Valerie Ervin to leave race, throw support behind Baker

Valerie Ervin is dropping out of the Democratic race for governor and is offering her support to the campaign of Rushern L. Baker III.

Ervin and Baker have a joint announcement planned for this morning in Langley Park.

Their announcement will come on the eve of early voting, which begins Thursday and runs through June 21. Primary Election Day is June 26.

Ervin could not immediately be reached for comment Tuesday night. A spokeswoman for Baker declined to comment and referred questions to Ervin.

Ervin had a short-lived campaign for the Democratic nomination. She began as the lieutenant governor running mate to Kevin Kamenetz, the Baltimore County executive who was among the leading candidates when he died of sudden cardiac arrest on May 10.

One week later, Ervin decided to take Kamenetz’s place at the top of the ticket, as is allowed by state law. She named Marisol Johnson, a former Baltimore County school board member, as her running mate.

A Baltimore Sun/University of Baltimore poll last week showed her polling at 5 percent.

Baker, who is the current Prince George’s County executive, was tied at 16 percent in the poll with former NAACP leader Ben Jealous. Valerie Ervin