Stu Simms was alongside his running mate, Doug Duncan, as the Montgomery county executive pulled out of the governor’s race Thursday morning, citing clinical depression.
A day later, Simms was looking out for his own future.
He met Friday with a committee he formed to evaluate his prospects if he were to enter the state’s attorney general race. The deadline by which he must file for the position is July 3.
After Duncan’s announcement on Thursday, many prominent Maryland Democrats expressed interest in seeing Simms jump from lieutenant governor candidate to attorney general candidate.
Simms, 55, a former state’s attorney for Baltimore, is already being talked up by Senate President Thomas Mike Miller Jr. and Democratic Party Chairman Terry Lierman.
“I’m hoping Stu Simms takes the opportunity to file for attorney general,” Miller said. “I and others would love to endorse him.”
“Stu is a terrific individual. He would make a great candidate,” Lierman said.
And he would join a pair of Montgomery County Democrats already campaigning for the governor’s position
County Council Member Tom Perez and State’s Attorney Doug Gansler declared their candidacies in May.
Gansler and Perez’s campaigns said Friday that they are concentrating on getting the issues out to voters.
“What you do is put together a plan,” said Dan Parr, treasurer for Perez’s campaign, “and you get your candidate and your candidate’s information out there to those who need to vote for him or her.
“You can’t spend too much time figuring out who your opponents are.”
The treasurer doubts Simms joining the ballot would change Perez’s campaign strategies.
“We certainly have a plan in place,” Parr said.
Mike Morrill, spokesman for Gansler’s campaign, said his candidate, too, is focusing on the issues.
“We’re … organizing statewide,” Morrill said.
Simms currently is a partner in the Baltimore law firm Brown, Goldstein & Levy LLP.
Information from Examiner Staff writer Len Lazarick and the Associated Press was used in this report.
