By Michael Phillips | MDBayNews
A teachers union in Harford County is urging its members to abandon their Democratic Party registrations and temporarily enroll as Republicans — not out of any ideological conversion, but to manipulate the outcome of a Republican primary election that Democrats otherwise have no business deciding.
The Harford County Education Association, which represents teachers, counselors, psychologists, and support staff across Harford County Public Schools, distributed an April newsletter to its membership. Spanning 15 pages, the document covers routine union business — contract negotiations, budget education, and training schedules. But buried inside was something that had nothing to do with any of that.
One page, topped with a large red arrow reading “Flip,” urged Democratic and independent members to change their party registration to Republican ahead of Maryland’s June 23 primary. The goal, left largely unstated but unmistakable in context, was to give union members a vote in a Republican primary they wouldn’t otherwise be eligible to influence.
That primary features incumbent Harford County Executive Bob Cassilly, facing a challenge from County Council President Patrick Vincenti. Harford is a reliably Republican county — Cassilly won his 2022 race with over 64 percent of the vote — making the GOP primary the race that effectively decides who governs.
Cassilly told reporters the scheme was unprecedented in the county’s recent political history. “This is new to Harford County,” he said. “It makes everybody cynical about our government, about democracy.” He didn’t stop there. “It’s very arrogant. And they want to be able to choose not just who’s on the ballot in the Democratic primary. They want to choose who’s on the ballot in the Republican primary.”
The context matters. The HCEA and Cassilly are not on good terms. The union is in active contract negotiations with the county, and Cassilly has pushed back against what he characterizes as inflated budget demands. Cassilly recently accused Council President Vincenti of blocking two of his school board nominees “to appease union leaders.” The HCEA, in turn, has publicly disputed Cassilly’s claims that his proposed budget fully funds teacher salaries, arguing that required nondiscretionary costs — including special education placements and statutory obligations — must be covered first, leaving insufficient funds for the full negotiated compensation package.
That’s a legitimate policy disagreement. What’s less legitimate is using a nonprofit organization’s internal communications apparatus to orchestrate a party-switching campaign designed to determine a rival’s electoral fate.
The HCEA is a 501(c)(5) nonprofit whose stated federal mission is “to work for the welfare of the educators and students of Harford County, Maryland.” The “Flip” page offered no explanation of how switching party registration advances that mission. The IRS permits some political activity by 501(c)(5) organizations, but such activity cannot become the primary purpose of the organization — a line that grows increasingly difficult to defend when the union is printing red arrows and QR codes directing members to the Maryland State Board of Elections registration portal.
“It just cheapens our entire electoral system,” Cassilly said. He’s right. Maryland’s closed primary system exists to let party members choose their own nominees. When an organized outside group — one with a direct financial stake in who wins — systematically moves its members across party lines to tip a primary, it doesn’t just undermine one candidate. It undermines the premise that primaries belong to the voters who actually belong to that party.
The union may have a genuine grievance with Cassilly on education funding. That grievance should be litigated in public, in the press, and at the ballot box by voters who are actually registered Republicans — not through a coordinated infiltration campaign dressed up as civic engagement.
With the June 23 primary now weeks away, Harford County Republicans ought to know exactly what the HCEA is trying to do to their ballot.
Reporting for this article drew on coverage by Project Baltimore/WBFF, the Baltimore Chronicle, the Harford County Board of Education’s published budget statements, and MDBayNews’s prior reporting on the 2026 Harford County executive race.
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