U.S. Rep. Jamie Raskin is backing his former state Senate colleague Rich Madaleno in the race for Maryland governor.
Madaleno, a senator from Kensington, announced Friday that Raskin has endorsed his campaign.
“In Maryland, ‘good enough’ is not acceptable,” Raskin said in a statement. “Marylanders demand and deserve the best and for governor, that person is Rich Madaleno. In these troubled and chaotic times, we need elected officials who will be beacons, who will help lead us to a better tomorrow. Rich will be that leader, and that’s why I’m wholeheartedly endorsing him to be Maryland’s next governor.”
Madaleno’s campaign also released a video in which Raskin highlights Madaleno’s past support for Maryland’s assault rifle ban, Planned Parenthood funding and marriage equality.
“We would not have been the first state in America to pass marriage equality without having been told to do so by our state Supreme Court. Without a Rich Madaleno, there’s just no way it would have happened,” Raskin says in the video.
News of the coming endorsement first leaked in late December when Maryland Matters, a website covering state political news, included a link to the video in a Dec. 19 tweet. The video was later taken down from YouTube.
Raskin and Madaleno were both elected to the state Senate in 2006 from Montgomery County. They served as colleagues until Raskin joined the U.S. House of Representatives after winning election in the 8th Congressional District in 2016.
The endorsement gives Madaleno the backing of a high-profile county politician. One of his gubernatorial opponents, Prince George’s County Executive Rushern Baker, has already secured the endorsements of Montgomery County Executive Ike Leggett; U.S. Sen. Chris Van Hollen of Kensington; and state Attorney General Brian Frosh of Bethesda.
Madaleno and Baker are also facing Baltimore County Executive Kevin Kamenenetz, former NAACP President Ben Jealous, Baltimore tech entrepreneur Alec Ross, former Michelle Obama aide Krishanti Vignarajah and Baltimore attorney Jim Shea in the June 26 primary election.
