Patty for more information about our election efforts in Montgomery County. We’re holding a voter contact canvass this Saturday afternoon, July 2, in the Olney area. Much is at stake in the Democratic Primary for County Council Executive. Learn more about the candidates at a Community Forum on Wednesday evening, June 29, from 6:30 to 8:30: |
State and National News: While the nation reels at the duplicity of Trump’s Supreme Court nominees under oath ("Roe is settled law") and the pent-up, vengeful Dobbs opinion authored by Alito overturning Roe, Larry Hogan keeps playing his games.
Maryland, which put abortion rights into law via referendum years ago, has shaped a role as a sanctuary state for those who need reproductive health care but live in states with medieval abortion laws. West Virginia and Virginia residents may soon need the sanctuary; Pennsylvania is a maybe.
Maryland expanded abortion care and access to services during this year’s legislative session. But Gov. Hogan, playing footsie with GOP orthodoxy while still trying to present the Facebook-fueled Good Guy Larry persona that got him stealth-elected twice, refuses to release properly appropriated funds intended to provide clinical training to abortion providers and to prepare Maryland’s health care system for the rough times to come. Lawmakers, Progressive Maryland and reproductive rights advocates are calling on him to meet this urgent moment and immediately release the funds.
More about the fight against Dobbs, up-n-down news on gun safety, and a big step on overdose prevention -- also in News You Can Use this week.
Find it all in this week’s News you can Use blog post. |
Tuesday, June 24 | 7:00 - 9:00 pm - Prince George's County Executive Candidates Forum sponsored by Prince George's County Alumnae Chapter of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, The League of Women Voters, NAACP, and National Pan-Hellenic Council. This event will be in-person (at Prince George's Community College) and virtual. For either, you must pre-register. More information is available at this link.
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Progressive Maryland
P.O. Box 6988
Largo, MD 20792
United States
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