CHICAGO — During his first campaign for public office in 2006, when he ousted a 32-year state senator in the Democratic primary, U.S. Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-8th) called his scores of youthful volunteers “the democracy corps.”

That loose amalgamation of youthful energy has morphed through the years into the Democracy Summer, a robust program sponsored by Raskin and the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee that dispatches young people across the country to work for progressive candidates and causes.

But “Democracy Summer” could also describe part of the campaign Democrats are waging against former President Donald Trump and his political allies.

And Raskin has been right in the thick of it.

Already he’s been on the road to two dozen states this election cycle, campaigning for — and sometimes against — various candidates. He’s been moving frenetically throughout Chicago during the Democratic National Convention this week, speaking to several groups. And on Monday evening, he became the first of three high-profile Maryland political leaders to speak on the convention floor in prime time (Gov. Wes Moore and Prince George’s County Executive Angela Alsobrooks were the others).

All the while he’s been delivering good-humored zingers at his political foes that also expose the severity of the challenges facing the U.S.

Raskin’s floor speech was keyed to his experience as a constitutional scholar — and his roles as the impeachment manager of Trump’s second trial and as a key member of the special House committee that investigated the Jan. 6, 2021 insurrection at the U.S. Capitol. Much of his speech focused on that terrifying day — though he began it by saying, “Hello, America! Welcome to democracy convention!”

He went on to prosecute the case against Trump and his running mate, U.S. Sen. JD Vance (R-Ohio).

“Make no mistake, a man who uses fraud, theft and violence to take power will commit any crime to keep it,” Raskin told the delegates. “We’re going to defeat Donald Trump, the career criminal and incorrigible recidivist con man and his pet chameleon, JD Vance.”

But the convention speech was just part of Raskin’s agenda this week.

According to a schedule provided by the congressman’s campaign office, Raskin has spoken to eight state delegations, including Maryland — almost as many as Moore. He spoke at a meeting of the Democratic National Committee’s Interfaith Council and at a meeting of the DNC’s Climate Crisis Council. And he hosted one of the Maryland delegation’s late-night after-parties, at Harry Caray’s Tavern on Chicago’s Navy Pier — a celebration that seemed very much in Raskin’s image.

There, he hosted a reunion of some members of the indie band The Dispatch, which thrilled some members of the Maryland convention delegation.

“My favorite band,” said the party chair, Ken Ulman.

“The soundtrack to my college years,” said Frederick County Executive Jessica Fitzwater (D).

There, the band played some songs from a rock opera that Dispatch leader Chad Stokes has written called “1972,” which follows a young woman who is attempting to obtain an illegal abortion and features some of the characters she meets along the way.

Raskin advised the schmoozing politicos to go outside if they didn’t want to listen to the music. But first, he introduced the crowd to Harry Dunn, the former U.S. Capitol Police officer whom Raskin credited with saving his life, and to Michael Cohen, Trump’s former attorney and fixer, whom Raskin called “a born-again patriot.”

‘Everyone has their own Sugar Daddy’

At midday Thursday, a large room in a makeshift space in downtown Chicago known as the Democracy House was like an MSNBC junkie’s dream. Assembled there to discuss the prospects for reforming the Supreme Court were Melissa Murray, a New York University law professor and MSNBC commentator; Elie Mystal, the justice reporter for The Nation magazine, who can summon outrage the way most people breathe; Michael Waldman, the director of the Brennan Center for Justice at the New York University Law School, who has written a book about the court; Adrianne Shropshire, the director of Black PAC, an organization that mobilizes Black voters; U.S. Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse (D-R.I.), a senior member of the Senate Judiciary Committee; and Raskin.

For the congressman, shining a spotlight on the Supreme Court is part of his crusade to save democracy.

“There’s a fantastic ethics crisis taking place on the court,” Raskin told the crowd.

When Murray referred to the court as “a millionaire emotional support group,” Raskin chimed in, “Everyone [on the court] has their own Sugar Daddy … The nation’s highest court has the lowest ethics. Anyone in Congress would be in jail” if they accepted favors from rich benefactors the way Raskin said some justices do.

Whitehouse suggested something sinister has been afoot at the high court for years, but that it only began to come into focus after justices voted to repeal Roe v. Wade in 2022.

