Rep. Anthony Brown defeated ex-Baltimore City District Judge Katie Curran O’Malley in the Democratic primary for Maryland attorney general on Tuesday, besting his former boss’s wife in a race that took a decidedly negative turn in its final days.
Brown, first elected to the House in 2016, was Maryland’s lieutenant governor under Curran O’Malley’s husband, former Gov. Martin O’Malley, from 2007 to 2015.
MARYLAND ATTORNEY GENERAL PRIMARY PITS FORMER GOVERNOR’S WIFE AGAINST EX-UNDERSTUDY
The race had devolved into something of an intraparty feud in the weeks leading up to the primary, with Brown and Curran O’Malley trading barbs over legal experience and their respective qualifications for the job. Brown, responding to attacks by Curran O’Malley that he has little trial experience, argued that an attorney general “will spend more time in Annapolis working with legislators to reform and improve the law than he or she will ever spend in a court of law.”
In addition to touting her own experience as a judge, Curran O’Malley asserted that in the wake of the Supreme Court’s decision to strike down Roe v. Wade and return the issue of abortion to the states, it was important that Maryland have a woman in place as attorney general.
Brown had secured endorsements from a wide array of prominent Democrats, including Sen. Elizabeth Warren (MA), Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (NY), and Sen. Cory Booker (NJ), along with House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer, who represents Maryland’s 5th Congressional District. Although Curran O’Malley trailed Brown in endorsements, she was backed by former Sen. Barbara Mikulski, a longtime power player in state Democratic politics, along with some state and local officials.
Curran O’Malley had also lagged behind Brown in fundraising.
CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM THE WASHINGTON EXAMINER
Brown is the strong favorite to win November’s general election against Republican nominee Michael Peroutka, a former Anne Arundel County councilman. Peroutka was also the 2004 Constitution Party presidential nominee, earning 143,630 votes nationally, or 0.12% of all votes cast.
