Maryland
Election aftermath: Maryland's winners and losers – Maryland Matters
It’s all over but the shouting.
The sheer scale of former President Donald Trump’s victory in the presidential election was breathtaking — and will still require a lot of soul-searching and contemplation in a lot of corners of this country.
Here in Maryland, Election Day didn’t produce too many surprises. But still, there were consequential developments, and performances, and political trends, that are worth talking about.
So without further ado, here’s our list of winners and losers. It’s by no means complete. And we apologize in advance for any sins of commission or omission.
Winner: Angela Alsobrooks
Another history-making political star is born in Maryland, and she’s headed to the U.S. Senate. Even her vanquished opponent, former Gov. Larry Hogan (R), said her election was something to celebrate — as is the fact that there will be two Black women serving together in the Senate for the first time in history.
After a shaky start, the Prince George’s County executive ran a disciplined, focused campaign and prosecuted the case against Hogan — who left office with mind-bending job approval ratings — almost flawlessly. She revealed just enough of herself, as a hardworking, conscientious public servant from humble beginnings, to connect with the voters.
But she won’t be going to Capitol Hill with the mission she envisioned. Instead of serving in a Democratic Senate, with a Democratic president who was a friend and mentor, Alsobrooks will be heading into hostile territory, dominated by Republicans. Her predecessor, outgoing U.S. Sen. Ben Cardin (D), managed to be productive under GOP majorities. That now becomes Alsobrooks’ challenge.
Winner: Sheila O’Connell
The veteran Democratic strategist has now guided both of Maryland’s U.S. senators — Alsobrooks and Chris Van Hollen (D), who is about to become the state’s senior senator — to victory. Not bad…
Winner: Diversity in the state’s congressional delegation
Maryland has had zero women in its congressional delegation for the past eight years, but with Alsobrooks’ victory and Democratic state Sen. Sarah K. Elfreth’s win in the 3rd Congressional District puts two women in the state’s 10-member Capitol Hill contingent. Assuming April McClain Delaney (D) hangs on in the 6th District, that will make three of 10.
The record for women in Maryland’s delegation? Four. From 1987-1993, the state delegation included Sen. Barbara Mikulski (D) and Reps. Helen Delich Bentley (R-2nd), Beverly Byron (D-6th) and Connie Morella (R-8th).
With Alsobrooks’ election, the state will also have more Black members of Congress than ever before, as she joins Reps. Glenn Ivey (D-4th) and Kweisi Mfume (D-7th). And her victory comes on the heels of Wes Moore’s election as governor and Anthony Brown’s election as state attorney general in 2022, a reminder that Black politicians are prospering as candidates for statewide office in Maryland.
Winner: Andy Harris
Maryland’s lone Republican member of Congress is a strong ally of President-elect Donald Trump and should see many of his priorities enacted — or initiatives that he hates blocked — in the next few years. Harris is currently the chair of the far-right House Freedom Caucus, whose ranks will grow in the next Congress. He’s rising in seniority. And the physician will invariably be considered for a high-ranking position in the Trump administration — most likely in the health care realm — if that’s something that interests him.
Loser: Neil Parrott
The third time does not appear to have been the charm for the Republican nominee in the 6th Congressional District, pending the count of the final mail-in ballots. Parrott is a canny guy, with a following, so his political career may not be over. But it seems highly unlikely that the GOP will want to nominate the ex-state lawmaker for this competitive congressional seat a fourth time.
The governors
Push: Larry Hogan
Sure, he lost his high-profile Senate bid to Alsobrooks. But face it, he never wanted to be in the Senate anyway, as he said repeatedly over the years.
Hogan ran a high-profile race that regularly attracted national media attention, not to mention tens of millions of dollars. He kept Democrats at home and largely off-balance, with the threat that he could flip a long-held Democratic seat, and made Maryland matter this election cycle. And even though he lost in part because Democrats did such a good job of tying him to national Republicans, he managed to largely keep his independent reputation intact — at least with the national media.
