Democrat Rushern Baker on Wednesday became the first candidate in the crowded primary election for Maryland governor to pitch a detailed plan tailored to helping Baltimore, the state’s largest and most troubled city.
The Prince George’s County executive released a seven-page proposal to help Baltimore reverse its chronic population loss, promote homeownership, lure more arts, science and film companies to the city and to revive the $3 billion Red Line transit project and State Center redevelopment canceled by Republican Gov. Larry Hogan.
Other major candidates in the six-way race for the Democratic nomination have developed policy ideas aimed at helping the city — former NAACP chief Ben Jealous, for example, released in February a proposal to rebuild trust in the Baltimore Police Department. But Baker is the first to publish a plan to directly address many of the city’s biggest problems.
More candidates are expected to follow suit in the next few weeks as they try to court a vote-rich region that has not demonstrated an allegiance to any of the major Democratic contenders ahead of the June 26 primary election. The unexpected death last week of Kevin Kamenetz, a well-financed candidate and Baltimore County executive, renders the Baltimore region more up for grabs than the battleground area was before, political analysts say.
Click here to read the rest of the article written by Erin Cox over at Baltimore Sun
