Former Attorney General Douglas F. Gansler (D) has hired a Maryland campaign veteran to manage his expected bid for governor next year.
Colin A. Curtis served as a senior policy analyst for the late state Senate President Thomas V. Mike Miller Jr. (D) before being tapped to run congressional campaigns in Kansas and Michigan.
He returned to Maryland to lead the successful re-election bid of Attorney General Brian E. Frosh (D) in 2018.
His Washington, D.C.-based firm, Curtis Strategies, offers “communications, campaign, legislative, digital and direct mail consulting services to candidates, issue campaigns, and organizations on the local, state, and federal levels throughout the country,” according to his bio.
A former federal prosecutor who served two terms as Montgomery County State’s Attorney and eight years as AG, Gansler is a DC-based lawyer in private practice. He ran unsuccessfully for governor in 2014, finishing second in the primary to then-Lt. Gov. Anthony G. Brown (D).
“Colin is one of the very best and most respected political professionals in our state, and I’m thrilled to have him working alongside me as I seriously consider a race for Governor in 2022,” Gansler said in a statement.
“His deep institutional knowledge of Maryland politics, his statewide network of relationships and his proven record of success will be invaluable to our entire team as we move forward.”
Although he won two statewide races handily, Gansler has been out of politics for seven years.
Whether he can reconnect with voters will be among the top tests he faces if he enters the race. He has been traveling the state in recent weeks, talking to party and progressive activists in anticipation of a run.
“Doug is in the advanced stages of planning for another run here in Maryland, and I’m excited to be a part of that,” said Curtis.
He called Gansler “a genuine and authentic person who has a unique vision for Maryland that I think is of the moment.”
Gansler is expected to announce his plans later this spring.
The primary — June 28, 2022 — is still a long way off, but the field is starting to get crowded.
Four Democrats have announced gubernatorial bids so far — presumed frontrunner Comptroller Peter V.R. Franchot, former U.S. Education Secretary John B. King Jr., former Prince George’s County Executive Rushern L. Baker III, and former Obama administration official Ashwani Jain.
Former DNC Chairman Tom Perez is a likely candidate, as is former federal official and nonprofit executive Jon Baron. First-term Baltimore County Executive John A. Olszewski Jr. is said to be contemplating a bid.
The state’s twice-victorious governor, Lawrence J. Hogan Jr. (R), is term-limited.
Bruce DePuyt
Reporter
Bruce DePuyt is a contributor to Maryland Matters, where he was a full-time reporter until December 2022. Previously, DePuyt spent nearly three decades on local television, including 14 years as producer and host of “NewsTalk” on NewsChannel 8 in the Washington, D.C., region. He was a reporter and anchor on “News 21” in Montgomery, where he also served as producer and host of “21 This Week.” He then became a reporter and anchor at NBC affiliate WVIR in Charlottesville, Va. He appears occasionally on WTOP (103.5 FM), WAMU (88.5 FM) and MPT.
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