The Mailbox Won Question 3
Everybody thinks campaigns are won on television. The ads, the debates, the money pouring into the airwaves — that is where everybody looks. I looked somewhere else this week, and I found the most important check in the Question 3 campaign. It did not go to a television station. It went to a mailbox.
In the two weeks that decided Question 3 — October 5 through October 18 — the committee backing a yes vote spent $402,209. The biggest single check in that whole pile was $166,171.60, and it went to a Washington direct-mail firm most Marylanders have never heard of, a firm called Pivot. More than television. More than the internet. The mailers said STOP TRUMP. VOTE YES ON QUESTION THREE, and they started landing in mailboxes all over Maryland in the middle of October.
Question 3 passed with 60.42 percent of the vote. Everybody knows Wes Moore framed it as a referendum on Donald Trump. What nobody has told you yet is who carried that message to the voters — and where the money came from.
My Prediction
Before the election, I was a little worried about the governor's margin. He won by 32 points last time, and I thought he might land in the high twenties this time — a solid victory, but not a bigger one. I thought Question 3 would pass, but not by nearly his margin. And I thought the Democrats would pick up a couple of seats in the House of Delegates and maybe one in the Senate. It came out about the way I called it. Moore won by 30.6 points, a shade above the high twenties and under last time. Question 3 passed by 20.8 points, about ten points behind the governor's margin. Westdorp took the Senate seat in District 4, Josh Hastings flipped District 38B, and the House pickups ran past the couple I predicted.
