Candidates are starting to announce their candidacy for Maryland’s 2022 gubernatorial election. Maryland’s current governor, Larry Hogan (R), is ineligible to run for reelection due to term limits.

Here’s a look at who is in, who is out, and who is up in the air when it comes to putting their hat in the ring to try and become Maryland’s next governor.

The filing date to declare candidacy is Feb. 22, 2022. This post will be updated as candidates continue to declare their intention about whether or not to enter the race.

Famed political science professor Dr. Larry J. Sabato’s Crystal Ball, a nonpartisan political analysis and handicapping newsletter run by the University of Virginia Center for Politics, predicts Maryland’s next governor will be a Democrat.

The latest edition of Sabato’s often-quoted political newsletter analyzed the national gubernatorial landscape taking shape in 2022: “38 states will see gubernatorial races over the next two years; Democrats currently hold 18 of the seats that will be contested while the GOP holds 20,” writes J. Miles Coleman, the Center for Politics’ associate editor.

“Aside from Maryland, no statehouses are initially favored to flip — but surprises are surely coming,” predicts the Crystal Ball. Maryland, Coleman writes, “is the only state we see changing hands right off the bat.”

The Maryland Democratic Party is giddy.

Two national political handicapping websites, The Cook Political Report and Sabato’s Crystal Ball, recently took early assessments of the 2022 political landscape and rated the Maryland gubernatorial election as a very good pickup opportunity for the Democrats. The state Democratic Party and the Democratic Governors Association last week sent out fundraising emails boasting about it.

Why wouldn’t political handicappers look at an open-seat gubernatorial election, one without the gravity-defying Lawrence J. Hogan Jr. (R) in it, and come away with that prediction? The political fundamentals of the state, which just gave President Biden 65.4% of the vote, demand it.

And why wouldn’t Democratic organizations broadcast the ratings? That’s what they’re supposed to do, to build interest and enthusiasm and raise a little dough.

Candidates are starting to announce their candidacy for Maryland’s 2022 gubernatorial election. Maryland’s current governor, Larry Hogan (R), is ineligible to run for reelection due to term limits.

Here’s a look at who is in, who is out, and who is up in the air when it comes to putting their hat in the ring to try and become Maryland’s next governor.

The filing date to declare candidacy is Feb. 22, 2022. This post will be updated as candidates continue to declare their intention about whether or not to enter the race.

Famed political science professor Dr. Larry J. Sabato’s Crystal Ball, a nonpartisan political analysis and handicapping newsletter run by the University of Virginia Center for Politics, predicts Maryland’s next governor will be a Democrat.

The latest edition of Sabato’s often-quoted political newsletter analyzed the national gubernatorial landscape taking shape in 2022: “38 states will see gubernatorial races over the next two years; Democrats currently hold 18 of the seats that will be contested while the GOP holds 20,” writes J. Miles Coleman, the Center for Politics’ associate editor.

“Aside from Maryland, no statehouses are initially favored to flip — but surprises are surely coming,” predicts the Crystal Ball. Maryland, Coleman writes, “is the only state we see changing hands right off the bat.”

The Maryland Democratic Party is giddy.

Two national political handicapping websites, The Cook Political Report and Sabato’s Crystal Ball, recently took early assessments of the 2022 political landscape and rated the Maryland gubernatorial election as a very good pickup opportunity for the Democrats. The state Democratic Party and the Democratic Governors Association last week sent out fundraising emails boasting about it.

Why wouldn’t political handicappers look at an open-seat gubernatorial election, one without the gravity-defying Lawrence J. Hogan Jr. (R) in it, and come away with that prediction? The political fundamentals of the state, which just gave President Biden 65.4% of the vote, demand it.

And why wouldn’t Democratic organizations broadcast the ratings? That’s what they’re supposed to do, to build interest and enthusiasm and raise a little dough.