By Kamau High, AFRO American
Valerie Ervin dropped out of the Maryland governor’s race and endorsed her rival, Prince George’s County Executive Rushern Baker.
Ervin’s campaign sent out a news advisory Tuesday evening saying Ervin and Marisol Johnson, her running mate, would endorse Baker at Langley Park in Prince George’s County. “The location is symbolic because the Hogan administration made deep cuts to the Purple Line project, which caused significant delays in launching its construction and potentially costing Maryland taxpayers more,” the advisory said.
On June 13, Ervin tweeted, “Thank you to my supporters! Today I announced my support for the Baker/Embry ticket!”In a video posted on Twitter, Ervin said, “Even though we’ve only been in this race for 26 days, we brought the fire.”
Ervin had been polling behind the two leaders in the Democratic race Ben Jealous, former head of the NAACP, and Baker. Ervin became the head of the ticket when her running mate, Kevin Kamenetz, died unexpectedly earlier this year. She was in the process of suing the Maryland State Board of Elections to get her and Johnson’s name on the ticket before the primary election on June 26. Ervin and Johnson made history as the first gubernatorial ticket in Maryland history to boast two women of color.
“Today is about coming together to provide opportunities for all Marylanders and to fight for working families. We are so honored to have @ValerieErvin and @electmarisol join our team,” Rushern Baker tweeted after receiving their endorsement. He then followed up with, “When we talk about advancing a progressive agenda, increasing access to health care and strengthening schools, @ValerieErvin and @electmarisol have actually gotten it done.”
Read more at https://www.afro.com/valerie-ervin-quits-gov-race-endorses-baker/