Hogan’s goal is always to be part of the political conversation. He’ll always be welcome on the cable chat shows, and invariably, there will be speculation that he might run for governor again in 2026. So … mission accomplished!
Push: Wes Moore
Our energetic governor was a coveted surrogate for the Harris-Walz ticket and other Democrats around the country, engendering good will among fellow officeholders, party donors and activists, and notice from the national pundit class. He’ll undoubtedly be discussed as a potential Democratic candidate for president in 2028.
But man, Trump’s victory and the likelihood of full Republican hegemony on Capitol Hill is a disaster for Moore’s policy priorities and many of Maryland’s federal funding imperatives, at a time when four senior members of Congress from Maryland are moving on. [Loser: Matthew Verghese, Moore’s director of federal relations and senior adviser. Sorry, Matt.] How does the state prepare and compensate?
And we wonder: Are Moore and his team ready for the additional and inevitable national scrutiny and expectations, especially when there are so many governing and funding challenges ahead? How does he balance the work that’s required at home with his presumed national ambitions? Where does he fit in the national conversation about the future of the Democratic Party? Who’s advising him on these matters?
Loser: Martin O’Malley
His term as commissioner of the Social Security Administration ends around the time Trump will reenter the White House in January, and there’s zero chance he’ll be reappointed, which means he’ll be out of a job then. Adding to the indignity, Baltimore City voters ignored his advice to vote against Question F, a ballot measure that will pave the way for the redevelopment of the Inner Harbor.
The resistance
Push: Jamie Raskin
Whether or not Democrats retake control of the U.S. House of Representatives, which may be a stretch at this point, Raskin will use his position as the top Democrat on the Oversight and Accountability Committee to serve as a counterweight to Trump and Republican excesses on a variety of fronts. Obviously being chair comes with real power, while being the ranking member at least provides a bully pulpit. We can only begin to imagine how bummed Raskin, who has spent the last several years defending freedom and the Constitution, must be feeling right now. But people will listen — even if they don’t hear.
Push: Anthony Brown
See Raskin, Jamie, above. Especially if Republicans have full control of the federal government, Democratic attorneys general like Brown could become the last line of defense against extreme Trump and Republican policies — a role Brown’s predecessor, Brian Frosh (D), performed well during Trump’s first term.
In a statement Wednesday, Brown acknowledged the challenges ahead and vowed to act against any federal actions that threaten Marylanders’ rights.
“No matter who sits in the White House, my dedication to protecting the rights and well-being of Maryland’s communities remains unwavering,” he said.
The question is, how many federal judges remain who will be receptive to the Democratic AGs’ arguments?
The rest
Winners: Ambitious Montgomery County politicians
Now that MoCo voters have effectively booted County Executive Marc Elrich (D) by imposing a two-term limit that prevents him from seeking reelection in 2026, umpteen ambitious Montgomery Democrats, most of whom serve on the county council, can begin mobilizing in earnest to try to replace him.
How many will run in the end? How many will share the same political bases and cut into each others’ base of support? Are there any outsiders who could make a viable run in the Democratic primary? How many candidates will agree to use the county’s robust public financing system, minimizing the influence of special interest money?
And could 2026 finally be the year that Montgomery County elects a woman as county executive? They’ve already done it in Anne Arundel, Cecil, Frederick, Harford, Howard, Prince George’s and Wicomico counties, and in Baltimore City — but not in the jurisdiction that prides itself on being the most forward-looking and progressive in the state.
Meanwhile, Elrich could have the last laugh: He’s contemplating running for a county council at-large seat again — a position he held for three terms before being elected executive in 2018. We would not bet against him.
Winner: Brandon Scott
Although he never had to sweat the general election, Scott (D) on Tuesday became the first Baltimore mayor to be reelected since Martin O’Malley in 2003. Because he looks like a kid, and sometimes displays a teen’s edgy energy, Scott is often underestimated. He shouldn’t be.
