Boy those downballot statewide races sure are pot stickers in rat states. Gee Maryland sucks. And didn’t you tell me the GOP last held the MD legislature in the 1910’s? Ick.
I’m quite relieved we at least got a Treasurer elected here in IL. (and Topinka but she/it doesn’t count)
1917 was the last time the MD Assembly had a GOP majority of 55R-47D (in those days, there were just 102 members, now there are 141) and Speaker (Herbert Wooden of Carroll County). The GOP numbers dwindled quite badly and actually by the 1958 elections, they held only 7(!) seats to the Democrats’ 116 (not even 6% of the body). Even in 1978, there were just 14 Republicans (and 127 Dems), which made it more like a Deep South state. We now are tied with the highest number of Republicans (43), which we previously had in 2002, although that is still just 31% of the body, at least 10%+ below where it ought to be.
As for the MD Senate, not since 1897 has the GOP won a majority there (John Wirt Randall of Anne Arundel Co. having been the last GOP Senate President). They came within 1 seat in 1917 and 2 in 1919, but otherwise dwindled after that, dropping down to just 3 members by 1958 (10% of the body) with the modern all-time low of 6 with the 1982 elections. We’re only at 12 seats now (or 26%), 2 below what we won even in 2006 (because the Dems narrowly won the open seat of the former Senate GOP leader Lowell Stoltzfus and beat Hispanic GOP incumbent Alex Mooney, now the state MD party Chairman, whom we’ve mentioned as a future successor to Roscoe Bartlett). I’m not definitively sure what accounted for Mooney’s singular loss (to a much older (by over 30 years) ex-Mayor of Frederick), although a cursory glance indicates that a lot of Republicans in his area (enough to tip the race) were quite angry with him, and he should’ve prevailed easily as the GOP won the area and other offices.