Dear Friend,
It’s here! The time we’ve been waiting for in Maryland, our first statewide election since 2018! It’s time to cast our votes and forge a strong ticket of progressinve candidates who will run this November up and down the ballot.
Your vote makes a difference! Please make a plan to either vote by mail, or in person at early voting sites July 7-14, or on Election Day on Tuesday July 19. Volunteers can make a difference, too, especially in the final two weeks. Join us at a phone bank, at an early voting site to distribute literature, for a text bank or a canvassing shift this week!
Join our growing election team! We’re knocking, calling and covering polling sites for Early Voting and Election Day. We need to reach another 10,000 voters and we can only do it with your help.
Progressive Maryland’s Board of Directors, chapters, staff and leaders spent a number of months assessing the political landscape for 2022, surveying candidates and allies, and looking at the positions and the track records of candidates who filed to run. We can’t weigh in on every race up and down the ballot but we do have several great recommendations for our members and supporters: see our endorsed candidates here.
We factored in how much the 2022 elections offer us an opportunity to increase the number of women and people of color representing us on the local and state level. We hope you will, too!
Our Board of Directors voted in late May to endorse Tom Perez for Governor. Perez is a former Maryland and U.S. Labor Secretary who is running in the Democratic Primary. In our view Mr.Perez can successfully pave a new path toward strong union jobs; equitable funding in public education; guaranteed protections for abortion and women’s rights; and bold climate action to restore the Chesapeake and increase our use of renewable energy. His running mate, Shannon Sneed, a former Baltimore City Council Member, will champion the city which for the past eight years has had to deal with the hostility of the Hogan Administration.
Speaking of Gov. Hogan, we’re stunned and horrified to learn today that he has told the State Police to suspend the “good and substantial reason” standards to obtain a permit to carry a concealed gun. This is the GOP in 2022, this is the response to numerous deadly mass shootings in our state and across the country, this is what Republican Governors are doing to appease the gun lobby and other right wing extremists. We can fight back at the ballot box! (and you can call Gov. Hogan at 410-974-3901 to object!)
Thank you, and see you at the polls!
In Solidarity,
The PM Team
Quick Actions:
Join our growing elections team to get involved with our many voter contact events!
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.
Vote! Here are the options and dates to help you decide:
Mail In Option: Request a ballot now (up until July 12) Click here to learn how you can request a mail-in ballot.
Voting by mail? Once you receive it, review your ballot,and fill out the ballot in full. Follow the instructions for mailing or dropping at a Ballot drop box location.
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 make a plan: mark your calendar and set aside the time you need to cast your vote from home or at a polling place. Questions or problems? Call the Election Protection Hotline at 1-866-687-8683. Find more resources here.
Volunteer! We are so grateful to our team of awesome volunteers! They have helped us reach thousands of voters this year! We’re sure to have an impact on the 2022 elections because of them. There’s still time to join them! You can get some steps in with our door knocking team, or make calls or send texts from home, or help us at Early Voting sites where we remind voters of the progressive candidate/s on the ballot. Sign up today! Contact Yves for more information.
PM Endorsed Candidate Corner
Let us know if you want to knock doors, make phone calls, do a text bank or take a shift at an early voting site. We have needs and opportunities in Prince George’s County, Montgomery County, Baltimore County, and Baltimore. We’re supporting County Council candidates and candidates for the Maryland General Assembly in these jurisdictions. Contact Yves or Patty for more information. You can learn more, too, from our posts and individual candidate websites and social media pages.
Harford County: Progressive Harford is phone banking for its endorsed candidates now until the primary. Our next phone bank is tomorrow, Wednesday, July 6, from 6-8 p.m. on Zoom. Calling lists, scripts and training will be provided. Sign up here to join!
Prince George’s County: Fundraising event for Januari McKay tonight 6:15pm!
Task Forces & Campaigns Updates:
We’re on the campaign trail from now until July 19. We’ll share information, updates, and calls to action on our healthcare campaign, drug policy work, and other issues in our July 26th Weekly Memo. Until then, join our elections team to help with voter outreach.
State and National News:
Both the Supreme Court and Congress went off for short or long breaks leaving rubble to clean up and victims to rescue. Here's news you can use from Maryland and national activists to remind us: preserving democracy and defending working families is a task never completed. What helps? Solidarity, working together to make life better for all of us even though our political environment sometimes makes us feel all alone.
What’s the terrain of struggle for reproductive rights, climate progress and other federal-state issues including housing and the unhoused? Find it all in this week’s News you can Use blog post.
Progressive Maryland BlogSpace:
We value creating space for our members to express their thoughts on any issues related to our campaigns. Have an idea for a blog post? You can submit writing, film, graphic design, etc. to be published on our website to the blog moderator Woody at
[email protected].
New Today – SCOTUS goes home leaving wreckage in Maryland and nationwide
Fighting Back on the Dobbs abortion decision – and a few more challenges
Congress in one-week sprint but Maryland summer-sleepy
Freedom, Joy and Healing – a Juneteenth Statement
Hope for modest gun law reform in DC, prepping for more pandemic (s?) in MD
Swan-song veto pushbacks; pre-primary fever spreads (a little?)
National (elections stuff) and Maryland (well, more COVID)
NYCU: Reproductive rights and gun control newly possess Congress, D.C.
Hogan shows true colors by withholding training funds appropriated in state abortion bill
>>Read more on the homepage of progressivemaryland.org
Click here to view this memo in your web browser
Progressive Maryland
P.O. Box 6988
Largo, MD 20792
United States
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