The race for Prince George’s County executive turned into a mud-slinging contest Monday as candidates aggressively canvassed Metro stations, churches and shopping centers to win over thousands of undecided voters in the final day before the primary elections that will decide their fate.
Former state Del. Rushern Baker and county Sheriff Michael Jackson are the strong front-runners, polls show, but candidates Gerron Levi, Henry C. Turner and Samuel Dean have continued to fight for an upset.
Marylanders will head to the polls Tuesday to vote in the primary election for the Republican and Democrat parties’ candidates for governor, the General Assembly, county council and other positions.
Campaign rhetoric began to sour when a hospital workers’ union distributed fliers connecting Jackson to the county police department’s shooting of two black Laborador retrievers during a drug raid.
No evidence indicates Baker played any role in the fliers. But Jackson was quick to point out that the group, Service Employees International Union, has contributed more than $24,000 to Baker’s campaign since January — including $12,000 to a political slate Baker shares with three other delegates.
“We did not endorse the fliers — but they clearly represent the views of thousands of working families in Prince George’s County,” said Baker spokesman James Adams.
On Monday, Jackson accused Baker of mismanaging his nonprofit, Community Teachers Institute, which was designed to train teachers to better meet the needs of inner-city youth. Jackson said Baker failed to produce a list of trained teachers.
Baker’s campaign denied the accusations and said Jackson’s criticisms are marks of desperation.
“These are just eleventh-hour Hail Mary attempts,” Adams said.
In Montgomery County, four delegates are running against incumbent state senators and voters will elect four nominees to the County Council from a field of nine candidates running for at-large seats, among other races.
On the state level, hundreds of thousands of Maryland voters were set to get calls from Sarah Palin, urging them to vote for Republican business investor Brian Murphy for governor on Tuesday.
Murphy, the underdog challenger to former Maryland Gov. Bob Ehrlich, will release the robocall to more than 250,000 likely Republican voters.
Murphy’s campaign distributed a recording of the call hours after John McCain — who chose Palin as his running mate in the 2008 presidential campaign — endorsed Ehrlich.
Gov. Martin O’Malley is running for the Democratic nomination unopposed.
