MD Governor O'Malley to face Primary Challenge

George Wenschhof

After a period of speculation, Democrat George Owings III from Calvert, Maryland declared today he was running for Governor for the state of Maryland. His Facebook page said he was making the announcement today at a rally from 11:00 AM - 1:00 PM at the Calvert County Courthouse in Prince Frederick, Maryland.

In an article yesterday in the Calvert News, Owings said his 17 years in the Maryland legislature and 3 years as cabinet secretary gives him a record to run on. He went on to talk about his differences with Governor Martin O'Malley on the Death Penalty and Economic Development. George Owings was also critical of how the Governor has handled Slots, referring to it as a mess and was disappointed in how O'Malley handled the merger between Constellation Energy Group and Electricite de France. He referred himself to a Louis Goldstein type of Democrat. Goldstein was a long term Comptroller of the Treasury for the state of Maryland.

Looking for more information on George Owings, I discovered a piece The BayNet.com also published yesterday. It seems that ten of the seventeen years he served as delegate in districts 27B and 29A, he served as Majority Whip. He resigned from the legislature to become State Secretary of Veteran Affairs.

Reacting to the announcement, the Maryland Democratic Party quickly and clearly signaled they were supporting incumbent Governor Martin O'Malley. In a post published today on the Maryland Democratic Party(MDP) website Online State Blog, Susan Turnbull,chair of the MDP asks "Who is George Owings?".

She refers to Owings "as a loyal appointee of Bob Ehrlich" and later goes on to add "George Owings' conservative record on tobacco, choice, women, health care, guns and the environment have led to his close affiliation with the state GOP and Bob Ehrlich. Republican gubernatorial candidate Larry Hogan has even said that he and George Owings agree on most issues."

With the additional battle to raise competitive campaign funds ahead of him, it appears Mr. Owings has his work cut out for him with his effort to become the Democratic Party nominee for Governor.

Which leads to the speculation this effort by Owings was supported by Republicans hopeful a Democratic primary would soften up O'Malley against the Republican Party nominee for Governor.

Rumored Republican candidates; former Governor Bob Ehrlich and state Senator E.J. Pipkin have both been silent on the matter.

Stay tuned....

----

To receive "Daily Updates" from Air-it-Out with George Wenschhof, click on "Subscribe to this feed" below.