November 10th, 2018 by WCBC Radio
Is it too early to speculate about the election for governor in 2022? Apparently not as the rumors are already circulating. A few observations:
There are no easy-to-peg frontrunners in either party, though there could be. Lt. Gov. Boyd K. Rutherford would be the obvious potential successor to Gov. Lawrence J. Hogan Jr. on the Republican side, if he wanted to run. He hasn’t shown much of a zest for politics during his career, though, even if he is a very good campaigner.
Among Democrats, there’s no mayor of Baltimore or big-county executive who will be finishing a second term in 2022 who might automatically look at a run for governor as the obvious next step. The county executives on this list will be finishing their first terms – which doesn’t mean they wouldn’t run, just that there isn’t that logical sense of progression that you get from a second termer. No incoming county executive ought to be thinking much about a statewide bid in 2022 at this point; they should be focusing on their jobs.
State Comptroller Peter V.R. Franchot (D) could be formidable for a whole host of reasons. But we can also list several reasons why it doesn’t make sense for him to run.
Redistricting in 2019, followed by redistricting in 2021, could change the state’s political dynamic, and the cast of characters who would consider a run for governor, considerably. Some members of Congress could be looking for a job in four years.
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