Campaign Cash For The Comptroller, A New Federal Lobbyist, Takebacks For Trone, In Political Notes

By William J. Ford and Bryan P. Sears, Maryland Matters

January 26, 2026

The lone candidate — so far — for state comptroller is amassing a sizable war chest.

Comptroller Brooke Lierman is finishing out her first term as the state’s top tax collector. Her campaign announced this week that she raised nearly $3 million in the current cycle. She has $2.2 million in cash on hand.

“Every donation represents someone who believes we can work together to make Maryland more equitable, more resilient and more prosperous for all,” Lierman said in a statement announcing her campaign haul. “That faith helps motivate me to give my absolute best as our Comptroller and on the campaign trail every single day.”

Moore’s new federal lobbyist

Alexis Covey-Brandt has taken over as the state’s new federal lobbyist.

Covey-Brandt took over Tuesday after Matt Verghese abruptly left his position.

“Over the past three years, Matt Verghese has played a pivotal role leading our state’s federal engagements during a volatile political climate in Washington,” the governor’s office said in a statement sent in reply to a reporter’s inquiry. “The Governor’s Office is grateful for Matt’s service in the Administration, and we wish him well as he transitions from his role.”

Verghese’s departure was effective immediately.

Covey-Brandt served as chief of staff to Rep. Steny Hoyer, a position she held for more than a decade. She left the post to become a senior adviser to Moore in June 2023.

Another race, another Democrat

After being passed over when the Democratic central committees in a three-county area chose Kevin Harris to fill the vacant District 27 Senate seat in November, Jason Fowler has decided to take his case to the voters.

Fowler filed the paperwork Friday to run for the Senate seat that includes parts of Charles, Calvert and Prince George’s counties.

Fowler, 37, who ran unsuccessfully for the District 27C House seat in Calvert County in 2018, said he “just can’t sit on the sidelines” as his district and the state experience “an affordability crisis.”

District 27 candidate Jason Fowler/Maryland Matters

“Too many people have been priced out of our state. We’re a high-taxed state with some of the most expensive housing, energy costs, and grocery prices in the country,” Fowler, an attorney from Calvert County, said in a recent interview. “One of the main problems that we see in Annapolis, there is not vigorous debate over policy. It’s people just voting on bills without either reading them or thinking about the long-term effects of these policies.”

Fowler would have to unseat Harris, who was chosen overwhelmingly by the Democratic central committees in the three counties represented by District 27, and later appointed by Gov. Wes Moore (D). Harris replaced Democrat Michael Jackson, a former Prince George’s County sheriff who left the Senate on Nov. 11 to become the Maryland State Police superintendent.

Fowler and Del. Jeffrie Long Jr. (D-Prince George’s and Calvert) were the two other candidates who sought the appointment to replace Jackson.

Trone staffs up

Turns out David Trone doesn’t just want his old job back — he wants his old staff back, too.

Trone, the former 6th District representative who lost his seat in an unsuccessful, and costly, bid for U.S. Senate in 2024, announced in December that he is running for his old job in the House. To do so, he will have to unseat Rep. April McClain Delaney (D-6th), who has no intention of giving up the seat, in a Democratic primary.

Trone last week announced a campaign staff that is heavy with staff from his time on Capitol Hill, including three who are coming over from McClain Delaney’s office.

Campaign manager Sonny Holding was McClain Delaney’s chief of staff, had been Trone’s deputy chief of staff and was district director to former Rep. John Delaney — McClain Delaney’s husband, who held the seat before Trone. Former Trone director of outreach Sarah Dreyer, who served until last month as McClain Delaney’s district director, will be deputy campaign manager. Sasha Galbreath, a former communications director for Trone who served in that role for McClain Delaney until October, will be senior strategic adviser to the campaign.

Trone also said that his former director of operations, Tyler Jessee, will come over from Rep. Johnny Olszewski’s (D-2nd) office to be another deputy campaign manager and Nathaniel McCarthy, who “worked for Congressman Trone since 2017 in various roles,” will be communications director and chief of staff.

Trone has already turned the race into a referendum on Trump and is already peppering the airwaves with ads touting his two impeachment votes against Trump in the president’s first term. McClain Delaney has responded with a video saying she has regularly taken on Trump over policies that harm the district and touting endorsements from virtually every top Democrat in the state.

It is also likely to be an expensive race: Trone, the millionaire owner of Total Wine & More, loaned himself almost $63 million for his unsuccessful Senate bid against Sen. Angela Alsobrooks (D-Md.) and has already loaned $5 million to his latest campaign, according to a year-end report with the Federal Election Commission. McClain Delaney’s year-end report has not been posted yet by the FEC.