Md. Matters to co-sponsor forums for statewide candidates

Maryland Matters is co-sponsoring three online forums for statewide candidates in October, beginning with a forum for the candidates for comptroller on Oct. 6.

The League of Women Voters of Maryland is the lead sponsor of the forums, which are being co-sponsored by Maryland Matters, the University of Baltimore Schaefer Center for Public Policy, Maryland Nonprofits, Maryland Latinos Unidos and Maryland Reporter.

The candidates for comptroller, Harford County Executive Barry Glassman (R) and state Del. Brooke Lierman (D-Baltimore City), will square off from 7-8 p.m. on Oct. 6. Maryland Matters Founding Editor Josh Kurtz will serve as moderator.

The race for comptroller appears to be the closest of the statewide contests, according to a recent poll conducted by the Sarah T. Hughes Center for Politics at Goucher College for The Baltimore Banner and WYPR. The survey of 748 likely voters, taken Sept. 8-12, showed Lierman with 48% and Glassman with 35%, with 16% undecided. The poll had a 3.6-point margin of error.

Click here to register to watch the comptroller forum live.

Beginning on Oct. 12, the nominees for attorney general, former Anne Arundel County Councilmember Michael Peroutka (R) and U.S. Rep. Anthony Brown (D) will appear on a video that has been pre-recorded, with the candidates participating separately. Maryland Reporter Editor Len Lazarick will question the candidates, who could not agree on a format in which they would appear live or together.

The Goucher poll showed Brown currently supported by 53% of likely voters compared to 31% who said they would vote for Peroutka. Another 15% were undecided.

There will be a live online forum for gubernatorial candidates on Oct. 13 from 7-8:30 p.m., but Democratic nominee Wes Moore, the frontrunner in the race, is not expected to appear. The confirmed candidates participating are Del. Dan Cox (R-Frederick), the GOP nominee, along with Working Class Party nominee David Harding, Libertarian nominee David Lashar, and Green Party nominee Nancy Wallace. Kurtz and Lazarick will share the questioning of the candidates.

The latest Goucher poll showed Moore leading Cox by the same 53% to 31% spread as the Democratic and Republican nominees for attorney general. Lashar was the choice of 4% of likely voters, and Wallace was named by 2% of those surveyed. Nine percent of the poll respondents said they were undecided.

Click here to register to watch the gubernatorial forum live — which will take place one day after Moore and Cox are scheduled to debate on Maryland Public Television.

All of the forums and interviews will be available for viewing on the University of Baltimore Public Affairs You Tube channel shortly after their conclusion.

Editor’s Note: This story was updated to correct that David Harding is the nominee for the Working Class Party, not the Working Families Party. The Working Families Party has not made any endorsements in the Maryland governor’s race. 

Republish