Calling It Racist Doesn’t Make It Wrong
By Michael Phillips | MDBayNews A political ad depicting Will Jawando reaching into a cookie jar labeled "Taxpayers'...
Tag: campaign finance
Moore Kicks Off. The GOP Is Still a No-Show.
By Michael Phillips | MDBayNews Governor Wes Moore launched the active phase of his reelection campaign today in Baltimore...
Hangar Deal: Construction Firm with Airpark Lease Has Donated $11,000 to the Luedtkes While Expansion Bypassed Council Review
W.M. Rickman Construction holds a 'Through the Fence' agreement at KGAI. State campaign finance records show six straight...
Moore raised $7 million — but that may be the smallest number in the story
A line-by-line review of Maryland’s campaign finance database shows a sophisticated, nationally connected fundraising...
Trone Spending Machine: The Billionaire’s Bid to Buy His Way Back to Congress
Federal filings show David Trone has pumped more than $15 million of his own money into his 2026 House race — and is...
Before the Endorsement: Jawando’s Senate Committee Gave $115,000 to Working Families Party PAC
By Michael Phillips | MDBayNews Editor's Note: After publication, MDBayNews became aware that Montgomery Perspective...
Jawando Taps Public Financing — and a Parallel Big-Money Committee
By Michael Phillips | MDBayNews Editor's Note, April 8, 2026: This article has been updated to reflect federal campaign...
Who Was Running Total Wine? Records Contradict Trone’s Claims of Arm’s-Length Management
By Michael Phillips | MDBayNews For years, David Trone has offered voters a reassuring story: when he went to Congress, he...
Two Airports, Two Standards: Why Accountability Exists in Baltimore County—But Not Montgomery
By Michael Phillips | MDBayNews In Maryland, aircraft noise is not a new problem. For years, communities living near...
Blind Date at the Ballot Box: Inside the Money Network Behind Montgomery County’s Judicial Elections
By Michael Phillips | MDBayNews Most voters can name their governor. Some can name their state delegate. Fewer can name...
The Davis Money Web: How Jim Davis’ Personal Checks, Business Entities, and Foundation Footprint Extend Political Power in Maryland and Beyond
By Michael Phillips | MDBayNews Jim Davis is not just another wealthy donor writing the occasional campaign check. He is...
Inside the Trone Donor Network: How Family, In-Laws, and Coordinated Giving Amplify Political Influence in Maryland
By Michael Phillips | MDBayNews Campaign finance reports are often treated like a bureaucratic afterthought. They are...
The Ferguson Network: Money, Power, and the Architecture of Maryland’s Political Machine
By Michael Phillips | MDBayNews In Maryland politics, power rarely reveals itself through a single headline or a dramatic...
April McClain Delaney: The Establishment’s Technocratic Moderate—or Just Another Cog in the Democratic Machine?
By Michael Phillips | MDBayNews Maryland’s 6th Congressional District has long been one of the most politically...
Trone Money Flows Into Frederick County: Fitzwater’s Campaign Backed by Trone Family Donations
By Michael Phillips | MDBayNews Campaign finance records continue to reveal a familiar pattern in Maryland politics: when...
Follow the Trone Money
By Michael Phillips | MDBayNews David Trone is running again. After spending more than $62 million trying to buy...
The Calm Before the PAC Storm
By Michael Phillips | MDBayNews Maryland politics runs on money, and few political operations in the state currently...
The Incumbent Advantage
By Michael R. Phillips | MDBayNews / Thunder Report Investigations As Maryland campaigns approach the March 5 campaign...
The Top 100 Donors Who Control Maryland Politics
By Michael R. Phillips | MDBayNews / Thunder Report For years, Maryland politicians have insisted that policy decisions in...
FBI Questions Maryland GOP Comptroller Over $100K Campaign Finance Discrepancy — Party Silent as Questions Mount
By MDBayNews Staff As of mid-afternoon February 25, there are still no new public developments in the unfolding story...
