Ben Jealous is a man with plans.
The Democratic gubernatorial candidate has released more than a dozen detailed proposals in his quest to unseat Republican Gov. Larry Hogan: Medicare for all. Free college tuition. Universal prekindergarten. Ending what Jealous calls mass incarceration. Cutting the state sales tax.
What Jealous says about Hoganās performance as governor speaks to what Jealous sees as his own strength.
āHeās failed to provide the people of Maryland with a plan on how to move forward on education, health care and the economy,ā he said. āThe guy literally doesnāt have any plans. Itās a fundamental failure to lead.ā
Critics have pointed out that some of Jealousā plans could be expensive. Some contend his numbers donāt add up. There are Democrats surprised to hear their candidate propose things that are already being done as if they are new ideas.
But Jealous has a strategy for victory: Turn out a million Democratic votes through Election Day on Nov. 6 by the force of his ideas and Marylandersā antipathy to Republican President Donald Trump.
Jealous points out that Maryland Democrats hit that turnout milestone in 2010, when Martin OāMalley was re-elected governor. The former NAACP president says that this year ā with a true progressive as the nominee ā his party can do it again.
āOur job in this race is to turn out Democrats and like-minded independents,ā he said. āIf you look at voting numbers, the big question is, āHow can we lose?ā ā
A recent Saturday on the Eastern Shore raised a question about the campaignās turnout-related strategy. At a Democratic campaign office in Easton, a Democratic summit in Salisbury and an NAACP dinner in Chestertown, Jealous received enthusiastic reactions. But at each of his stops, he was preaching mostly to the converted few. He did not mingle with the general population in a region where Hogan is expected to run up huge margins.
Jealous strategists say they are counting on drumming up Democratic votes in those jurisdictions where there are many to be had ā including the city of Baltimore, Montgomery County and Prince Georgeās County ā while cutting into the GOP advantage in rural parts of the state.
Our job in this race is to turn out Democrats and like-minded independents.
Mileah Kromer, director of the Sarah T. Hughes Field Politics Center at Goucher College, agrees turnout could be large.
āCertainly, there is a possibility that 1 million Democrats will turn out to vote,ā she said. āThe question is, āWho will they vote for?ā ā
Jealous has pulled off one surprise already this year. Running as a first-time candidate in the June primary, he emerged from a crowded field and beat his closest competitor by 10 percentage points.
Jealous won by mobilizing a coalition, including unions representing teachers and health care workers, while drawing in small individual contributions from around the country. Where his rivals failed to generate much enthusiasm, Jealous excited his base by advocating for progressive causes.
If he wins now, Jealous would become Marylandās first African-American governor and the stateās first governor from Generation X.
But since his primary victory, Jealous has struggled to gain traction. His cash-poor campaign has been unable to come close to matching a richly financed Hogan media juggernaut. The Republican Governors Association had ads running to define Jealous as a socialist months before he could afford to go on the air. The Hogan campaign regularly crows about the governorās endorsements from Democratic officials.
In addition to Jealousā funding woes, heās made a series of unforced errors. There was his use of an expletive in answering a reporterās question about the Republican charges heās a socialist. Then came the puzzling decision to agree to only one televised debate with Hogan, compounded by an attempt to exclude one of the questioners ā a decision Jealous reversed after a day of being hammered in the media.
Later came his suggestion that as governor, he would ensure an all-Democratic congressional delegation; Jealous explained afterward that he planned to rally to elect more Democrats, rather than promise to further gerrymander the state.
Ben was the first person to actually get a meeting with Mike Miller about the death penalty in 10 years.
Jealous used his debate appearance to tell his compelling life story, after Hogan questioned Jealousā credentials as a Marylander. Jealous explained he was not raised in Maryland because state law at the time forbid his white father and black mother from marrying. Growing up in California, he came to Baltimore each summer to spend time with his extended family.
Rachelle Bland, Jealousā cousin, said that from the age of 7, Jealous talked about becoming a civil rights attorney so he could help people. (He became a civil rights leader, but not a lawyer.) Bland, a West Baltimore florist, said that in family matters, as well as public life, Jealous has a way of bringing people together.
