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Harford County Executive Barry Glassman, the GOP nominee for comptroller, raised eyebrows Thursday evening by showing up at Moore’s jam-packed fundraiser at the Holiday Inn on 66th Street - the most high-profile Republican in attendance. “I really hope that he and our other new leaders - we’ll have a new comptroller and a new attorney general - understand what MACo is.” “I think there’s a sense for sure that the next governor is going to be Wes Moore,” said Price, who supported former Maryland Commerce Secretary Kelly Schulz in the GOP primary. Talbot County Councilmember Laura Everngam Price (R), the current MACo president, said she met Moore for the first time this week and was pleased that he visibly registered the significance of the position she holds. He’s accessible and people appreciate that.”īut it isn’t just Democrats who are scrambling to say hello to Moore this week. He says he’s going to leave no one behind and people sense that he really means it.
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“People are just thrilled that we’ll have a governor with the talent of Wes. “For eight years, we’ve had a Republican governor,” she said. Jones said that part of the excitement surrounding Moore’s appearances in Ocean City is from Democrats who are looking forward to the political changes that are coming to the state. He is scheduled to appear at a conversation with statewide candidates scheduled for the convention hall on Saturday morning (Moore is not).
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Jennings (R-Harford) that he’d attend his annual reception at Ropewalk on Thursday, but later sent regrets. Dan Cox (R-Frederick), had yet to put in an appearance at MACo as of Thursday evening. What’s more, Moore’s Republican opponent, Del. Most recent election cycles have seen close races for governor - and until 2014, the party primaries were held in September, after the conference. He’s probably the first presumed governor-in-waiting to attend the summer convention in decades. Political candidates are always in abundance at MACo, but Moore seems to have achieved a special status this year. “He’s all over the place,” House Speaker Adrienne Jones (D-Baltimore County), a key early supporter of Moore in the Democratic primary, observed in an interview Thursday. And he’s greeted it all with his patented, high-voltage smile. Some otherwise world-weary public officials have gushed on social media about being introduced to Moore. He’s had dozens of business cards pressed into his hands. He’s been mobbed by excited elected officials, staffers, lobbyists and business executives.
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With Democratic gubernatorial contender Wes Moore also on hand - hosting a fundraiser Thursday evening, stopping by a full complement of political and special interest group receptions - the spotlight has clearly moved from the man who has been governor for the last 7 1/2 years to the man who is likely to be the next one.Įverywhere he’s gone in Ocean City this week, Moore has received the rock star treatment. Yet despite Hogan’s popularity - both with the general populace and with the political and business leaders who populate the conference and all its associated events - the political gravitational pull has shifted perceptibly in Ocean City this week. He’s also hitting the after-hours party circuit. He’s scheduled to visit the MACo exhibition hall in the Roland Powell Convention Center on Friday morning and will appear at the conference crab feast that evening, where he’s sure to be surrounded by well-wishers once again. Throughout the week, he has had meetings and been making public appearances up and down the Eastern Shore. He walked the boardwalk Thursday afternoon and stopped by the Taste of Maryland reception in the convention hall Thursday evening. He spoke at the conference Thursday morning, and hosted a party for more than 1,000 people at Seacrets on Wednesday night, where hundreds of admirers lined up to take pictures with him. Larry Hogan (R) has been making his usual rounds at the Maryland Association of Counties summer convention in Ocean City this week. Gardner backed a Moore Democratic primary opponent, Tom Perez, but there don’t appear to be any hard feelings. Democratic gubernatorial nominee Wes Moore greets Frederick County Executive Jan Gardner (D) at a fundraiser for Moore in Ocean City on Thursday.
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