I am going to start a section of this newsletter about what I am reading, listening to, or watching as I work on the campaign. There is a lot of great stuff we are interacting with and I want to highlight it! 

Read
Books

I recently completed “Blue State Republican-How Larry Hogan Won Where Republicans Lose and Lessons for a Future GOP” by Dr. Mileah Kromer, Director of the Sarah T. Hughes Center for Politics at Goucher College. Kromer does a great job of detailing the politics that propelled Hogan into the national spotlight after 8 Years as an unlikely Republican  governor in Maryland. Kromer’s academic treatment of the policy decisions will certainly frustrate some readers, but to me it is an important read about the variety of political identities represented by our two party system in Maryland. 

I am currently reading “More Parties or No Parties- The Politics of Electoral Reform in America” by Jack Santucci, a professor at Drexel. Santucci traces the history and theory of multiparty democracy in the US and offers a roadmap for a path forward in today’s political climate. 

Articles

I read “Building Resilient Organizations” by Maurice Mitchell, National Director of the Working Families Party.This article lays out structural, cultural, and environmental challenges to organizing grassroots political power. Mitchell also offers a path forward to building resilient organizations that can push beyond these barriers toward a vibrant movement for democracy, justice, peace, and against climate change and fascism. That prompted me to read, this excellent article by the late great Bruce Dixon. “What Would An Authentic 21st Century US Left Look Like” Keep an eye on this email or social media for a discussion of these two articles, in relation to the campaign theme of Transforming the Green Party to meet the moment.

Listen

Podcasts

I have really been enjoying the “Politics in Question” podcast recently, and this episode about how electoral reform happens with Lee Drutman and Jack Santucci is great! It's a quick and in depth preview of Santucci’s book mentioned above.

I also had a brief segment on the Tom Coale radio show (at about 1:05:55), in which I talked about The Green Party, multiparty democracy, and how unsurprised Greens are about Senator Sinema. Check out my segment and stick around for the discussion about housing policy and democracy in Maryland.

In addition to a lot of West Wing, cooking shows, and sports, I also watched the 2018 documentary “High Tide in Dorchester”. This film that screened on Maryland Public Television details the very real impacts of climate change on Maryland’s eastern shore. I appreciate the film, but warning in advance, the nearly 30% of Dorchester county residents who are Black or Latino lack a voice in this documentary