In miniature, August 24

• So embarrassing for Maryland that Attorney General Brian Frosh signed onto this turkey of a lawsuit challenging Congress’s curtailment of the SALT deduction [Howard Gleckman]
• I was a guest of Jerry Rogers on WBAL to talk about the showdown between conservative religious adoption agencies and LGBT rights groups and you can listen here (background);
• Baltimore politicos move to save city from non-threat / non-horror of private water supply [Joe Setyon, Reason]
• Sen. Ben Cardin, sometimes painted as cautious or even moderate, throws red meat to Left on Brett Kavanaugh nomination [Bruce DePuyt, Maryland Matters]
• “Among the questions about Mr. Elrich is one he raised himself by pledging to invite the president of the largest county employees union into interview and hiring deliberations ‘for any and all department heads’ in the county. That is an extraordinary promise…also unwise.” [Washington Post editorial]
• How a machine based on the schools lobby ran politics for years in Montgomery County [Adam Pagnucco, The Seventh State]

Frederick County’s June 26 Republican primary

Frederick Co Exec (R) Primary pic.twitter.com/36iiNyWzwL

— Jordan Tessler (@JZTessler) August 9, 2018

I had been planning to write up the precinct results of the Republican primary vote for Frederick County Executive (data) but this map by Jordan Tessler tells the story in a picture. Councilman Kirby Delauter ran competitively in in-town Frederick and Brunswick as well as winning the county’s northernmost towns, which he has represented on the Council. That left him 10 points behind Del. Kathy Afzali, who swept suburban developments from Ballenger Creek to growth-vexed southeastern areas like Monrovia and Kemptown, as well as easily carrying Jefferson and her home of Middletown. Regina Williams showed localized strength, carrying five or six precincts east of Frederick around Libertytown and New Market. The overall lesson: the suburbanized areas are now where the Republican primary is won or lost in the county.

In the 3rd District Senate primary, in which Delauter’s frequent ally Billy Shreve was far outdistanced (77-23) by businessman Craig Giangrande, it was once again the suburban and newer-home vote that had its way. Giangrande ran best in outlying parts of the district such as Jefferson, Oakdale, and Worman’s Mill, while Shreve tended to fare best in in-town districts.

The four-way primary contesting two at-large seats, won by Phil Dacey and Danny Farrar, did not draw a strongly regionalized vote.

On the Elevate Maryland podcast

Thanks Tom Coale, Candace Dodson Reed, and Ilana Bittner for having me as a guest on the Elevate Maryland podcast, which focuses on civic and political life from a Howard County vantage point. I join at the 20 minute mark and after a lengthy and detailed discussion of gerrymandering and the Maryland Redistricting Reform Commission’s recommendations, we move on to topics like the comparative restaurant scene (E.C. vs. Rockville vs. Volt and Family Meal — must we choose?), accordions, and TV. [Player.fm, iTunes]

Local man quoted on prospects for redistricting reform in second Hogan term

Here, by Josh Kurtz at Maryland Matters. Related: one reason Republicans on the national scene may rue their indulgence in gerrymandering is that systematically placing many seats beyond opponents’ reach in an evenly balanced electorate requires crowding a lot of them into the zone just past that (say, where the party advantage is between +4 and +8). But that leaves the gerrymandering party vulnerable to a mid-sized wave that might tip a lot of seats at once [Bernard Grofman and Thomas Brunell 2005 via John Gastil, Washington Post, “Monkey Cage” 2016]