I live in Maryland. It is a very blue state. Democratic voter registrations far outnumber Republican voter registrations. In recent years, the Maryland legislature has repealed the death penalty and strengthened gun control. And when Maryland voters had the chance to vote on same sex marriage, they voted in favor of same sex marriage.
And even though we had an election for Governor coming up, I knew that Anthony Brown, the Democratic candidate, was going to win. After all, if you looked at the polls, not a single poll showed Brown losing. In fact, some polls had Brown winning by double digits. And the Maryland Governor's race was not on anyone's radar screen as a race to watch.
Yes, Brown was a weak candidate. And not anyone I knew was very enthusiastic about him. But this was Maryland, and there was no way that Brown could lose.
Until he did.
Last night, the citizens of Maryland, elected Larry Hogan, the Republican candidate, by a margin of 52 to 47%.
And what did I do to help keep the Governorship of Maryland in Democratic hands.
I voted for Brown. And that was it. Unlike the Presidential race of 2012, I did not knock on a single door for Brown.
Brown was the candidate picked by the Democratic establishment. And while I liked his running mate Ken Ulman, I wasn't very impressed by Brown. I had other things going on in my life that were taking up my time. And since Brown was going to win anyway with or without my help, I thought that it was okay to sit this one out.
That was a mistake. And it is a mistake that I will be paying for over the next four years.
But it is a mistake that I won't repeat in 2018. No matter how good things look for whoever is the Democratic nominee for Governor, I will be out there trying to get him or her elected. Because I want to help make sure that the Governorship of Maryland returns to Democratic hands.