Minutes after Gov. Lawrence J. Hogan Jr. (R) gratefully accepted the endorsement of the International Association of Firefighters in front of the State House Monday morning, his Democratic challenger, Benjamin T. Jealous, was also appearing with a union leader – on Facebook Live.
Hogan’s appearance unsurprisingly got greater attention than Jealous’ chat with Cheryl Bost, the incoming president of the Maryland State Education Association – and was a rarer occurrence.
The IAFF is a coveted endorsement, and while the union tends to be bipartisan on a national level, it has been decades, at least, since a Republican gubernatorial candidate has won its blessing in Maryland. Recently, Hogan also picked up the endorsement of the State Law Enforcement Officers Labor Alliance and some building trades unions.
