Rutledge Faces Steep Climb To Unseat Brown In Low-Key Attorney General's Race

By William J. Ford, Maryland Matters

October 13, 2026

He’s outnumbered in voter registration, likely outraised and outspent in campaign donations and is running in a race that’s getting little exposure against an incumbent with decades of name recognition.

But Republican attorney general nominee Jim Rutledge still sees a path to victory in his bid to unseat Attorney General Anthony Brown.

“We believe that the independent vote and the Republican vote, and the Democrats that are disappointed with his [Brown’s] record on basic law enforcement, like the Fraternal Order of Police, will not back Anthony Brown this time,” Rutledge said in an interview Friday. “That is our analysis, and we’ve taken our case to the people.”

But Brown is counting on his record, running on it in what he acknowledges has been a low-key campaign. Neither man had a primary opponent, so Nov. 3 will be the first chance voters have had to have their say on either candidate this year.

“We speak through our actions — the lawsuits we file or defend. The comments we propose. Marylanders, they hear us and they’re listening,” Brown said Friday. “I’m confident that Marylanders are going to come out. I ask them to come out and vote and give me another four years so we can continue the good work we’re doing.”

Analysts say the race is Brown’s to lose in a state where Democrats outnumber Republicans about 2-1.

“There’s just really no contest to speak of. Anthony Brown will cruise to reelection,” said St. Mary’s College political science professor Todd Eberly, who expects Rutledge will get about 36% of the vote from the “Republican baseline,” compared to about 60% of the vote from Democrats for Brown.

Both Rutledge and Brown are 64. Both are lawyers. Both say they respect the rule of law and both love their children and Maryland.

That’s about where the similarities end.

Someone different

If elected, Rutledge ensures the attorney general’s office would stay out of the business of suing the federal government.

Rutledge, an attorney of four decades with a law office in Harford County, said the state shouldn’t be suing the federal government over policy disagreements. One main reason, he said, is the state constitution declares the federal government is supreme in Maryland, or that “all federal law is Maryland law.”

“We need to focus on Maryland, and litigating against Washington, D.C., or the powers that be in Washington, shouldn’t be a knee-jerk reaction,” he said.

Since Trump began his second term in 2025, Brown has been an active member of a group of Democratic attorneys general that have taken legal action against administration policies, with Maryland leading or signing on more than 150 lawsuits, court briefs and advisory letters with other states.

“The attorney general shouldn’t sue the federal government just because of a policy disagreement, or because the attorney general feels like the policies of Washington hurt Marylanders,” Rutledge said. “I’m not going to take my direction from any president, any political party. I’m going to look out for Marylanders.”

Rutledge, who was endorsed by the Fraternal Order of Police, said the attorney general’s office should show more support for law enforcement. He said he backs an FOP-endorsed legislative proposal that would prohibit officers being placed on “do not call” lists without their knowledge.

Prosecutors keep the lists of officers who may be deemed untrustworthy to testify in court, because of prior false statements, pending charges or other reasons. The lists became public after the 2021 passage of Anton’s Law, which made police administrative, misconduct and personnel records subject to the Maryland Public Information Act, and available for public inspection.

“They get placed on the do-not-call list without any opportunity to challenge the underlying accusation on why they should be banned from testifying,” Rutledge said. “They could witness a murder in broad daylight on Redwood Street in Baltimore, and the murderer gets away because they [listed officers] can’t testify against them.

“Why are they out there with a badge and a gun if they are worthless as a witness? Basically, it’s gutted their career,” he said.

Rutledge said the current attorney general’s office should do more to protect Maryland’s environmental resources, taking a stronger stance against states like New York and Pennsylvania, to stop dumping waste into the Susquehanna River, the source of the Chesapeake Bay.

“That’s been going on for decades and it’s time to stop that,” he said.

Rutledge said he’s fought for environmental protections during his career as an attorney and his recent time as a Bel Air Town commissioner. He was elected in November 2023 and served until October 2025 to handle a family manner.

“So, the question is, do they [voters] want someone who’s basically spent a career in elected office, or an attorney that has spent a career and has put their money where their mouth is when it comes to environmental protection” and supporting law enforcement, Rutledge said.

“He [Brown] is distracted in some way, shape, or form, or beholden to greater political powers, and I am not.”

‘Not politically motivated’

Brown is in his first term as attorney general, but he has a political career spanning almost 30 years.

He was elected to the House of Delegates in 1999 from Prince George’s County, serving two terms before becoming lieutenant governor under Gov. Martin O’Malley for eight years. After being upset in his 2014 bid for governor by Republican Larry Hogan, he was elected to Congress from the 4th District in 2016 and served three terms before running for attorney general.

Brown, the state’s first Black attorney general, continued a massive investigation of abuse by Catholic priests in the Archdiocese of Baltimore, releasing a 463-page report of “horrendous” abuses just weeks into his term. His office won expanded authority to pursue class action suits in civil rights cases, and it received approval for the office’s Independent Investigations Division to prosecute police-involved deaths.

But the investigations division didn’t bring its first charges against officers until December 2024, when Anne Arundel County Police Cpl. Eddie Vasquez and Cpl. Kieran Schnell were indicted for a high-speed chase a year earlier that ended in a fatal crash. Both officers were cleared of charges in September 2025.

Brown declined to comment on that case specifically, but said criminal culpability is just one level of accountability. Loved ones can file civil complaints against officers, he said, and under legislation approved last year, the investigations division can request administrative changes within an agency, such as enhanced training to the Maryland Police Training and Standards Commission.

“There are different levels of accountability,” Brown said. “I think a lot of the reforms in Maryland, including body-worn cameras, has resulted in fewer incidents of excessive force. It’s part of the accountability and oversight that’s necessary. I’m pleased with how the unit’s evolved and developed.”

As for the many lawsuits against the Trump administration, Brown said he is pleased with the office’s work fighting administration policy. He recognizes that some people may criticize the office for challenging the Trump administration, but said the president continues to usurp the role of Congress, especially when it comes to money already approved for various programs.

“We continue to see sort of like this onslaught of executive orders, proposed agency regulations from this administration that look to roll back some of the rights that we as Americans have extended to more and more people,” Brown said. “It’s never ending with this administration.”

Brown said his office’s actions have preserved millions of dollars that were at risk by administration actions, including $110 million in education funding for the state that the White House tried to freeze.

“We only bring actions that involve the things that Marylanders talk about around the kitchen table. We’re not bringing politically motivated actions,” he said. “If our transportation dollars are being threatened, if our education dollars are being threatened … then we’re going to bring an action, and we’ve been successful.”

A numbers game

Even though Brown and Rutledge both ran unopposed in the primary, there are other differences. Brown received 568,685 votes in his primary and Rutledge got 161,800. That largely reflects voter registration in the state: 2.2 million Democrats to just over 1 million Republicans and 1 million unaffiliated voters as of September.

That doesn’t mean a Republican can’t win, as Brown well knows: He lost a statewide governor’s race to Republican Larry Hogan in 2014.

But Hogan was not a typical Maryland Republican, Eberly noted. And Rutherford doesn’t have the money or the name recognition that Hogan did, which makes the challenge all the more difficult for the GOP nominee.

“Republicans, if they’re not named Larry Hogan, just do not do well statewide in Maryland, and don’t have the ability to raise the kind of funds that would be necessary to mount a truly effective campaign,” Eberly said.

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