Candidate watch: Lunchtime brings filing watchers

Del. J. B. Jennings filed months ago to run for the state Senate seat being vacated by Sen. Andy Harris, who is running for Congress, but he is hanging out at the elections board today anyway.

"It's exciting," he said, comparing today's candidacy filing deadline to the NFL draft. "Who's in, who's out. I want to see what happens." Jennings, a Baltimore County Republican, has been planted in the second-floor office for an hour, checking out the sometimes-frantic final day filers. (Jennings is on lunch break from his job at an IT consulting company in Annapolis.)

Omnipresent lobbyist Bruce Bereano just popped in to check out the action, saying he's a political junkie who pops up here every cycle.

Among last-day filers we've spotted are Sen. Nancy Jacobs, a Republican in Cecil and Harford counties, who said she filed today because she'd been on vacation last week, and Del. Hattie Harrison, a Baltimore Democrat who has served for 36 years.

(Pictured right are Bereano and Harrison. Photo by Annie Linskey.)

Kathy Szeliga filed today because she said she needed her paycheck. Becoming official, as some readers might remember from a legislative session debate, meant she had to resign her day job as a legislative aide to Sen. Andy Harris.

Also, Republican gubernatorial candidate Brian Murphy and freshly chosen Mike Ryman just made their partnership official. More on that shortly.

Candidate watch: Lunchtime brings filing watchers

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