Winner: Zeke Cohen
Another political reformer wins citywide office. Cohen (D) will take over as Baltimore City Council president in December. That’s not a bad thing.
Winner: Abortion rights
Seventy-four percent of state voters can’t be wrong.
Push: Prince George’s County
County residents, who often complain that they’re overlooked in the DMV, can and will take enormous pride in the election of Angela Alsobrooks as the state’s next U.S. senator. But Alsobrooks’ looming departure for greener political pastures comes at a potential cost to the county. For 14 years, even during crises like the pandemic, the county government had fairly stable and forward-looking leadership, after a major and deflating scandal — first under Rushern Baker (D), then under Alsobrooks (D).
Now the county enters a period of political transition and uncertainty, with even the method for picking Alsobrooks’ temporary successor not altogether clear. And many of the competent professionals who surrounded Alsobrooks in county government are likely to disburse.
Loser: The Washington Post
The newspaper was roundly criticized, and rightfully so, after failing to endorse a presidential candidate for the first time since the 1970s. So much for “Democracy Dies in Darkness.”
But even people who saw great import in the Post’s White House endorsements conceded that a minuscule number of readers, at most, could be influenced by what the editorial board said about presidential candidates.
Where the Post could be, and has been, influential is with endorsements in local races. And this year, the paper all but abdicated that responsibility. In fact, the only Maryland general election in which the editorial board weighed in was the U.S. Senate race, opting for Alsobrooks over Hogan, though it praised both.
The New York Times this year announced that it would no longer endorse candidates in local races, though it did endorse Kamala Harris for president. Is the Post moving out of the endorsement business altogether? That would be a diminishment of its power and civic duty.
There’s one thing that almost everyone who has touched the William Bradford Bishop cold case agrees with: He killed his family.
In the 50 years since the brutal murders in Bethesda, Maryland, many investigators have painstakingly gone through the boxes and boxes of evidence to piece together the crime.
Multiple alleged sightings of Bishop around the United States and even overseas in Europe have been followed up on. Yet two big questions remain: Why did he do it and where did he go?
News4 sat down recently with former and current investigators in the case.
“We knew who did it. That wasn’t the question. We just need to find where this guy is,” said retired Montgomery County Detective Brain Stafford.
“I would like him to face justice for what he did,” said retired FBI Special Agent in Charge Steve Vogt.
“The fact that this hasn’t been resolved, it does, I think, eats at us,” said Montgomery County Sheriff Maxwell Uy.
The Crime
According to investigators, on March 1, 1976, Bishop left his job at the State Department, telling his boss he wasn’t feeling well. He drove to Sears at Montgomery Mall and bought a gas can and a short-handled sledgehammer and then headed to Potomac Village, where he purchased a shovel and a pitchfork at Poch’s Hardware. Police say Bishop used that sledgehammer to kill his wife, Annette; their three boys, Brad, Brenton and Geoffrey; and his mother, Lobelia.
Bishop then drove six hours to the small town of Columbia, North Carolina, where he dumped the bodies in a shallow grave and burned them.
The family station wagon was eventually found almost two weeks later in the Great Smoky Mountains in Tennessee. Police think Bishop left it there after driving eight hours from Jacksonville, North Carolina, where a store owner remembered a man with a dog buying a pair of Converse tennis shoes.
Steve Vogt recalls first seeing the killings mentioned in the newspaper as an 11-year-old. He eventually got the chance to work on the case years later.
“Throughout my life after that, I was just tied to the case. It never left me,” he said.
Vogt told the I-Team he believes the last known sighting of Bishop was at a nearby hotel in the days around when the car was discovered in the mountains.
“The guy had checked in with a California driver’s license, a passport and he had a revolver on his bed. No one knew Bishop was carrying a California DL [driver’s license],” he said.
