Larry Hogan doesn’t want to debate Ben Jealous – typical for an incumbent who feels (hahaha) as though he is ahead. He only agreed to one debate, which many observers are saying short-changes the people of Maryland.

The debate is tonight (Monday, Sept. 24) and several outfits are setting watch parties (see below) to see Hogan scramble to defend his four years of putting the interests of the wealthy ahead of working families. Ben Jealous is waiting, and so are we...

As Progressive Maryland and other allied groups increasingly focus on the November election – on contact, turnout and movement building – lessons that emerged from this year’s events begin to shape themselves into a narrative of victory and advance. In a recent interview, which appeared in two parts Laurel Wales tries to pull together the threads of street heat and the work of governance, which often seem estranged. Here are excerpts. Wales is People’s Action Deputy Director of Movement Politics.

Larry Hogan's miserable record on the state's education effort, masked by his well-funded and untruthful ad campaign, is now being unmasked by a PAC that is finally getting Ben Jealous's excellent alternatives -- and Hogan's failure -- on the air and out in the open.

Danielle Gaines reports here for Maryland Matters [edited for brevity].

Veteran progressive activist and analyst Robert Borosage surveys the post-primary landscape leading up to the November general election and finds "the progressive insurgency is winning the battle of ideas in the Democratic Party. Increasingly, Democratic candidates are embracing big ideas from the insurgent platform – Medicare for All, tuition-free college, a $15.00 minimum wage, a Green New Deal, criminal justice reform, getting money out of politics, abortion rights, the Dream Act and more."

Marylanders like these things too, and we know we won't get them from Larry Hogan.

"My experience at the History Makers gala affirmed for me more than ever that our Movement is connected," says Progressive Maryland Chief Operations Officer Alexiss Kurtz. "The sister campaigns and organizations doing this work are connected. I have mentors who have paved the way for me in this work.... I realized, standing in a sea of black excellence, that we are all connected in this work. National victories are my victories too."

Nearly 20 million individuals living in the U.S. have gained health insurance since 2010 through the Affordable Care Act, between the opening of insurance exchanges and the expansion of Medicaid. Its success is limited though, a Baltimore health-care professional and activist points out, and those limits make it clear that Medicare for All, as outlined by the Jealous campaign, is badly needed.
 

The statewide canvass launch is Sept. 22. We will be turning out – for instance -- those 300,000-plus Prince George’s voters who turned out in 2012 for the presidential election but not in 2014. Larry Hogan won by fewer than 70,000 votes. Do the math, and join us.

Speaking of Larry Hogan -- he got a rare “Alternative Facts” award from the Baltimore Sun last week; one he probably did not welcome. Check it out … and share it.

Please join Maryland progressives on 15 September 2018 to spread the word about drug decriminalization and its relationship to the human rights violation of mass incarceration. At Discussing Drug Decriminalization: Cannabis to Opioids, discussion of drug decriminalization will extend into other issues related to criminal justice reform. The forum is at Montgomery College/Germantown. Among the speakers, hear Democratic gubernatorial candidate Ben Jealous. Mass incarceration has motivated the need for criminal justice reform and those who have become a victim of our injustice system and want to be an advocate for human rights need to be heard. https://discussingdrugdecrim.eventbrite.com

In 2016, I waded into the deep end to go into communities to advocate for candidates I believed to be the best representation of my values. I knocked on doors in Maryland, Pennsylvania, West Virginia, Nevada, and DC. I called voters in Iowa, New York, Indiana, Maryland, California, DC, Florida, Nevada, Ohio, North Carolina, and more.

No other experience was as pivotal or life changing for me as was going to people's homes to knock on their door and talk about the issues and the candidates I believed in.

The statewide canvass launch is Sept. 22. We will be turning out – for instance -- those 300,000-plus Prince George’s voters who turned out in 2012 for the presidential election but not in 2014. Larry Hogan won by fewer than 70,000 votes. Do the math, and join us.