Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan, a Republican, had a bad night Tuesday, as his anointed successor, Kelly Schulz, badly lost the Republican primary for governor to Trump-backed Dan Cox.
But Hogan, who is term-limited as governor, did have something to smile about Tuesday; the triumph of his daughter Jaymi Sterling in her bid to be state's attorney of St. Mary's County.
In her first run for office, career prosecutor Sterling overwhelmed 26-year incumbent Richard Fritz with 71% of the vote in the GOP primary. She is now expected to coast to election this fall as the county's top law enforcer.
For Sterling, the victory was the culmination of a 2-year-old feud with the veteran prosecutor. In 2020, charging "questionable financial and personnel practices" under Fritz, Sterling resigned in protest as deputy state's attorney.
The St. Mary's County lawyer then went to work as an assistant prosecutor in neighboring Anne Arundel County.
A proud Hogan issued a statement saying that Sterling ran because her county needed someone "who will get tough on violent criminals, restore trust and accountability to the office and keep our families safe."
There is already talk of Sterling as a future candidate for state attorney general or Congress if House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (who has been in Congress since 1981 and beat Hogan to win reelection in 1992) calls it quits.
But Sterling will have none of it, repeatedly pointing out to reporters that she is a mother of two.
She did say her political hero and role model is the late Larry Hogan Sr., father of the governor and a former Republican congressman from the Free State from 1968 to 1974 who was the lone Republican on the House Judiciary Committee in 1974 to vote for all three articles of impeachment against President Richard Nixon.
John Gizzi is chief political columnist and White House correspondent for Newsmax. For more of his reports, Go Here Now.
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