āOld, young, East Coast, West Coast, male, female, heās a connector,ā she said. āHeās a problem-solver.ā
Stories about family are a big part of the Jealous campaign. He recounts his parentsā experiences in the civil rights movement and his struggles with childhood seizures, sleep apnea and stuttering ā a disability that occasionally crops up as he campaigns. He speaks of having to bring bottled water to his two children in their Montgomery County schools because he isnāt sure the drinking fountains are safe. He talks about how his work at the NAACP contributed to the end of his marriage.
Jealous worked as a reporter for an African-American newspaper in Mississippi and as an organizer and human rights advocate. In 2008, he became president of the national NAACP, based in Baltimore. At 35, he was the organizationās youngest-ever leader.
In that job, Jealous threw himself into several Maryland causes, rallying public opinion and lobbying the General Assembly. He played an important role in the stateās abolition of the death penalty and was a vocal advocate for same-sex marriage and passage of the DREAM Act to extend in-state college tuition to immigrant students brought to the United States as children.
When OāMalley made his successful push for repeal of the death penalty in 2013, Jealous was a near-constant presence in Annapolis. Jane Henderson, then the executive director of Citizens Against State Executions, recalled he played a vital role in getting a commitment from Senate President Thomas V. Mike Miller to bring the bill to the floor.
āAs far as I know, Ben was the first person to actually get a meeting with Mike Miller about the death penalty in 10 years," she said.
Henderson said Jealous also used NAACP resources to set up a call center that helped shore up support for repeal among some skeptical African-American delegates.
āBen really did lean in ā not just personally, but organizationally,ā she said.
When Jealous left the NAACP later in 2013, he was widely praised for re-energizing the civil rights organization.
The status quo is the most expensive option.
He then joined the investment firm Kapor Capital. When confronted with questions about whether he is a socialist, he has pointed to his role as a venture capitalist.
Jealous re-emerged on the national stage in 2016 as a leading surrogate for the presidential campaign of Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders, who describes himself as a democratic socialist. Many of the campaign themes adopted by Jealous when he entered the governorās race in 2017 come from Sandersā playbook.
Jealousā most ambitious goal is to extend health insurance to all Marylanders under a single-payer system ā branded as āMedicare for All.ā He said he wants to see such a system introduced at the national level, but is prepared for Maryland to go it alone if the federal government balks.
Donald Norris, professor emeritus of public policy at the University of Maryland, Baltimore County, said such a system will probably be adopted nationally someday. But he said the costs would be too great for Maryland to do it on its own. And Norris doesnāt see the issue driving the campaign.
āI donāt think itās popular enough to knock off the governor,ā he said.
Jealous insists it can be done and that Marylanders would save more money on premiums than such a system would cost them in taxes.
āThe status quo is the most expensive option,ā he said.
Bland said that when a problem comes to Jealousā attention, his nature is to look for ways to fix it. And late in the campaign, heās still seeing challenges and seeking solutions.
For example, when Jealous recently addressed the Kent County NAACP, he observed that the rate of suicides among white men 55 and older is as alarming as the rate of homicides among young African-Americans. Jealous said state government should step up and reduce the social isolation he believes is behind the problem.
āIām the son of an old white guy. Iām the father of a young black guy. So, that issue hits me from both sides,ā he said. āToo often in the Democratic Party, we weed white men out of our conversation. Itās not right. Itās not smart.ā
Richard Vatz, a conservative professor of political communication at Towson University, said that while Jealous has put many plans on the table, he hasnāt defined himself in the eyes of voters.
āIf you go up to 100 Jealous supporters and say what is is No. 1 issue, youād get 100 answers across the board,ā Vatz said. āI really donāt see that he has a path to victory.ā
But out on the campaign trail, even in heavily Republican parts of the state, Jealous is finding voters who share his vision.
At the recent opening of his campaign office in Aberdeen, Jealous impressed bakery owner Wanda Boker with his plans for health care, the economy and cutting the sales tax.
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āI think heās inspirational. He speaks the truth,ā the Havre de Grace resident said. āI want to put a Ben Jealous sign in my front yard.ā