Former nonprofit executive joins governor race
Spouses pitch in to promote $1.9 trillion virus relief package
Jon Baron, a former nonprofit executive and federal official from Montgomery County, is weighing a Democratic run for governor of Maryland, joining a sizable and growing list of people jockeying to replace term-limited Gov. Larry Hogan in 2022.
Baron, 58, is vice president of Arnold Ventures, a Texas-based philanthropy backed by billionaire couple John and Laura Arnold. Baron previously led the nonprofit Coalition for Evidence-Based Policy from 2001 until its dissolution in 2015, held a post at the Pentagon in the Clinton administration, and was appointed to boards and commissions by both presidents George W. Bush and Barack Obama.
He joins a lengthy list of people trying to line up the support to succeed Hogan, a second-term Republican.
Maryland Comptroller
Peter Franchot, a Democrat, already has launched his campaign. Other Democrats weighing runs include former Democratic National Committee chair and U.S. Labor Secretary Tom Perez; former Obama administration Education Secretary John B. King Jr.; bestselling Baltimore-born author and educator Wes Moore; and U.S.
Rep. Anthony Brown, who represents parts of Prince George’s and Anne Arundel counties and who lost the governor’s race to Hogan in 2014.
Democratic county executives Johnny Olszewski Jr. of Baltimore County and Angela Alsobrooks of Prince George’s County have been approached about potentially joining the field, as has Harford County Executive Barry Glassman, a Republican.
Current Republican Lt. Gov. Boyd Rutherford is considering mounting a campaign. So, too, is MSNBC commentator Michael
Steele, a former Republican lieutenant governor who once chaired the Republican National Committee.
Despite Maryland’s overwhelmingly Democratic electorate — President Joe Biden carried the state by 33 points and Democrats hold supermajorities in both chambers of the Maryland General Assembly — two of the state’s past three governors have been Republicans.
Baron said he plans to campaign on bringing “a completely different approach to social spending” as governor, particularly by focusing on rigorous research on government programs, including by building randomized controlled studies into social programs and pilot efforts, something he contended hasn’t been embraced extensively enough by leaders in Annapolis. Baron said his former nonprofit and his work at Arnold Ventures focused on pushing that approach.
The Arnolds are perhaps best known in Baltimore for funding a controversial and recently ended pilot program to fly surveillance aircraft over the city in hopes of solving violent crimes. Baron said he was not involved in that project and has spent his time at the company working on other issues, including job training and education programs.
WASHINGTON — President Joe Biden kicked off the White House’s effort to highlight the benefits of his COVID-19 relief plan Monday, declaring that “hope is here in real and tangible ways” as his administration began fanning out across the country to promote the new spending.
Biden, Vice President Kamala Harris and their spouses have begun an ambitious, cross-country tour this week to promote the $1.9 trillion plan as a way to battle the coronavirus and boost the economy.
The road show, dubbed the “Help is here” tour by the White House, began Monday with Harris heading to a COVID-19 vaccination site and a culinary academy in Las Vegas and first lady Jill Biden touring a New Jersey elementary school.
The president will hit the road later in the week
— Pennsylvania on Tuesday, Georgia with Harris on Friday — but he stayed at the White House on Monday to declare that the bill will help put “shots in arms and money in pockets. That’s important.”
Hours earlier, Air Force Two lifted off from Joint Base Andrews and headed west to Nevada, and Harris will also make a stop the following day in Denver to meet with small-business owners. Wednesday sees Jill Biden in Concord, New Hampshire, and Harris’ husband, Doug Emhoff, in Albuquerque, New Mexico.
The stops at vaccination sites, businesses, schools and more are meant to educate the public about different aspects of the American Rescue Plan and how the administration says it will help people get to the other side of the pandemic.
Biden has said President Barack Obama’s administration, in which Biden was vice president, failed to adequately educate the public about the benefits of its economic recovery plan. The president wants to do a better sales job this time around on the details of his first big legislative victory, and he began last week with high-profile speeches, one in prime time, the other from the Rose Garden.
Biden has chosen Gene Sperling, a longtime Democratic economic policy expert, to oversee the massive stimulus package, the role he himself had in 2009’s economic rescue package, to lead efforts “to stay on top of every dollar spent.”
“I learned from my experience implementing the Recovery Act just how important it is to have someone who can manage all the moving parts with efficiency, speed and integrity and accountability,” the president said.
Biden declared Monday that within the next 10 days, his administration will clear two important benchmarks: distributing 100 million stimulus payments and administering 100 million vaccine doses since he took office.
The plan’s key features include direct payments of $1,400 for most single taxpayers, or $2,800 for married couples filing jointly, plus $1,400 per dependent — for a total of $5,600 for a married couple with two children. The payments phase out for
those with higher incomes.
An extension of federal unemployment benefits will continue through Sept. 6 at $300 a week. There’s $350 billion for state, local and tribal governments, $130 billion for K-12 schools and about $50 billion to expand COVID-19 testing, among other provisions.
Restaurants and bars that were forced to close or limit service can take advantage of a new multibillion-dollar grant program, and the plan also has tens of billions of dollars to help people who have fallen behind on rent and mortgage payments.
The bill cleared Congress without any backing from Republicans, despite polling that found broad public support. Republicans argued the bill was too
expensive and included too many provisions not directly linked to the virus.
The “Help is here” tour is taking Harris on her first domestic trip as vice president. Her husband, the nation’s first second gentleman, was breaking off for separate events in Las Vegas on Monday and New Mexico on Wednesday.
The White House has detailed a theme for each day, focusing on small businesses, schools, evictions and direct checks.
Jill Biden was joined by New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy on a tour Monday of Samuel Smith Elementary School in Burlington, where she spoke about how the plan will help families and communities and highlighted steps the school took
to reopen.
But her tour revealed the challenges ahead: In one classroom she visited, only two students were in attendance for in-person learning while the other 17 were virtual.
The first lady sat down at a computer to say hello to the remote learners.
Cabinet secretaries will also be out on the tour.
Hundreds of mayors and governors, including Republicans, are being lined up to give interviews to discuss what the plan means for their communities.
Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg went first, touring a UPS distribution center in Landover, Maryland, on Monday that also delivers vaccines in the Washington area.