Maryland Matters Stops Doing Bad Things
Next time Josh Kurtz comes back they need to keep him on a leash
Friends, readers, and Maryland Wire regulars — let’s take a moment to talk plainly about something that happened during the 5th District primary, and something that has now quietly corrected itself.
Maryland Matters has clearly backed off the antagonistic posture it showed toward Adrian Boafo during the heat of the campaign. Their most recent coverage reads like the Maryland Matters we’ve all known for years: straight‑news, data‑driven, and uninterested in shaping the outcome of a Democratic primary. That’s good. That’s healthy. That’s how the press should operate.
But we also need to acknowledge what happened two months ago.
During the primary, Josh Kurtz — who had largely stepped back from day‑to‑day reporting — suddenly re‑entered the stage and published what was, unmistakably, an editorial attack on Adrian Boafo. It wasn’t Maryland Matters’ usual tone. It wasn’t their usual posture. And it wasn’t neutral. It was a piece written with the clear intention of influencing an open Democratic primary with no incumbent in the race.
That is not Maryland Matters’ normal role.
And it is not a role they should be used for.
Now, let me be clear: this is not an attack on Maryland Matters. It is a respected nonprofit newsroom, and its reporters — including the one who wrote the recent finance analysis — do solid work. The institution itself is not the problem. The problem was the one-off intervention by Kurtz, who came back during the most sensitive moment of the campaign and swung as hard as he could to hurt Adrian.
And he missed.
Because Adrian Boafo is a strong candidate, a credible leader, and someone who built a coalition that could withstand a sudden media broadside. He had the backing of Steny Hoyer, whose influence and judgment in Maryland politics are legendary. He had Len Foxwell, one of the most respected strategists in the state, guiding the campaign with precision. And he had the instincts, discipline, and presence of a candidate built for long-term leadership.
That’s why the attack didn’t land.
That’s why the voters didn’t buy it.
That’s why the race ended the way it did.
And now that the election is over, Maryland Matters has returned to its normal posture — reporting the news, not trying to shape it. Their latest article is neutral, factual, and free of the editorial edge that characterized Kurtz’s campaign-season piece. In other words: the newsroom has gone back to being the newsroom.
As for Adrian Boafo, he enters the general election not just as a nominee, but as a generational leader. If he chooses, he could hold that seat for 20, 30, even 40 years. The district is his as long as he wants it. And the coalition that carried him through the primary — Hoyer, Foxwell, the grassroots, and the broad Democratic establishment — is the kind of foundation that lasts.
So yes, Maryland Matters has backed off.
Yes, the hit piece was an anomaly.
And yes, Adrian Boafo proved exactly why he belongs in the conversation of long-term Maryland leadership.
That’s the story.
Perhaps Boafo can start a whisper campaign that lands in Moore’s office. The subject:
Start supporting and demonstrating smart policy choices for one cohort:
SMALL BUSINESS
Catalyze the existing small business community.
One can affect policy that represents a 10-year plus horizon: the DECADE Act, the TEDCO captured 10-year, 50MM Equitech Growth Fund, and Future Board while SIMULTANEOUSLY supporting the sector thst represents 99 percent of all businesses and half the private workforce in the state.
And STOP creating policies that only serve five corridor counties.