Maryland’s Bread and Roses Party disbands
Founder Jerome Segal to run for governor as a Democrat
Maryland’s socialist Bread and Roses Party is disbanding, and its founder, Jerome Segal, is launching a run for governor as a Democrat.
Segal said the Bread and Roses Party’s central committee voted to disband and submitted the necessary paperwork to state elections officials this week, ending the group’s brief run as a recognized political party in Maryland.
Bread and Roses was recognized in 2019 after submitting thousands of signatures from state voters.
Recognition is good for the next two elections, and after that a party must win at least 1% of votes in an election to maintain its official status.
Segal, a 78-year-old Silver Spring resident, said the Democratic Party has moved farther to the left in recent years, embracing some of the ideas espoused by Bread and Roses and other progressive and socialist groups.
“The Democratic Party has moved so far to the left that many things we argued for at the beginning that were viewed as pie-eyed utopianism … now are mainstream Democratic Party positions,” Segal said. “So much more can be done inside the party.”
Plus, Segal said, it’s important that third parties not act as “spoilers” and, in the case of Bread and Roses, inadvertently help Republicans by siphoning away voters who otherwise would support Democrats. Not playing the spoiler is particularly important, Segal said, given “dreadful developments” that have pushed the Republican Party to the right.
Bread and Roses had 1,144 registered voters, according to state elections statistics. Jared DeMarinis, chief of candidacy and campaigns for the state Board of Elections, confirmed that the party submitted its closure paperwork.
Segal changed his voter registration to Democrat this week and is launching a campaign for governor Thursday.
He’s run for office unsuccessfully before: As a Democrat against Democratic U.S. Sen. Ben Cardin in 2018 and as a Bread and Roses candidate for president on Maryland’s ballot in 2020.
He advocates a philosophy that promotes living a simple life with less effort spent on work. He said he’d push for having employers allow 32-hour workweeks and making the cost of living more affordable. He’d combine subsidies and tax breaks to incentivize low-cost modest housing and zero-interest mortgages. And to make transportation more affordable, he’d raise the gas tax and plow the extra money into mass transit, rideshare programs and small, electric vehicles.
Segal said he currently directs a nonprofit organization called the Peace Consultancy. He previously worked as an official at the U.S. Agency for International Development and taught college philosophy.
Segal joins a crowded field of candidates hoping to succeed Republican Gov. Larry
Hogan, who cannot run in 2022 due to term limits.
The slate of Democratic candidates includes former Prince George’s County Executive Rushern L. Baker III, former nonprofit executive Jon Baron, state Comptroller Peter Franchot, former Maryland Attorney General Doug Gansler, former U.S. Secretary of Education John King, former Obama administration official Ashwani Jain, author and former nonprofit executive Wes Moore and former U.S. Secretary of Labor Tom Perez.
Declared Republican candidates include Del. Dan Cox, anti-tax advocate Robin Ficker and state Commerce Secretary Kelly Schulz.
Also, Joe Werner of Baltimore County has filed to run as a Republican, and Michael Steele, a former lieutenant governor who is now a TV political analyst, has been weighing whether to run.