Maryland Dems energized by new party leader. GOP says Dems have tough job ahead
Ken Ulman, a close ally of Gov. Wes Moore who is less than two years into his role as Maryland Democratic Party chair, will exit his role in mid-June.
Both Moore and Ulman said Democrats should tap Steuart Pittman to replace him, likely ensuring Pittman's appointment and giving the Anne Arundel County executive a key role in supporting Moore's reelection campaign, along with a wide range of other state candidates. On the ballot in 2026 will be every statewide elected official - Moore, Attorney General Anthony Brown and Comptroller Brooke Lierman - as well as all 188 members of the Maryland General Assembly and the entire eight-member U.S. House delegation.
After expanding their robust margins in the General Assembly and regaining full control of the State House for the first time in eight years in 2022, Democrats will hope to do as well or better, particularly as the party nationally will be looking for President Donald Trump to inspire voters to move against his increasingly unpopular policies. Maryland Republicans, on the other hand, say Democrats' own actions in the state have been unpopular enough to cause voters to look the other way.
Maryland Democrats will "have their work cut out for them to defend Gov. Moore and the Annapolis Democrats' tax-and-spend policies," said Maryland Republican Party Chairwoman Nicole Beus Harris.
Harris said she doesn't think the Trump presidency changes much with Maryland's voting patterns since the state didn't vote for Trump last year.
"I think that Annapolis is going to be where people are voting from next year," she said.
Pittman said in an interview that Trump's actions give the Democratic Party a "huge opportunity to grow."
"So many people are being hurt by what the federal government - what the Republican Party at the national level - is doing. And so that's our job … to bring more people into the party."
Pittman added that "people who voted for Trump voted for a lot of reasons. And most of them didn't know that they were electing somebody who was going to threaten the economic well-being of the state."
He will continue to serve as county executive through the end of his term in December 2026. The party chairmanship is an unpaid position.
'The people have the power'
Pittman said his experience running for county executive in 2018 and 2022, and as a community organizer prior to that, will make him an effective party chair.
"My training was building neighborhood organizations from scratch, and that's always been the way that I've governed and the way that I've thought about politics and government," he said. "The people have the power. They just need to be mobilized to show it."
Pittman has directed national campaigns for the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now (ACORN) and also worked for the National Low Income Housing Coalition.
The state party position will be "very important" as Moore's 2026 reelection campaign ramps up, said Roger Hartley, dean of the University of Baltimore College of Public Affairs.
If former Republican Gov. Larry Hogan decides to run, "he's probably the one Republican that would be a strong challenger to Governor Moore," Hartley added.
Do state parties matter?
State parties play a major role in fundraising, and also with coordinating and representing party organizations across the state, Hartley said. At the same time, state parties may not be "as important as they used to be in the '50s, '60s and '70s," he said.
"The governor's campaign will have a lot of interaction with Steuart Pittman, but … [the governor's] reelection campaign, his fundraiser, his organization is going to be more important than the statewide party organization," Hartley said.
Doug Mayer, a Republican strategist who formerly served as Hogan's communications director, said he thinks state parties - both Republican and Democrat - "are largely useless" and "largely irrelevant relics of another century." He added that politics is "driven by the top of the ticket."
"That's the biggest deal. What the party can do is raise money and not screw things up," he said. "When you're the Democratic Party in the state of Maryland, the position is largely ceremonial."
Harris, the Republican Party chair, said state parties can "definitely have influence on elections."
"Politics isn't just what's going on in Annapolis or D.C. It is very much what is going on even more locally," she said.
Ulman "left big shoes to fill"
Ulman didn't respond to a request for comment from The Baltimore Sun. He said in an MD Dems email that serving as chair of the Democratic Party "has been one of the great professional honors of my life."
Ulman highlighted Democratic victories under his leadership, including U.S. Senator Angela Alsobrooks' defeat of Hogan last year, and Democrats maintaining a 7-1 advantage in the congressional delegation.
Alsobrooks said she's thankful to Ulman for partnering on her campaign.
"Chair Ken Ulman's leadership across our state has helped Maryland Democrats grow and thrive," Alsobrooks said in an emailed statement to The Sun. "Together, we celebrated a resounding victory last fall. He has left big shoes to fill."
She added, "But I know County Executive Steuart Pittman will fill those shoes with grit, determination, and a focus on mission. His work as a community organizer is such an incredible asset to our Party."
Henry Snurr, the outgoing president of the Young Democrats of Maryland, said that Ulman always made sure that younger party members had a voice and was "instrumental" in ensuring that Maryland met its youth target for Democratic National Committee chairs in 2024.
"Ken has been an amazing chair for young people," Snurr said.
Support for Pittman to lead the party
Snurr, who also sits on the Anne Arundel County Democratic Central Committee, praised Pittman as a good potential candidate to lead the party moving forward.
Anne Arundel County is one of Maryland's battleground counties. Snurr said having Pittman lead the party could be instrumental for counties like Anne Arundel at the ballot box.
"I think County Executive Pittman is a great pick, because, not only does he know how to get progressive things done, but he knows how to fight aggressive campaigns," and tha'ts what the party needs right now, he said.
Charlene Dukes, first vice chair of the Maryland Democratic Party, told The Sun she wasn't interested in being chair of the party and said she believes Pittman is "a person with whom I can partner with as closely as I did with Ken Ulman."
"I believe that my skill sets and experiences will allow me to continue some work that we've begun there," she said. "I don't want to walk away from that and not pay attention at the really local level with regard to some of the things that we know we have to be ready for as we face elections in 2026."
Central committee members from each county will cast votes for the next party chair on June 21 in Prince George's County.
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