JUICE: AFSCME Endorses Frosh for AG, MCDCC's Charlotte Crutchfield Running for Arora's D19 Seat, Mizeur = Lefty MD?

Below Maryland Juice provides a few items that may be of interest to Free State politicos:

JUICE #1: CHARLOTTE CRUTCHFIELD TO RUN FOR DISTRICT 19 DELEGATE // MOCO DEMOCRATIC CENTRAL COMMITTEE MEMBER SEEKS TO REPLACE SAM ARORA - Montgomery County Democratic Central Committee (MCDCC) member Charlotte Crutchfield confirmed to Maryland Juice that she is throwing her hat into the ring for District 19 House of Delegates. Crutchfield is running in the June 2014 Democratic Primary, now that D19 Delegate Sam Arora has announced he is retiring at the end of his term. Crutchfield's bio on the MCDCC site states:

Charlotte Crutchfield

MCDCC: Charlotte Crutchfield was elected to MCDCC in 2010. She is the Liaison for District 19. Ms. Crutchfield serves on Rules Committee, Voter Protection Committee, Ballot Question Review Committee and Strategic Planning Committee. Ms. Crutchfield has served on the Executive Board for Women’s Suburban Democratic Club (Women’s Democratic Club and was a member of the District 19 Democratic Club, as well as the Hispanic Democratic Club and the African-American Democratic Club.

She served as Girl Scout leader, President of the Glenallan ES PTA, and the Board of Directors of Tivoli Home Owners Association. Ms. Crutchfield is a member of the Montgomery County Bar Association, N.A.A.C.P, and the Red Hat Society. She has served as Committee Chair for the Howard University Alumni Club of Montgomery County and is a supporter of Juvenile Diabetes Foundation. Ms. Crutchfield is an attorney, having gotten her BA at Howard University and her JD at Boston College Law School. She has two children.

District 19 is currently represented by three Democratic Delegates: Sam Arora, Bonnie Cullison and Ben Kramer. Though Arora is retiring, Cullison and Kramer are both seeking re-election. In addition, two additional candidates have already announced for the D19 House of Delegates: Melodye Berry and Marice Morales.


JUICE #2: SEN. BRIAN FROSH WINS ENDORSEMENTS OF AFSCME FOR JUNE 2014 ATTORNEY GENERAL RACE - Yesterday Maryland Juice received the following press release from State Senator Brian Frosh's Attorney General campaign announcing the endorsement of AFSCME at an event today:

MEDIA ADVISORY

AFSCME Council 3 to Endorse Democratic Candidate
Brian Frosh for Attorney General

Baltimore, MD- The AFSCME Council 3 will give their full support and endorsement to Democratic candidate, State Senator Brian Frosh, who is running to be the next Attorney General of Maryland.

WHO: AFSCME Council 3, representing 25,000 workers in the state of Maryland.

WHAT: AFSCME Council 3 President Patrick Moran and AFSCME members will formally endorse State Senator Brian Frosh for Maryland Attorney General at a rally in Baltimore.

WHERE: AFSCME International Union Office
1410 Bush Street, 1st Floor
Baltimore, Maryland 21230

WHEN: Saturday, November 16, 2013 at 10:00 AM

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JUICE #3: BALTIMORE SUN SAYS HEATHER MIZEUR'S CAMPAIGN REFLECTS LEFTWARD SHIFT IN MARYLAND - A Maryland Juice reader pointed us in the direction of a fascinating piece from The Baltimore Sun's editorial board titled "Our view: Underdog gubernatorial campaign follows the state's leftward shift." In the piece below, The Sun's ed board argues that Maryland voters are now ideological and more prone to support leftward politics than engage in regional battles (excerpt below):

BALTIMORE SUN: The conventional political wisdom about Del. Heather Mizeur's pick of the Rev. Delman Coates as her running mate is that it shows her campaign for governor is more about making a point than winning the Democratic primary.... But the more interesting question is not what the selection says about the Mizeur campaign than what the Mizeur campaign says about the state of Maryland politics....

The fact that Mr. Coates does not balance the ticket other than racially — de rigueur at this point in Maryland Democratic politics — could be read as a further sign that Ms. Mizeur is not doing what it takes to win. Like her, he is from the Washington suburbs, and like her, he is well to the liberal side of the spectrum.

But what that analysis misses is the extent to which we have shifted from a tribal to an ideological stage in our politics.... Now, though, it's less a matter of family and community tradition and more a question of political philosophy. To a great extent, machine politics has given way to people organizing through affinity groups on Facebook and Twitter that make old geographic boundaries irrelevant.

In the process, the character of Democratic politics has changed. Traditionally, the party's office holders were often moderate or even conservative on social and cultural issues. But the last four years saw a real shift to the left in Annapolis.... There's not much electoral room for a candidate to run to the right of the field in next year's Democratic primary — Comptroller Peter Franchot, an astute reader of the political landscape, kicked the tires on that proposition rather thoroughly and decided to stay put....

This is a provocative (but perhaps now obvious) take on the state of Maryland politics. But Maryland Juice has been trying to make this point for a couple years now!  At least some of our state's Democrats are beginning to act on these new opportunities. Indeed, progressive politics are the new normal in Maryland.