The former president of the NAACP, Ben Jealous, is “seriously” weighing a run for Maryland governor in 2018, according to multiple reports on Tuesday.
Alluding to the current state of America under a new Trump administration, Jealous says that he began to ask himself if there was more he could do after ending a five-year stint as head of the NAACP in 2013.
“I love our state, and we are living through a historic moment that calls on each of us to ask what more we can do,” Jealous said in an interview with the Baltimore Sun. “I would never do it unless there was a clear path” to victory.
A Jealous campaign for the Democratic nomination would face a strong opponent in the one-term Republican governor, Larry Hogan. According to a poll out earlier this month, Hogan’s approval rating stands at 63 percent, which is down from 70 percent in September.
In the Democratic primary, Jealous may be up against Prince George’s County Executive Rushern Baker III, who said last month he is “close to a yes” on a run of his own.
