Free Republic

In Maryland, Republican Governor Larry Hogan will win a second term by defeating Democrat Ben Jealous, the former president of the NAACP. In Massachusetts, Republican Governor Charlie Baker will win a second term by defeating Democrat Jay Gonzalez. In Alabama, Republican Governor Kay Ivey will win election to a first full term by defeating Democrat Walter Maddox, the mayor of Tuscaloosa.

he campaign of Ben Jealous removed a “like” this week by its Twitter account of a six-month-old tweet that characterized corrupt police officers in vulgar terms and mocked #BlueLivesMatter. A spokesman for the Democratic candidate for Maryland governor said the “like” by @BenJealous was an “accident” by a staffer and that the former president of the NAACP “disavowed” it. “This tweet was not liked by Ben and certainly doesn’t reflect his views on law enforcement,” Jealous campaign spokesman Kevin Harris said. “As Ben has said on several occasions, he values and respects law enforcement, including the several members of his...

Former NAACP president and current Maryland gubernatorial candidate Ben Jealous is demanding that television stations stop airing a commercial from his political opponent. “Evidence to the controversy” An attorney representing the Ben Jealous campaign sent a letter to four television stations telling them to pull down a political ad from incumbent Governor Larry Hogan. “The Republican Governor’s Association in this advertisement uses selective editing techniques to make the false claim that Mr. Jealous is a socialist, despite clear and repeated evidence to the controversy,” wrote James Temple Jr., which likely meant to say “evidence to the contrary.” Former NAACP president...

Marylanders spend more time commuting to work than the residents of every other state, apart from New York. The time spent stuck in I-270 or Beltway traffic is maddeningly frustrating. Congestion results in less time spent with families and discourages workers from taking jobs involving longer commutes. Economists estimate that congestion costs run into the billions. The statewide cost of congestion based on auto delay, truck delay and wasted fuel and emissions was estimated at $2 billion in 2015. This is an increase of 22% from the $1.7 billion estimated cost for congestion in 2013. As serious a problem as...

So much for the liberals’ lie that they’re only advocating “sensible” gun-safety regulation . . . Appearing on Al Sharpton’s MSNBC show this morning, Ben Jealous, the former President of the NAACP and now Maryland Dem gubernatorial candidate, seems to suggest banning shotguns. Commenting on the deadly shooting at the Capital Gazette in Maryland, Jealous said: “We will, in the next [Maryland state] legislative session, have to have a real conversation about how we finish the job here of our assault weapons ban. But we have to go much further. Journalists were killed with a shotgun.” Get the rest of...

The big primary win by “democratic socialist” (i.e., dangerous kook) Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez may have you wondering if there is any limit to the extremism of those voters who have not walked away from the radicalized Democratic Party. Happily, there may be. At least the shudder-inducingly grotesque Bradley Manning didn’t win: Democratic Senator Ben Cardin took the Maryland primary this week with more than 80 percent of the party’s votes, winning in a landslide over challenger and convicted leaker Chelsea Manning. “Chelsea,” as Bradley now calls himself, committed ~750,000 acts of treason in the largest intelligence leak in US history. No...

Convicted leaker Chelsea Manning was soundly defeated Tuesday in her run against longtime Sen. Ben Cardin in the Maryland Democratic primary, ending a longshot bid that attracted widespread media attention when it began in January. Cardin, 74, triumphed over Manning and six other Democrats, although none was as high-profile as Manning, the former Army intelligence analyst whom President Trump has described as an "ungrateful traitor." A two-term incumbent and ranking Democrat on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, Cardin is expected to prevail in the solidly blue state in November. His Republican opponent is yet to be determined. For Manning, who...

Any Montgomery County voter looking for traffic relief will not get much hope from the transportation manifestos of Montgomery County’s “progressive” Democrats this primary season. Collectively, they all try to outdo each other in their opposition to anything involving spending for roads. Instead of supporting projects that will reduce travel times, they propose diverting more money to public transit. They push a strategy of “planned gridlock” that is intended to drive motorists from their cars. If alleging “planned gridlock” seems harsh, consider the Montgomery County Council legislation designed to slow traffic flow by significantly narrowing travel lane widths on some...