Union-Backed Challenger Outraises Incumbent in Montgomery County Sheriff’s Race, Raising Questions About Independence
By MDBayNews Staff A Montgomery County sheriff’s race that might otherwise have flown under the radar is suddenly drawing...
Maryland’s Money Gap: How Democrats’ War Chests (and Out-of-State Networks) Shape a One-Party State
By MDBayNews Staff Maryland’s campaign-finance filings keep telling the same story: Democrats are building massive...
Maryland’s Campaign Finance System: Transparency on Paper, Loopholes in Practice
By MDBayNews Staff Maryland’s campaign finance laws are often described as some of the more structured and...
Moore’s Ethical Line—Drawn Late—Reignites Maryland’s Pay-to-Play Debate
By MDBayNews Editorial Desk A Baltimore Sun exclusive this morning lit up Annapolis—and not because it revealed a crime....
Ferguson’s $2 Million War Chest — and the Curious Fear of a $75K Challenger
By MDBayNews Staff By any normal political standard, a sitting Senate President with nearly $2 million in the bank should...
Out-of-State Money Is Reshaping Maryland Elections — And Voters Rarely Hear About It
By Michael Phillips | MDBayNews Maryland likes to present itself as a state driven by grassroots politics and local values....
Fundraising Divide Emerges in Montgomery County Executive Race
By MDBayNews Staff As Montgomery County heads toward a high-stakes Democratic primary in June 2026, newly filed campaign...
Money, Message, and Maryland: What Wes Moore’s Massive War Chest Really Says
By MDBayNews Staff Maryland Gov. Wes Moore enters the 2026 election cycle with a campaign balance sheet most incumbents can...
Maryland’s Political Money Machine: Who’s Raising the Most Heading Into 2026—and Why It Matters
By MDBayNews Staff As Maryland heads toward the 2026 election cycle, new campaign finance filings offer a revealing...
Moore’s Money Machine Dominates 2026 Governor’s Race—And the GOP Gap Widens Further
By MDBayNews Staff The financial contours of Maryland’s 2026 gubernatorial race have become even clearer—and more...
Big Money, Old Politics? Atterbeary’s $600K Fundraising Raises Questions in Howard County Executive Race
By MDBayNews Staff A new report from The Baltimore Sun highlights the early financial dominance of Vanessa Atterbeary in...
Money, Momentum, and the Insider Question: What Baltimore County’s Executive Fundraising Reveals
By MDBayNews Staff The first major round of campaign finance reports in the open-seat race for Baltimore County Executive...
Delaney vs. Trone: Democratic Infighting Spills Into MD-06
As Maryland Democrats prepare for a crowded and expensive 2026 primary in the 6th Congressional District, a familiar fault...
Anthony Brown’s Activist Attorney Generalship: Maryland’s Top Lawyer or a Full-Time Political Combatant?
By Michael Phillips | MDBayNews When Marylanders elected Anthony Brown as attorney general in 2022, they didn’t just hire...
Maryland Campaign Finance Data Tells a One-Party Story
By Michael Phillips | MDBayNews Maryland’s official campaign finance data doesn’t editorialize, spin, or argue. It...
FEC Filings Show Ed Hale Donated to Johnny O Despite Longtime GOP Claims
By Michael Phillips | MDBayNews Editor’s Note: This article was updated to include a response from Ed Hale. BBaltimore...
Sarah Elfreth’s Rising Profile Comes With Rising Questions
Sarah Elfreth, Maryland’s freshman Representative, has enjoyed a rapid rise in Democratic politics. But with that rise...
The Postcard From L.A.: How “Field Team 6” Turns Hollywood Money and a Super PAC Loophole Into Voter Registration Machinery
When a Virginia voter opened the mailbox to find a glossy postcard postmarked Los Angeles urging them—via a QR code—to...
Shadows on the Bench: Maryland’s Judicial Campaign Finance Transparency Problem
When Americans think about judicial integrity, they expect judges to be impartial arbiters of the law. But what happens...