“You cannot explain this court with the term conservative,” he said. “That is the wrong term to use. You have to use the term covert operation. Or regulatory capture.”

Mystal called Leonard Leo, who as head of the Federalist Society promoted conservatives for federal judgeships, “a groomer.”

“People like [Justices] Neil Gorsuch and Amy Coney Barrett, they were not born, they were made in a lab by Leonard Leo,” he said.

Shropshire said that Black voters have become increasingly alarmed about the direction of the Supreme Court since justices began chipping away at voting rights laws. When Black voters are asked by pollsters what they fear most, the Supreme Court comes in second, behind Trump’s reelection.

“I think all of us have to fall out of love with the Supreme Court of the United States,” Raskin said. “That doesn’t mean fall out of love with the Constitution or the Bill of Rights.”

Raskin lamented that he was planning to speak more about the Supreme Court during his convention address, but joked that he was asked by convention organizers to cut his 5,000-word speech down by 4,550 words. Still, he said, he was proud to use the term “Kangaroo Supreme Court of the United States” on the convention floor.

“I just want to note, this [conversation] is unusually spicy,” Murray said at one point.

‘Mustard that agrees with your Constitution’

Also spicy are the jars of mustard that Raskin has been handing out during convention week, “Jamie’s Strong & Sweet Democracy Mustard,” which features the slogan “Mustard that agrees with your Constitution” on its label.

The mustard was produced by Raskin’s cousins, who operate the National Mustard Museum in Middleton, Wisconsin.

The jars went especially quickly when Raskin addressed the Maryland convention delegation Thursday morning, zinging insults at Trump and Republicans to the great joy of his audience. Noting Vance’s conversion from anti-Trumper in 2016 to Trump’s running mate in 2024, he said, “Everybody’s waiting for the big debate between our amazing nominee, Kamala Harris, and Donald Trump. I’m waiting for the debate between J,D. Vance and J.D. Vance.”

Raskin also said that in response to Republicans’ insistence on referring to Democrats as “The Democrat Party,” he has taken to calling Republicans “Banana Republicans.” When he informed his wife that he had “finally gotten back at them,” she observed, “That was an extremely immature response.”

But he’s still using the line, and there’s no rest for the weary: Raskin next takes his act on the road this weekend to Saranac Lake, N.Y., in the Adirondack Mountains — not exactly a hotbed of progressive politics — where he’ll be raising money for his own campaign and for Democracy Summer.

For 84 minutes, Maryland and UMBC were in a scoreless deadlock. Three minutes later, both teams had found the net.

Maryland attacker Luke Van Heukelum’s 85th minute goal was answered by an 87th minute header from UMBC’s Joseph Picotto, as the Terps tied their season opener, 1-1, on the road in a game where they largely dominated possession.

“It’s a teachable moment,” Maryland head coach Sasho Cirovski said. “We had a lead late with five minutes left in the game and there’s certain things that we need to do to close out a game like that that we didn’t do.”

The first 10 minutes of Maryland’s season showed who it was: a team that hadn’t played an official game in almost 10 months. The Terps struggled to maintain possession, trying to send long balls over the top to their forwards, many of which traveled too long out of bounds for Retriever throw-ins or goal kicks.

“In the first 15 minutes I don’t think either team made more than two passes in a row,” Cirovski said with a laugh. “Opening game soccer.”

The Terps slowly gained their footing as the half went on, beginning to look more confident with possession and taking control of the flow of the match.

Junior transfer forward Sadam Masereka quickly emerged as a focal point of Maryland’s attack, taking on defenders with the ball at his feet and demonstrating an ability to change speeds in a flash.

However, despite having more of the ball, Maryland had difficulty generating chances in UMBC’s final third. The Terps repeatedly searched for long balls over the top of UMBC’s back four, most of which presented no real threat to the Retrievers.

It was a UMBC counter attack that resulted in the best chance of the opening half. Maryland’s back four appeared to have a complete miscommunication as they let a long ball run right between William Kulvik and Brian St. Martin. UMBC striker Alex Wroblewski got on the end of it and fired a lackluster shot towards freshman goalie Laurin Mack, who made the save with relative ease.