As for the motive, Vogt thinks it was about money and that Bishop wanted to start his life over. He said weeks before the killings, Bishop was passed over for a work promotion and that the family was having financial problems and missed a mortgage payment.
“They talk about narcissistic personality disorder. The guy saw his family as just, they’re his property, “ said Vogt.
Where did Bishop go?
How is it possible that with so many investigators on the case over the last five decades, Bishop has never been found?
“If you’re disciplined, you stay out of trouble, you don’t get fingerprinted, you create a new identity and don’t talk to anybody you ever knew before, you won’t get caught, especially in 1976,” said Vogt.
Vogt was instrumental in getting Bishop added to the FBI’s Ten Most Wanted List in 2014. News4 asked him where he thinks Bishop went after leaving those mountains.
“I believe southeast, southern United States somewhere. I think that’s where he went and stayed,” he said.
But Brian Stafford, who worked the case for years as a detective for Montgomery County police, isn’t so sure. He keeps going back to a missing resolver that investigators knew Bishop had but that was never recovered.
“I honestly don’t know. I went through a long period of time thinking, we never got the revolver back. He walked off into the Great Smoky Mountains and shot himself,” said Stafford.
The tips have continued to come in over the last five decades, with sightings around the U.S. and even overseas in Italy, Sweden and Switzerland. There have also been rumors about Bishop being somehow connected to the CIA.
“I personally have not held to that theory, but we may never know,” Uy, the Montgomery County sheriff said.
No coincidences
“Everything he did, cold, calculated, obviously planned out before. I do not believe there are any coincidences in this case,” said retired detective Stafford.
It’s his belief that Bishop had been planning the crime for a while.
“Too much went right for him,” he said. “”I think that he knew when he left that house where he was going to take those bodies and where he was going after that.”
That’s a question the family of Ron Brickhouse would like answered. Back in 1976, the forest ranger was the one who discovered the bodies in that shallow grave in North Carolina. News4 spoke to Brickhouse back in 2014, years before he passed away. Even then, almost 40 years after the crime, he had a hard time talking about the case, saying it was difficult to get the images out of his head.
“It’s just bad memories,” he said. His family said that interview was the last time he spoke about the case publicly.
All these years later, they’re still hoping for some closure.
“I wish there could be, before I pass away. I was hoping that for my husband, but it didn’t happen,” said his wife, Patricia Brickhouse.
The FBI hopes the identification of a daughter of William Bradford Bishop will lead to more clues and tips in a 45-year-old cold case that has rocked the D.C. region for decades. News4’s Shawn Yancy reports investigators hope the discovery will help explain why Bishop killed his family.
The 50-year hunt
When News4 asked Stafford if he thought authorities were ever close to finding Bishop, he responded, “I don’t think we ever were.”
But five decades after the killings, the FBI said the Bishop investigation remains active and that they continue to receive a high number of tips.
Uy said he too has a deputy assigned to the case file.
“If we were to get a tip tonight, if we’re to get a tip today, the deputies in our criminal section can actively look into it,” he said.
“We did everything we could. And maybe still, maybe this 50th anniversary, maybe somebody someday will pick up the phone,” said Vogt.
All it takes is one phone call.
“I believe someone has seen him and they haven’t made the call,” he said.
While Vogt isn’t sure if Bishop is alive or dead, the case has never left him. He recently joked with a friend on New Year’s Day that his resolution was to catch Bishop this year.
“A few months back, I was in an airport and I saw somebody that looked like him,” he said.
But he doubts over the years that he’s actually ever seen the fugitive.
“No, absolutely not,” he said.
Investigators acknowledge time could be running out to resolve this case.
“I wouldn’t say that we’re past the point of getting our hopes up because we’ve seen cases resolve sometimes when we think that they’re not likely to,” said Uy. “Personally, he would be 89 years old if he was still alive today, and I really do not believe he’s still alive.”
But Stafford still wants answers for the five people brutally killed, the people who still remember them and every investigator who has worked the case over five decades.
