Fresh off getting swept in the fall elections, the geniuses at Annapolis Republican Party headquarters decided the way back to relevance was asking people to spy on their neighbors.
“To report information or suspicious activity to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), use the national tip line at ...” the party’s city central committee wrote on social media.
“You can provide details about potential crimes, illegal movement, or other enforcement concerns.”
Nothing about how the new Democratic mayor fared in cleaning up ice-encrusted Annapolis, his decision to fire the police chief, or legislation coming from the all-Democratic council.
No vision. No plan. No hope.
Dear Republican friends, what are you doing?
With former Gov. Larry Hogan’s announcement that he won’t challenge Gov. Wes Moore for a return to the State House, the reasonable Republican era is formally over.
Instead, conservative Marylanders can look forward to another meaningless vote for Dan Cox, the unsuccessful Republican gubernatorial nominee in 2022, or some other sacrificial lamb.
I get it. You thought President Donald Trump was the disruptor needed to solve a crisis you see in America. It’s increasingly clear that he is the crisis, and you’re reluctant to give up what you’ve already invested.
There is a better way than urging your neighbors to report “illegal movement,” whatever that is. There is a path forward for the party of Hogan and Theodore Roosevelt McKeldin, the only two-term Republican governors in state history.
It runs through Anne Arundel and Baltimore counties, big purple plots with plenty of Republicans who haven’t given up on good-sense government.
But it also involves the difficult process of shifting from a statewide focus on national issues to finding Maryland solutions.
Some of this is Hogan’s fault. His eight years in office were as close as the party has come in decades to effectively representing conservative Maryland values.
He just never seemed interested in seeding the party with his moderate philosophy.
Enter eight-term U.S. Rep. Andy Harris — who panders to his party’s xenophobia — as standard-bearer, and his wife, Nicole Beus Harris, as state party chair and chief enabler.
Republicans have been the minority party in this state for a century and a half, but focusing on national issues leads to self-destruction.
The party is locked out of power in two-thirds of the state, where a majority of voters see the GOP as irredeemable. In the state legislature, the 52 Republican delegates and senators have little say on major policy.
There’s no chance 2026 will change this. I don’t believe this is irreversible.
Neither do the Republicans I’ve asked about a way forward.
“I think our middle-of-the-road approach is a message that says work should be rewarded, poor behavior should not, a message that says a person has to be accountable for one’s actions and can’t always blame others,” Republican voter Jeff Slayton said.
The Clarksville man reached out to me after I wrote about the Democrats’ redistricting plan, and we exchanged ideas about his party.
He thinks Republicans could gain support with a message of accountability for weak schools and better pay for strong teachers. Slayton wants to see a party that welcomes immigrants, even those without documentation, who support their families and communities.
He wants a party that stresses the power of the market, moderation on climate change policy, appreciation of our foreign allies and the defense of democracy in places like Ukraine.
“And, yes, a message where we have a president that acts more like a Hogan leader and less like a Trump leader,” Slayton said.
How does the party get there? New leadership.
“I think the Maryland GOP should focus on local issues that can demonstrably improve quality of life for residents and avoid trying to nationalize public policy,” former party Chair Dirk Haire said.
He’s not a popular person with the Harrises. Haire, Republican chair during the Hogan years, is part of the party faction that lost control to the MAGA movement.
“I think both parties in Maryland (and pretty much every other state) are contributing to the dissension in the country by trying to nationalize every policy issue, no matter how local the issue is, and refusing to make incremental progress by refusing to compromise on anything,” he wrote in a message.
Beus Harris represents the other faction.
She urged Maryland lawmakers to reject gerrymandering and defeat the Democratic plan to put her husband in a competitive district.
Yet even as she called on Democrats to take the high road, she wouldn’t disavow Trump for igniting this electoral barn fire.
“Two wrongs do not make a right,” she wrote in testimony posted online. “No two states are the same, and while other states might be able to make a case for redistricting, we shouldn’t be using them as the only reason for our decisions.”
If Republicans can become the party of accountability, it will mean other changes, too. They can’t keep waiting for everything to fall apart and expect voters to come to them. Candidates with solutions over positions should come first.
Elections this year may reveal early signs that this is happening.
One is in Baltimore County, where roughly 137,000 registered Republicans make up the single largest GOP voting bloc in the state.
On the conservative east side of the county, J.D. Urbach faces Tim Fazenbaker in a Baltimore County Council primary to succeed Todd Crandell, who is not seeking reelection.
Fazenbaker’s website and social media feeds are filled with MAGA posts about Trump, immigrants and conspiracy theories. Urbach’s are populated with information about his volunteer service in Dundalk, the need for good government, and boosting the district economy.
Republican primary voters will decide where the party goes next.
They can’t win power in 2026. They can step back from the abyss of irrelevance.
I reached out to the Annapolis party chair for an explanation of the call to spy on neighbors. No response.
It seems clear, though, that this group has made its choice.
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