Put Me In, Coach
Of the more than 40 states that have an elected office of Lieutenant Governor, Maryland is one of a handful that has never elected a sitting or ex-LG to the office of Governor. The state’s former Republican LG Michael Steele (2003-2007) is considering a run for governor in 2022. Democratic predecessors Blair Lee III (lost 1978 primary), Melvin Steinberg (lost 1994 primary), Kathleen Kennedy Townsend (lost 2002 general), and Anthony Brown (lost 2014 general) all failed before him. [Lee did serve as acting governor for 17 months from 1977-1979]. Maryland did not have a lieutenant governor for more than 100 years from 1869 to 1971. Note: Utah got off this list in 2020 when Spencer Cox became the first LG elected to that state’s highest office.
Likely a longer wait: Steele seems unlikely to be the first to break the ‘jinx’ – if only because the Free State has too many partisan Democrats, and perhaps even too many ‘Trumplicans’ within the party in power as well!
Potentially confusing verbiage: I gather that “stand-alone, elected office” is not meant to signify the same as being chosen in a standalone ELECTION ? (South Carolina, beginning in 2018 or 2014, ceased electing its LG separately from the governor post – the most recent of many states that have moved in that direction.)
Agreed – it meant to convey a distinction between those states in which the state senate president serves as the de facto LG. Text clarified above.
What would be interesting is to see former RNC chairman Michael Steele vs democratic congressman Anthony Brown. The battle of former lieutenant governor’s.