Morning Digest: Two big Maryland counties will soon have new leaders

As county executives depart for Congress, their replacements will be chosen in very different ways

State's Attorney Aisha Braveboy is a top candidate to succeed Sen.-elect Angela Alsobrooks as Prince George’s County executive (credit: Aisha Braveboy Facebook)

Leading Off

Maryland

Two of Maryland's largest counties will have new leaders soon now that Prince George's County Executive Angela Alsobrooks and Baltimore County Executive Johnny Olszewski are leaving following their elections to Congress. But while it's a given that both will be replaced by fellow Democrats, the process for choosing each of their successors will differ greatly.

Alsobrooks resigned on Monday as the head of the Old Line State's second-largest county, a community in the Washington, D.C. suburbs that has long been one of the most affluent majority-Black counties in the country. The timing of Alsobrooks' departure means that the next executive will be chosen through a special election. Had the senator-elect waited just a few more days until the halfway point in her term passed on Thursday, the County Council would instead have tapped a replacement.

Following Alsobrooks' resignation, three local politicians immediately entered the all-important Democratic primary, which is certain to determine the ultimate winner in a county that Kamala Harris carried 86-11.

One notable name belongs to State's Attorney Aisha Braveboy, who won her current job in 2018 to succeed none other than Alsobrooks. Two members of the County Council are also in: Council Chair Jolene Ivey, who is the wife of local U.S. Rep. Glenn Ivey, and Councilmember Calvin Hawkins.

Former County Executive Rushern Baker, meanwhile, says he anticipates deciding in the coming days if he'll run to reclaim his old post. Baker, who was Alsobrooks' predecessor, waged an unsuccessful primary bid for governor in 2018 after he was termed out as executive. Four years later, he sought the governorship again but dropped out of the primary after struggling to gain traction

One person who will not be running is Acting County Executive Tara Jackson, who was elevated from her position as chief administrative officer following Alsobrooks' resignation.

The rules are quite different in Baltimore County, where the local County Council will choose a new executive to replace Olszewksi, who resigned on Tuesday, for the final two years of his term. (Baltimore County, which is the third-most populous in the state, and the neighboring city of Baltimore, have been separate jurisdictions since the 1850s.)

A total of 12 people applied for the incoming congressman's old job ahead of last week's deadline, though one of them, Del. John Cardin, has since announced that he no longer wishes to be considered. (Cardin is the nephew of retiring Sen. Ben Cardin, whom Alsobrooks will succeed next year.) One person who still wants the post, though, is former state Sen. Jim Brochin, who lost the 2018 primary to Olszewski by 17 votes.

The eventual pick will take over an office most famously held by Republican Spiro Agnew, who won in it 1962, just six years before he was elected vice president as Richard Nixon's running mate. Democrats, though, have continuously held the post for the last 30 years, and Harris' 61-36 victory in Baltimore County doesn't give Republicans much hope about breaking that streak in 2026.

Last month's elections also mean that change is also coming in the state's largest county, though for a different reason. Two-thirds of voters in Montgomery County approved a ballot measure to require its executive to leave after two terms rather than three.

County Executive Marc Elrich had argued that Republicans and developers promoted the plan to prevent him from seeking reelection in 2026 in this dark-blue community after he won successive primaries over a pro-developer candidate by razor-thin margins in 2018 and 2022. Ehrlich's successor is also certain to be a Democrat—Harris won Montgomery County 74-22—but as recent elections have shown, the primary is likely to expose ideological dividing lines.

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Senate

LA-Sen

Public Service Commissioner Eric Skrmetta doesn't seem to be in a hurry to decide whether he'll challenge Sen. Bill Cassidy in the 2026 GOP primary, as a spokesperson tells NOLA.com's Tyler Bridges that they anticipate he'll decide sometime in the first half of 2025. It remains to be seen if Louisiana Treasurer John Fleming's decision to launch his own campaign on Wednesday will motivate Skrmetta to firm up his timeline.

SC-Sen, SC-Gov

Republican Rep. Nancy Mace, who's recently been clamoring for attention by launching bigoted attacks against an incoming trans colleague, is considering bids for governor or Senate in 2026, according to NOTUS' Reese Gorman.

