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Wes Moore is deeply committed to policies that would meet immediate needs while building generational change, with a specific focus on bringing equity to Maryland. He is the former CEO of one of the nation’s largest anti-poverty organizations and a best-selling author on issues of race, equity, and opportunity. His lived experience and deep understanding of the lives of Marylanders who are most in need drive him to constantly look for ways to bring people together to understand and solve problems across society. The early and strong support from the leadership of the General Assembly bode well for his ability to work with that leadership to enact and implement powerful policy changes in fair wages, health care, education, transportation, climate change, police, and justice system reform. In each area, he will focus on bringing equity to Maryland’s policies.

Aruna Miller, the Democratic nominee for Lieutenant Governor, brings her own lifetime commitment to public service and a particular expertise concerning transportation matters to the ticket. She represented District 15 in Montgomery County in the State Assembly for eight years and ran a well-regarded race for Congress in 2018.

The Republican nominee for Governor, Delegate Dan Cox, has a history of antisemitic remarks, including during hearings in the State Assembly, brought two buses of people to the January 6th attempted insurrection, and continues to publicly assert that the 2020 Presidential Election was stolen. He won his primary based largely on the support of former President Donald Trump.

wesmoore.com

Delegate Brooke Lierman will bring creativity and dedication to social justice to the role of Comptroller of Maryland. The comptroller plays a crucial role on the Board of Public Works (BPW), which approves major state contracts and handles fiscal decisions in between legislative sessions. As such, the BPW has broad powers to establish priorities and approaches to major public spending initiatives. Lierman has pledged to address systemic disinvestment and racial inequity in communities across Maryland. Her background as a civil rights attorney and activist member of the Maryland House of Delegates will serve her well in achieving that goal. She plans to modernize the office of the Comptroller, focusing on ensuring that small and disadvantaged businesses are more easily able to pay taxes and do business with the state. JUFJ has had a close working relationship with Delegate Lierman in the legislature, especially around renters’ rights, and expects to maintain that relationship in her new role.

Her opponent, Barry Glassman, has tried to portray himself as a “Hogan Republican.” As a Hogan Republican member of the General Assembly, he voted against the Maryland DREAM Act, marriage equality, and increases in the minimum wage. As Harford County Executive, he has failed to support police accountability, allowing the County Sheriff to attempt to stifle independent investigations of police shootings by the state Attorney General.

brookelierman.com

Congressman Anthony Brown has an impressive record fighting for racial equity, voting rights, criminal justice reform, and accountability in policing. In Congress he was a lead sponsor of the George Floyd Justice in Policing Act, an original co-sponsor of the John Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act, and a co-sponsor of the Paid Family Leave Act. He advocates reforming the cash bail system, changing the juvenile justice system to protect children’s rights, reducing the militarization of local police, increasing police transparency, and expanding local mental health services. He has sponsored legislation to protect the right to organize, ensure that legalizing marijuana would also benefit small minority-owned businesses, and bring improved health care access to underserved populations. 

Michael Peroutka, the Republican nominee, is a former member of the League of the South, a white supremacist and white nationalist organization. He told the Maryland Bar Association he would not defend the state’s laws protecting same-sex marriage, gun control, or abortion.

anthonybrown.com

The insistence that we behave with care, equity, and love toward the stranger appears 36 times in Torah; it is the most-repeated command in the entire Torah. Our sacred texts insist that we turn our own historical experiences of being outsiders in many foreign lands into compassion for those experiencing the same today. As Jews and as human beings, we are obligated to make sure that those of us who were not born in our community are as safe as those of us who were.

But many immigrants in Howard County are not safe, and their protection and privacy are being debated in this upcoming election. JUFJ has been working with our coalition partners to support immigrant justice in Howard County since 2019. The Liberty Act was signed into law in December 2020 to ensure that all residents feel safe accessing vital county services—without their personal information being collected or shared with entities outside of Howard County. Now the Liberty Act is up for referendum as Question “A” on the ballot.

Vote “For the Law” on Question “A” to ensure Howard County remains a safe, welcoming home for immigrants.

Want to volunteer to support Question A? Email Anna Rubin to connect with the campaign.

The concept of tzelem elohim — the idea that all people are created in the Divine image and therefore are equally precious and worthy — is central to Judaism. It is so central that our sacred texts declare that destroying even one life is akin to destroying a whole world. Unfortunately, we know that in Maryland, lives are destroyed every day, especially Black and brown lives, by our system of policing.

Judaism’s ethic of mutual care calls us to hold police accountable to the people, which is why JUFJ and our partners have been calling to restore local control over the police in Baltimore — the only city in Maryland that doesn’t oversee its own police department — since 2018.

Vote for Question “H” on the ballot in November to put the Baltimore Police Department under the city’s control for the first time since the mid-1800s.

Join JUFJ, CASA, and CJSJ to canvass Baltimore voters in support of Question H on Sunday, October 23 or Sunday, October 30 at 11:00 AM.

According to Rabbi Yitzchak, whose words are recorded in the Babylonian Talmud, “A ruler is not to be appointed unless the community is consulted” (Berachot 55a). Mandatory term limits remove voters’ ability to select leaders who represent our values. 

Democracy is under attack across the country and Question K is a local effort to disenfranchise voters. The ballot measure is funded almost exclusively by David Smith, the chairman of right-wing media conglomerate Sinclair Broadcast Group, which operates the local Fox News channel. 

Mandatory term limits force skilled, experienced legislators out of office even when voters want to keep them. Baltimore needs political stability, and elected officials with institutional knowledge, but term limits increase the power of unelected, unaccountable staff and lobbyists.

Vote against Question “K” to ensure Baltimore City voters choose our elected officials, and not big money special interests.

Share this video about Question K prepared by JUFJ, our sister 501(c)3 organization.