If you’re planning to run for office in 2018, 9 p.m. Tuesday will be an important moment. It’s the filing deadline for those who want to appear on the ballot this year.
Starting Wednesday, we’ll report on who’s running and what some of the races mean. Already, we can see some stories emerging.
There appear to be a large number of women candidates and a lot of first-time candidates. Several well-known names will be leaving office, either because of term limits or a desire for change. Some well-known names are re-entering politics.
There’s plenty of passion, maybe even anger. There already have been protests at some fundraisers, and political fallout from others. Some candidates will be divisive, others will appeal for unity.
In short, voters will have much to sort through before the June primary and November general election.
Here’s what you can count on from us.
We’ll tell you as much as we can about every candidate. Some of the information we share will come from them, but other aspects of our reporting will come from independent sources. We’ll give them the space to speak directly to you as well.
We’ll explore the issues they raise, and the ones we feel they should address, based on our understanding.
The team of Capital Gazette journalists who will be covering this election includes Chase Cook, Danielle Ohl, Rachael Pacella, Phil Davis, Selene San Felice, Thalia Juarez, Paul Gillespie, Josh McKerrow and Jimmy Debutts. We’ll also decide which stories from our sister papers in Baltimore Sun Media Group we need to share with readers of The Capital and the Maryland Gazette.
Once again, we’re offering each candidate an opportunity to write a guest column on why he or she is running for office. These are 650-word essays that offer an almost direct pipeline to voters in Anne Arundel County.
For candidates who face a primary challenge, these are due no later than May 1 to guarantee a spot. Different rules will apply for those who are going straight through to November.
Like everyone else, candidates are welcome to submit one letter every 30 days, up to 300 words. Letters of endorsement will be considered on a case-by-case basis.
Letters critical of candidates will get their play too. Tom Marquardt, the editor who hired me here 30 years ago, brilliantly summed up the standard for this type of letter: wicked but fair.
We’ll also, as always, run letters taking us to task — for slights real and imagined. We recently ran one from a judicial candidate who continues to insist her interpretation of the facts is right, despite the results of our reporting and re-checking the facts after hearing her assertions.
Our editorial board plans to meet with many of the candidates, but given the number of races probably not all of them. Because this portion of our coverage is based on opinion, the board will decide how best to focus on serious candidates and contests. We will make endorsements in races on which we feel like the board has something to say.
We’ll hold an open house from 7 to 8 p.m. March 14 in the lobby of our building in Annapolis for candidates and campaign representatives. We’ll discuss some of these opportunities, and members of the coverage team will be there to discuss the election. Candidates and campaigns should see an invitation email coming this week.
In the meantime, candidates should follow this link (latimes.wufoo.com/forms/capital-gazette-candidate-profile/) to fill out and submit a questionnaire. We’ll use the results to build short profiles of all candidates on our website, and inform our reporting going forward.
If you’re a voter looking to make an informed decision, I’ll offer you the same advice I offer every time I speak about consuming news: Find a trusted source that challenges your worldview, presents information from a variety of viewpoints and is consistently there when you need them. When you disagree, provide feedback. The good ones listen.
We hope for the 2018 election, readers in Anne Arundel County will choose us. Good luck to the voters and the candidates. It’s going to be a long journey to November.