If you're thinking the latter explains the former, you're not wrong, but Mace has long gone to extreme lengths to capture the spotlight. According to a 2021 strategy memo obtained by the Daily Beast's Jake Lahut, Mace branded herself "NATIONAL NANCY," and ex-staffers who spoke with Lahut described her "relentless focus on PR and media."

Mace has not only sought the limelight, she's also sought statewide office before—much less successfully.

In 2013, while running a consulting firm, Mace launched a challenge to Sen. Lindsey Graham, who, in the years before he latched himself to Donald Trump, was a non-stop target of conservative ire. But despite her high-profile background as the first woman to graduate from The Citadel, Mace finished in fifth place with just 6% of the vote while Graham cruised to a 40-point win over his nearest opponent.

It's Graham who's up again in 2026, and while he hasn't yet said whether he'll seek a fifth term, he'd be hard to dislodge as long as he remains in Trump's good graces. For that reason, says Gorman, Mace is "more likely" to seek the governorship, which will be open in two years because Gov. Henry McMaster faces term limits. Uncharacteristically for Mace, though, she's been silent about her plans.

Governors

CA-Gov

Outgoing Rep. Katie Porter, whose bid for Senate this year ended with the March primary, is "weighing a likely bid" for governor, reports Politico's Christopher Cadelago. Porter has been "making regular trips" to the state capital of Sacramento, writes Cadelago, and just opened up a new state-level PAC aimed at supporting women candidates.

Porter would join a race that already features half a dozen major Democratic contenders all eager to succeed term-limited Gov. Gavin Newsom in two years. Some candidates have already been running for quite some time, starting as far back as April of last year, when Lt. Gov. Eleni Kounalakis became the first to launch.

Porter finished third in California's top-two Senate primary, taking 15% of the vote. Fellow Rep. Adam Schiff advanced to the general election along with Republican Steve Garvey, whom he defeated 59-41 last month.

OH-Gov

Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost all but confirmed on Wednesday that he would run to succeed termed-out Gov. Mike DeWine, a fellow Republican, in 2026.

"I'm not ready to head to the locker room just yet, and if the voters will have me I hope to offer them a choice in 2026 for their next governor," the attorney general informed WTVG's Shaun Hegarty. Yost added, though, that he would "talk about that after the first of the year."

Buckeye State politicos have long anticipated an expensive primary battle between Yost and Lt. Gov. Jon Husted, but a third statewide elected official is now also showing some interest.

"I will talk about it, pray about it with my family to see if there are chances to continue giving good public service to our state or to our nation," Secretary of State Frank LaRose told WTOL 11, "but I'm not here to talk about it right now."

LaRose, though, just came off a last-place showing in the three-way GOP primary for Senate last March. While polls initially showed the secretary of state leading in the contest to face Democratic Sen. Sherrod Brown, he struggled to compete financially against two wealthy opponents, businessman Bernie Moreno and state Sen. Matt Dolan.

The onetime frontrunner seemed like an afterthought during the final weeks of the battle between Moreno, who had Donald Trump's endorsement, and the DeWine-backed Dolan, and the results confirmed that take. Moreno beat Dolan 50-33 with just 17% going to LaRose. Moreno, who dismissed the secretary of state as "a silly man" during their contest, went on to unseat Brown.

House

NY-21

Former Newsmax host Joe Pinion is asking local Republican leaders to nominate him in the upcoming special election for New York's 21st District, the Daily Gazette's Tyler McNeil reports. Pinion, who lost to Democratic Sen. Chuck Schumer 57-43 two years ago, nonetheless made history by becoming the first Black Senate nominee for either major party in New York.

It's unclear whether Pinion has officially announced he's running to replace Rep. Elise Stefanik, who is Donald Trump's nominee to become ambassador to the United Nations, in this rural upstate New York seat. However, the distinction between declared candidates and undeclared contenders can be fuzzy in a contest like this, where a small group of party insiders, rather than primary voters, choose their nominee.

McNeil notes that Pinion, who unsuccessfully campaigned for a state Assembly seat just north of New York City in 2018, only moved to the upstate town of Saratoga five months ago. Pinion, though, argued that his name recognition from Newsmax, as well as his victory over Schumer in the dark-red 21st District, shows that there's "a willingness to vote for Joe Pinion."