“The question is, why not just leave? Why do all this? If you’re thinking you just wanna leave, you just want to go, and you don’t want to get a divorce, you don’t wanna go through all that, you just want to disappear, get in the car and go,” said Stafford. “Why did you decide you had to kill them all?”
They’re questions police say only Bishop can provide if he’s ever caught. And if he isn’t, “Justice is never served. Ultimately, he’s gonna answer for this crime, no matter what,” said Stafford.
“Maybe it still will happen. Who knows. You never give up ‘til it’s over, you know,” said Vogt. “When everybody that knew Brad Bishop is gone, is no longer on this earth and nobody cares anymore, that’s when it’s over. I mean, for me, obviously, when I’m no longer here, it’s over for me. But it’s just a mystery that you’d like to solve.”
If you have any information about the hunt for William Bradford Bishop you can call 1-800-CALL-FBI.
Shawn Yancy and the News4 I-Team share how they got the interview with William Bradford Bishop’s daughter and their years covering his case.
Sign up for our free deep-dive newsletter, The 4Front, to get standout News4 stories sent right to your inbox. Subscribe here.
SEVERN, Md. (WBFF) — A scratch-off ticket sold in Severn turned one Maryland Lottery player into a millionaire, leading a week in which the Lottery paid out more than $31.8 million in prizes statewide.
Maryland Lottery and Gaming said it paid more than $31.8 million in prizes from Feb. 23 through March 1, including 36 tickets worth $10,000 or more.
The top scratch-off prize claimed during that period was a $1 million winning $1,000,000 Crossword ticket sold at the Walmart at 407 George Clauss Boulevard in Severn. Another top winner was a $100,000 Red 5’s Doubler ticket sold at the Carroll Motor Fuel station at 2535 Cleanleigh Drive in Parkville.
Other scratch-off prizes claimed Feb. 23 through March 1 included two $50,000 winners: a 200X the Cash ticket sold at the Wawa at 7501 Pulaski Highway in Rosedale, and a $5,000,000 Luxe ticket sold at the Spring Hill Lake Mini Market at 9240 Spring Hill Lane in Greenbelt. A $30,000 Diamond Bingo 6th Edition ticket was sold at Tempo Lounge at 402 Back River Neck Road in Essex.
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The Lottery also reported three $20,000 scratch-off winners, all on $1,000,000 Crossword tickets sold at Geresbeck’s Food Market at 8489 Fort Smallwood Road in Pasadena; Hillandale Beer and Wine at 10117 New Hampshire Avenue in Silver Spring; and Paddock Wine and Spirits at 7627 Woodbine Road in Woodbine.
The Lottery reminded players to sign the backs of tickets and keep winning tickets in a safe location.
The Lottery said the last dates to claim scratch-off tickets are posted on the scratch-offs page at mdlottery.com.
More information is available at mdlottery.com.
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For confidential help or information about gambling problems, visit helpmygamblingproblem.org or call 1-800-GAMBLER.
Advocacy groups are raising concerns over a warehouse in Washington County that is slated to become an Immigration and Customs Enforcement processing facility after dozens of black SUVs were moved to the warehouse’s parking lot on Sunday.
“When federal enforcement vehicles begin lining the warehouse lot, it sends a clear message about what’s taking shape in our community,” said the organizer of Hagerstown Rapid Response, Claire Connor. “We refuse to let ICE quietly plant roots in Washington County without transparency, accountability and community consent.”
The 825,620-square-foot warehouse is located at 16220 Wright Road in Williamsport. Access to the facility was blocked by orange traffic barriers and signs outlining regulations and “governing conduct on federal property” with the Department of Homeland Security emblem at the top of the page.
In late January, Washington County issued a news release stating that on Jan. 14, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security sent a letter to the county’s historic district commission and department of planning and zoning regarding the property.
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Read the full story on the Baltimore Sun’s website.
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