This represented a momentary lapse in what was a strong half for the Terps back line. Especially impressive was freshman center back Jace Clark — in for injured Bjarne Thiesen — who looked very composed in his first taste of collegiate soccer.

Maryland’s best chance came late in the half when Colin Griffith received a pass with his back to the goal. He turned and fired a shot low, but it was wide outside the left post.

The Terps headed to halftime with a relatively controlled half of soccer under their belt, but needing an offensive spark in the last 45 minutes.

If Maryland was controlling possession in the first half, it began to dominate early in the second half. The Terps held the ball in UMBC’s end for the vast majority of the first 25 minutes of the half, but remained unable to find the back of the net.

The Retrievers’ back line stayed disciplined and handled Maryland’s forwards Griffith, Van Heukelum and Max Rogers nicely. All three struggled to get touches in dangerous areas.

With around 20 minutes left, the Retrievers seemed to find new life, taking control of possession and generating some pressure via the wings.

At one point, a cross across the face of Maryland’s goal to the back post would have generated a go-ahead goal if forward Ryan Calheira kept his header under the crossbar.

It was on the back of this stretch that Maryland finally broke through. Kulvik played a through ball into Cameron Gerber, who then crossed it to the back post where Van Heukelum slid it into a gaping net.

“It feels really good to get a goal early on in the season in a tight game,” Van Heukelum said. “They were sitting in a low block so I knew I would get a chance eventually, and I just had to make it count.”

Maryland, needing to buckle down for the final five minutes, allowed UMBC to instantly bring pressure the other direction. Hans Nesheim crossed it to the back post where Picotto was waiting for an equalizing header, which he sent straight into the back of the net.

The game remained knotted in an underwhelming 1-1 tie for Maryland, who were looking to put the woes of last season behind them.

“It’s UMBC, it’s a Maryland derby, we knew it was going to be a scrappy game and we deserved to win, I think, but, yeah, we just got to move on from this,” Kulvik said.

Three things to know

1. Offensive answers remain unclear. Maryland struggled to find the net consistently in 2023, and despite the late goal, a clear answer did not emerge in its opening contest of 2024. Masereka appeared the most threatening player on the ball, sliding into the role that Kimani Stewart-Baynes played last season.

2. Injuries loom large. As Maryland searches for answers to its recent struggles, it doesn’t help that it’s missing multiple important players. Both Thiesen and Max Riley — who played significant minutes in 2023 — were out, and midway through the second half, Rogers went down with an injury that saw him exit the game.

3. Terps continue to play loose. Typical on Cirovski teams, Maryland’s midfielders moved all around the team’s 4-4-2 formation. Wingers were swapping sides as well as dropping back defensively. Captain Alex Nitzl played in four different positions throughout the game in the midfield and back line.

“The formation is the starting point, but then we ask our players to have a lot of fluidity in their movement out there and apply the principles of the game when we have the ball, rather than be rigid,” Cirovski said.

The University of Maryland is the nation’s top producer of computer and information sciences bachelor’s degrees among non-online universities, and No. 3 overall, as highlighted in a new report from The Chronicle of Higher Education.

The report aggregated bachelor’s degrees conferred by colleges in 32 disciplines in each year from 2018 to 2022 using data from the Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System, a part of the U.S. Department of Education. Only first majors were considered. UMD awarded 280 more degrees than the next traditional bricks-and-mortar university, Penn State; it conferred more than double the average number of degrees among public institutions in the Association of American Universities.

UMD students earned nearly 1,500 degrees in the 2021-22 academic year across three majors counted in the report: computer science in the College of Computer, Mathematical, and Natural Sciences, information science in the College of Information and management information systems in the Robert H. Smith School of Business. The first two are among the top five undergraduate majors at Maryland.

UMD’s undergraduate computer science program is ranked in the top 20 nationwide and top 10 among public universities by U.S. News and World Report, and nearly doubled its number of bachelor’s degree recipients from 2018 to 2022. The College of Information launched a bachelor’s degree in information science in 2018; it has since grown to more than 450 degrees. U.S News ranks Maryland’s management information systems major No. 6 in the country and No. 5 among publics.