Deep-blue Maryland has been a stronghold for Democrats in general elections for decades. But with a popular former Republican governor running for an open Senate seat and eight House races, the Old Line State could spring a few surprises this November. In this series, Old Line, New Battles: Maryland feels the primary pinch, the Washington Examiner will look at the key figures and important issues six months until election day. Part five will focus on how the collapse of the Francis Scott Key Bridge is affecting local businesses.

BALTIMORE — Baltimore-area businesses are adapting to a new routine two months after the collapse of the Francis Scott Key Bridge, but many are still concerned about the downstream impact the March 26 accident will have on their bottom lines.

Seafood restaurants and vendors, a staple of the city’s identity, are particularly concerned with how increased traffic, coupled with a down crab season on the Eastern Shore, are impacting product supply heading into summer, the busiest time of the year.

Joe Gold, the general manager at Key Brewing, a brewery and restaurant in Dundalk on the eastern end of the Key Bridge, said the city is “used to tragedy.”

“It’s just the nature of where we’re from, and we’re gritty folks,” Gold said during an interview with the Washington Examiner. “I think the optimism in our city is divided in that the people that have been affected the most, probably, have the most optimism.”

But Gold acknowledged that while local patrons, many of whom work at the Port of Baltimore, appear to be coming in more frequently, Key Brewing has also lost any new business coming across the water from the city proper.