Hoyer coasts through yet another election

Cruises to win despite losing in 2 So. Md. counties

Although re-elected, Rep. Steny Hoyer (D-Md., 5th) once again came in behind his Republican challenger in his home county, St. Mary’s.

Hoyer won the highest percentage — 70 percent — of votes across his district, which includes all of Southern Maryland and a portion of Prince George’s County, allowing him to once again keep his seat.

In St. Mary’s, however, Republican William A. Devine III had more votes, topping Hoyer by about 50.5 percent to 46 percent.

In Calvert, the longtime incumbent came in slightly behind Devine, collecting just 47.8 percent of votes cast. Hoyer easily won over Charles voters, garnering almost 72 percent of the votes.

Devine and Hoyer far outpaced Green Party candidate Pat Elder of Lexington Park and Jacob Pulcher, a Libertarian from Shady Side, who each had less than 2 percent of votes across the district.

Hoyer has represented the

district since 1981, and touts his work on protecting access to affordable health care, expanding access to economic opportunity and ensuring local military bases and other federal facilities have resources they need.

“I am honored to receive the support of voters to continue serving them in the Fifth District,” Hoyer said in a statement issued after the election. “I’ve worked hard throughout my time in Congress to address

the issues most important to my constituents, such as ensuring all families have access to affordable, quality health care; protecting fair pay and benefits for our hardworking federal employees; expanding access to economic opportunity to all Marylanders; and ensuring our military installations have the resources they need to continue serving our nation.”

Hogan re-elected for 2nd term as governor

Tuesday night in Maryland was historic: Gov. Larry Hogan, the popular incumbent, won

a decisive victory against his Democratic challenger to become the state’s first two-term Republican governor in more than half a century.

The Associated Press called the race at 9:07 p.m. with Hogan leading Ben Jealous, the former NAACP president. By Wednesday morning, with nearly all of the state’s election day precincts reporting, Hogan was in the lead with 56.2 percent of votes, compared to Jealous, who had 42.7 percent of statewide votes.

Results for the third-party candidates, Ian Schlakman of the Green Party and Libertarian Shawn Quinn of Lusby, were

negligible at less than 1 percent each statewide.

Hogan won 77 percent of the vote in St. Mary’s compared to Jealous, who had about 22 percent. In Calvert, Hogan collected 76 percent of votes.

In Charles, Hogan and Jealous each received approximately 49.6 percent of the vote, with unofficial results showing Hogan in a slight lead in the county with just 20 more votes out of the more than 60,000 cast.

Not since the Eisenhower administration have Maryland voters re-elected a Republican governor — when Theodore McKeldin won a second term in 1954.

Both statewide ballot questions pass with ease

Voters in St. Mary’s joined with other Marylanders to pass two ballot questions.

The first specifies that, starting in 2020, the education funding from gaming revenues must be supplemental and cannot be used as a substitute for other school funding already required by law.

The second question amends the state constitution to allow qualified individuals to register and vote on the same day.