(snip)For an hour and a half, a moderator pulls questions from the audience of maybe 50 people, who fill the folding chairs with their nods, stares and half-hearted applause. Krish Vignarajah, tries to inject some enthusiasm into the quiet crowd on a Sunday in April. “The orthodoxy out there is that no man can beat Larry Hogan,” she says, pausing for emphasis. “Well, I am no man,” she rallies, her black slacks and gold-buttoned, white jacket looking every bit like a military uniform — as if to say, yes, this daughter of Sri Lankan immigrant teachers will wage the necessary...

Baltimore County Executive Kevin Kamenetz — a Democratic candidate for governor and a fixture in state and local politics for nearly a quarter-century — died Thursday morning of cardiac arrest, officials said. Kamenetz, 60, was awakened by chest pains around 2 a.m. Thursday, county officials said. Kamenetz and his wife, Jill, drove less than two miles from their Owings Mills home to the Chestnut Ridge Volunteer Fire Company where the county executive called 911 from the parking lot. Chestnut Ridge medical personnel escorted Kamenetz and his wife into the station. As Kamenetz was explaining his symptoms, he lost consciousness. Fire...

Transgender Chelsea Manning was convicted in a 2013 court martial of 20 counts, including violations of the Espionage Act, for illegally leaking more than 700,000 classified government documents to WikiLeaks. Chelsea Manning, known as Private Bradley Manning at the time of the crime, received a 35-year sentence, right after which she came out as a transgender and demanded that the army pay for sex change hormone treatment.  Former President Barack Obama went one step further. Obama gave Manning a free “get of jail” card just days before the end of his term in office, granting clemency to the felon of all...

In a year when Democrats are supposed to be taking over Congress, it's pretty amazing how shallow their bench is. Instead of offering strong candidates with real counter-ideas supposedly to oppose Republicans, they seem to have a larger than normal crop of human muck. Yet as the Roy Moore debacle showed Republicans, elections are won by attracting good candidates. With charmers like these in Democrats' current lineup, there's reason to question whether there's really going to be a wave. Chelsea Manning is the latest to join this clown cavalcade, filing to run for a seat in the Maryland Senate. It's...

Chelsea Manning, the former US army private who was imprisoned for passing information to WikiLeaks, has filed to run for a seat in the US Senate.... federal election filing, made on Thursday, confirmed Manning’s intention to run in the November elections as a Democrat. Manning, now 30, was sentenced in 2013 to 35 years in jail, for her part in the 2010 leak of more than 700,000 documents and videos to news outlets including the Guardian and the New York Times....Manning, who was formerly known as Bradley and who attempted suicide while in prison, is now a writer and activist...

NORTH BETHESDA, Md. (AP) — Chelsea Manning will run for the U.S. Senate in Maryland. The transgender former Army officer who was convicted of leaking classified documents filed her statement of candidacy with the Federal Election Commission on Thursday. The Washington Post reported Saturday that Manning will challenge Democrat Ben Cardin. He has served two terms and is an overwhelming favorite to win.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Chelsea Manning, the transgender U.S. Army soldier who served seven years in military prison for leaking classified data, is seeking the Democratic Party’s nomination for the U.S. Senate seat from Maryland, according to Federal election filings seen on Saturday. Manning, who was granted clemency by former U.S. President Barack Obama, was released in May from a U.S. military prison in Kansas where she had been serving time for passing secrets to the WikiLeaks website in the biggest breach of classified data in the history of the United States.

Maryland Democrat gubernatorial candidate Krishanti Vignarajah’s campaign roll-out is off to a rough start. Just days after declaring her candidacy, it was reported that she has been a registered Washington, D.C. voter, despite also being registered in Maryland, and has cast her votes in DC elections since 2010. Even though Vignarajah lived just minutes away from Maryland for years and maintained a Maryland residence, she chose to vote in DC. Bethesda Magazine reports: “Vignarajah, 37, an attorney, first registered to vote in Maryland in 2006 at an address in Catonsville. However, she didn’t vote in the state until the 2016...

Krishanti Vignarajah, a onetime policy director for former first lady Michelle Obama, announced Wednesday that she plans to enter the race for Maryland governor, becoming the first woman to join the crowded field for the 2018 Democratic nomination. Vignarajah plans an official campaign announcement next month. “I am running for governor because I am worried my daughter will not have the same opportunities my parents gave me when they brought our family here when I was a baby girl,” she said in a statement. “I hope Marylanders will agree the best man for the job is a woman.” Vignarajah, 37,...