And just like that, the 2022 Maryland General Assembly has adjourned. Thank you for keeping pace with us over the frenzied 90 days of the state legislative session! Your advocacy helped us secure some major progressive victories this session, including the Climate Solutions Now Act, which will dramatically reduce emissions in the coming years, and the Time to Care Act, which will establish a statewide paid family and medical leave program in Maryland. Thank you for your hard work and support...

Now that the legislative session has come to a close, we’re pivoting to focus on this year's elections — we have less than 100 days until the Primary Election on July 19th. We've got no time to waste getting to work to ensure progressives candidates win big this year! 

Join us as we hit the ground running with an Earth Day Weekend Canvass for Climate Action & Progressive Candidates in Montgomery County this Saturday, April 23 from 12:30–3:30pm! The whole Progressive Maryland team will be out in MoCo for the afternoon to knock doors and talk to voters about progressive champions and PM-endorsed Democratic candidates for Montgomery County Council Laurie-Anne Sayles and Natali Fani-González. Come out to meet the candidates and spend time with like-minded Marylanders who are passionate about environmental justice — no previous canvassing experience required! 

Don’t forget to check out the Candidate Corner section of our memo each week for plenty of exciting opportunities to get involved with our electoral efforts and support progressive candidates across the state. Let’s transform Maryland politics together! 

Quick Actions:

• Contact our Democratic US House members who have not yet cosponsored the Medicare for All Act.
• Register to join our Reentry Work Group at the 2022 National Returning Citizens Virtual Conference this Thursday.

Become a Progressive Maryland Member 

If you care about the issues shared in this memo, support our work by becoming a Progressive Maryland member today! Our members power our organizing, outreach and advocacy work. We provide flexible membership categories — folks can choose the level of support that works for them. Learn more about the many benefits of being a member and how to join at pgmd.us/join!  

2022 Maryland Elections

Last week, the Maryland Court of Appeals ruled it would uphold the state’s new legislative map, which means there will be no further rescheduling of the Maryland Primary Election! The statewide Gubernatorial Primary Election will be held Tuesday, July 19. Mark your calendars today with the key dates in the election timeline:

• Tuesday, June 28: Last day to register to vote in the primary
• Thursday, July 7 – Thursday, July 14: Early voting from 7 AM – 8 PM
• Tuesday, July 12: Last day to request a mail-in ballot (But there’s no need to wait! Click here to learn how you can request a mail-in ballot today)
• Tuesday, July 19: Primary Election Day

The finalized date for this year’s primary also means there’s no time to waste in building support for progressive candidates ready to transform Maryland politics! We’re knocking doors and hosting phone banks to reach voters across the state about critical races on the ballot in the Primary Election. People power makes the difference for progressive candidates, and we need your help!

Visit pgmd.us/electionvolunteer to sign up to volunteer with us and the candidates campaigning on core progressive values. We’ll provide the training and support you need, so all levels of experience with voter outreach are welcome. If you have experience, we could use your help leading our canvasses and phone banks. 

And of course.. don’t forget to check out Throwdown Thursday phonebank this week from 6–8pm. Click this link to let us know you’ll join! You’ll meet some great folks, and we’ll provide training and support. 

🗳 Candidate Corner: Earth Day Weekend of Action!

Join Wala Blegay, our endorsed candidate for Prince George’s County Council District 6, this Friday, April 22 at 10am for a tree planting event in the Lake Arbor community to honor our greenspace on Earth Day. RSVP here to join.  

We’re hosting an Earth Day Weekend Canvass in Montgomery County this Saturday, April 23 from 12:30–3:30pm for two champions of the environment, Laurie-Anne Sayles and Natali Fani-González! Come out for door knocking, community building, and a chance to meet these great candidates for Montgomery County Council — spend some time this Earth Day weekend getting the word out to voters about candidates who are ready to take climate action. RSVP TODAY at pgmd.us/EarthDayCanvass!

Ruben Amaya, our endorsed candidate for State Delegate in Baltimore County MD-10, is organizing a Garden Build at Deer Park Elementary School (9809 Lyons Mill Rd, Owings Mills, MD) this Sunday, April 24 from 9am–5pm as part of our weekend of action! Come out anytime for food and conversation to help us restore the school’s memorial garden with native flowers and plants — RSVP here to join us.  

Progressive Maryland is rolling out new endorsements of progressive candidates running for office across Maryland! Congratulations to these great candidates — follow along as we celebrate these endorsements on social media!

Statewide & Federal Updates

⚖️ Reentry Work Group

What happens after incarceration? Join our Reentry Work Group this Thursday, April 21 for the second annual National Returning Citizens Virtual Conference: Another Chance. We’ll come together to address issues related to reentry that not only disproportionately impact the health and safety of African American communities, but are an urgent priority for our entire nation. This conference is sponsored by the federal 400 Years of African American History Commission, and registration is free and open to the public. All attendees are invited to participate in one or more of ten (10) breakout sessions. Listen, learn, and leave inspired with strategies to advocate for true transformative practices in your local, state and national community!

Progressive Maryland is an NRCVC reentry partner, and guest sponsors include Prison Fellowship, the National Alliance for Faith and Justice, and Rebound Employment. The program and recordings of last year's conference are available at this link. Register for the 2022 conference today at https://nrcvc.eventbrite.com!

