Politics and power

About 25,000 outstanding votes were expected to help decide at least three closely contested City Council races that have not yet declared winners.

“In respect to all who voted, I’ll be waiting for the final outcome of the mail-in ballots before I make any further statements on the outcome of the mayoral primary,” Dixon said in a Wednesday statement.

Former Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan, now running for the U.S. Senate, made his clearest comments yet on abortion, telling the New York Times on Thursday: “I support restoring Roe as the law of the land.”

The council’s budget leader and would-be kingmaker had a tough election night Tuesday.

The new laws will expedite resources to crime victims, help retain and recruit cops, and create a first-in-the-nation center to study gun violence as a public health issue.

Wealthy Maryland congressman has said he will back Democrat Angela Alsobrooks’ U.S. Senate bid in the fall, but has not signaled whether he’ll become a major financial supporter of her campaign.

Would public opinion be swayed if we were witnessing, say, Stormy Daniels and Hope Hicks’ testimonies and facial expressions in real time? According to two media experts: Not really.

The Stronach Group’s investment in high-wattage entertainment to attract younger fans and bigger purses to lure the best thoroughbreds hasn’t paid off, with Preakness losing millions of dollars each of the past two years.

Not only did Mayor Brandon Scott, who has enjoyed higher approval ratings among white voters, have massive margins in the White L, he also ran close to former Mayor Sheila Dixon in the city’s majority-Black precincts, a Banner analysis of preliminary election data found.

Scott becomes the center of political gravity in Baltimore, now that he’s slated to become the first mayor to serve at least two full terms since 1999.

With a massive financial disadvantage, the Alsobrooks team had to be patient and wait until the very end of the campaign season to run most of their TV advertising ― still one of the most reliable ways to introduce a candidate to voters.

Maryland state officials are moving forward on massive new contracts for prison and jail mental and medical health care, ousting a problematic contractor.

Voters have become more familiar with mailed-in ballots over the last four years, experts said, which makes accounting for turnout a more arduous process.

Prosecutors will not charge the Anne Arundel County Police officer who used a Taser on a man who later died.

Anne Arundel County school board candidate Sarah Lacey suspended her campaign in March, but nevertheless advanced in Tuesday’s primary to the November general election. Now it appears she will face incumbent Gloria Dent in District 1.