🩺 Medicare for All

Momentum is building — help us keep it going!! More than 120 Democratic Members of Congress have signed on to sponsor the Medicare for All Act (H.R. 1976), which received powerful supportive testimony at the recent U.S. House Oversight and Reform Committee hearing on “Exploring Pathways to Universal Healthcare." Four House Members from Maryland are currently sponsors of the bill — thank you Rep. Jamie Raskin, Rep. John Sarbanes, Rep. Anthony Brown, and Rep. Kweisi Mfume — but there are still three members of Maryland’s Democratic House Delegation who haven’t signed on. 

We’ve set up a tool you can use to contact these representatives today! Please take a moment and urge them to join their Maryland colleagues in sponsoring this landmark legislation l bill at pgmd.us/m4anow. 

We’ve learned exciting news that Sen. Sanders plans to introduce his companion bill in the Senate and to hold a hearing in May in the Budget Committee. Please contact Malcolm or Patty to get involved in our efforts to organize for Medicare for All in the coming months. We need your help to step up our grassroots organizing! 

🏥 Medical Debt 

The Biden Administration took action last week to lessen the burden of medical debt in this country. It’s good to see these measures being taken and the increasing attention to the medical debt crisis — medical debt is now the largest source of debt in collections, and because of health disparities its strain is most acute for Black and Latino households. Countless studies have demonstrated that fear of incurring debt leads people to postpone or avoid seeking medical care they need, which results in conditions going undiagnosed and untreated and has tremendous implications for public health. Providing some relief is good, but the best way to address this crisis is to move toward a single-payer healthcare system where Americans don’t need to worry they won’t be able to pay for medical treatment they need. 

Local Updates

Progressive Harford:

Progressive Harford is holding its first official chapter meeting this evening at 7 PM on Zoom! We’ll discuss developing chapter bylaws, establishing procedures, and identifying priority electoral races. Register to join us here!

Progressive Montgomery:

Celebrate Earth Day Weekend with us in Maryland’s largest jurisdiction! This Saturday afternoon, we’re talking to MoCo voters about the need for local action to combat climate change and the importance of electing progressive champions up and down the ballot. Join us to meet PM-endorsed candidates Laurie-Anne Sayles (candidate for an At-Large seat on the County Council) and Natali Fani-González (running to represent District 6 on the County Council), and talk to MoCo residents about their campaigns and the importance of climate action. We’ll provide snacks, the “turf”, training, and support — RSVP today! Contact Tanya or Patty for more information. 

State and National News:

This year’s Maryland General Assembly session is over, fairly peaceably and successfully — and, if we’re to believe the Maryland Matters scorecard, with plenty of “winners” and few “losers” (thanks in part to the large budget surplus at hand). Will we be able to say the same of Maryland’s political sphere after the July 19 statewide primary election settles many of our current leadership questions?

Check out our weekly roundup of News You Can Use for more on the new laws and new faces of this year’s state legislative session. Also in this week’s roundup: federal-level moves on student debt (maybe), medical debt, and actions you can take to support progressive legislation on Capitol Hill. 

Events From Progressive Maryland & Our Allies:

Thursday, April 21 | 12–4:30 PM (virtual) — Join PM’s Reentry Work Group for the 2022 National Returning Citizens Virtual Conference. Listen, learn, and leave inspired with strategies to advocate for true transformative practices in your local, state and national community! Registration is free and open to the public here!

Friday, April 22 | 4 PM (Washington, DC) — Join 350 MoCo and the Chesapeake Climate Action Network for a climate action at the Federal Reserve Building in Washington, DC! In addition to the trillions of dollars the Fed directs straight to the fossil fuel industry, U.S. banks continue to lend trillions more to the fossil fuel industry. Our message is simple: the Fed needs to wake up and stop funding the climate crisis! RSVP here to attend the rally. 

Saturday, April 23 | 12:30–4 PM (Wheaton, MD) — Join us in Montgomery County to celebrate Earth Day by door-knocking with County Council candidates and progressive champions Laurie-Anne Sayles and Natali Fani-González. Meet the candidates and talk to voters in the community about the upcoming election! RSVP here for more information about this exciting event.

Saturday, June 18 | 10 AM (Washington, DC) — We’re still a couple months out, but the Poor People’s Campaign is organizing a Poor People’s and Low-Wage Workers’ Assembly and Moral March on Washington & to the Polls in June! This event will be a declaration of the power of poor and low-wealth people to say this system is killing us, and we won't stand for it any longer. Learn more and RSVP here.

Progressive Maryland BlogSpace:

We value creating space for our members to express their thoughts on any issues related to our campaigns. Have an idea for a blog post? You can submit writing, film, graphic design, etc. to be published on our website to the blog moderator Woody at [email protected]

• New Today – News You Can Use: Activity – and the lack of it – in our state and national governments
• PM Weekly Memo – April 11, 2022 
• News You Can Use: Maryland General Assembly Session wrapping up in celebratory spirit (April 11, 2022) 
• PM Weekly Memo – April 4, 2022 
• News You Can Use: Vetoes and the add-on budget kick off a fizzy last week of session (April 4, 2022)
• PM Weekly Memo – March 28, 2022
• News You Can Use: Governor, Maryland General Assembly agree on tax break package (March 28, 2022)
• Lawmakers back strengthened Good Samaritan law to curb overdose deaths (March 26, 2022) – by Del. Jon S. Cardin, Sen. William C. Smith Jr. and Maine state Sen. Chloe S. Maxmin for Maryland Matters, republished with permission
• Maryland must act to turn the tide on overdose deaths (March 24, 2022) 
• >>Read more on the homepage of progressivemaryland.org

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