Democratic voters prioritized blind party loyalty over candidate quality, leading them to reject a highly popular, bipartisan former governor in favor of a more partisan candidate.

• Internal Party Dysfunction & Organizational Decay

• "it's just very hard to convince voters to split their ticket on the federal level and I think that does go go to show that partisanship in our country on National level is you know at a point where I I think it's it's hurting our country um I I I'm not a fan of it and that's why you know I I worked this job where every single day I was talking to De strong Democratic voters and trying to convince because ultimately we're not gonna win anything if we're only talking to Republicans."

  27:51 Watch ↗

• "and maybe that says a whole lot more about the state of national politics and partisanship than it does about Larry Hogan or about the field campaign perhaps I I agree I think it does."

  27:14 Watch ↗

• "we tried to convince the voters to vote their conscience over their party you know did it pan out yes it sort it sort of did enough to get 17% of the state to change their mind and split their ticket but not quite enough to put Larry Hogan over the edge."

  27:00 Watch ↗

The Democratic candidate and influential party members supported radical, norm-breaking institutional changes like packing the Supreme Court and eliminating the filibuster, which were framed as a threat to governmental stability.

• Internal Party Dysfunction & Organizational Decay

• "Angela also Brooks who's Larry Hogan's opponent has very much on the record openly supported getting rid of the filibuster and packing the courts and I think that both of these things would basically kill deliberation in our government like once and for all stone cold dead um very much nuclear options."

  24:15 Watch ↗

• "this goes to Miss aler Brooks first there a number of influential Democrats who were talking about expanding the Supreme Court from nine justices to 13 and the idea is that if um a Democratic president could appoint four new justices there would be a majority of democratic appointees on the court is that something you would support I agree with either increasing the number of justices or term limits yes."

  23:48 Watch ↗

• "and once they're done that's like Pandora's Box like that's that's not something you can just turn around and undo … if the Democrats for instance if they wanted to undo the conservative majority in the Supreme Court they could go ahead and put up four Progressive Supreme Court Justices … and then the Republicans the next time they have a presidency can just add five conservatives and now you've got 18 people in the Supreme Court and so on and so forth you know add INF infinitum right?"

  24:38 Watch ↗

Maryland Democrats made a strategic error by not electing a moderate Republican (Hogan) who could have acted as a check on a Trump presidency and been more effective at securing resources for the state within a Republican-controlled government.

• Internal Party Dysfunction & Organizational Decay

• "I would say that's a big that was a big part of my strategy as I was talking to voters kind of explaining especially to very liberal voters Governor Hogan will be that stop Gap that you're looking for in a trump Administration right he'll be that person who will you know he'll sit down he'll actually review the legislation and if it does not you know actually help the people in Maryland he has no fear of standing up to Mitch McConnell or standing up to Donald Trump like he has no fear of that."

  25:28 Watch ↗

• "whereas with uh senator-elect alsa Brooks and I have much respect for her I think she's going to do a good job but being a straight ticket you know Democratic voter in the Senate she won't be included in the conversation … with Governor he would have power regardless of who was power in power in Washington absolutely and that would be maybe more Pork barreling for Maryland and you know more funding of certain projects."

  26:22 Watch ↗

Democratic voters failed to understand or value the Senate's intended constitutional role as a moderating body and a check on presidential power, instead treating the election as a purely partisan contest.

• Internal Party Dysfunction & Organizational Decay

• "really the headline piece is that I think it comes down to the nature of what the Senate is and its role in our constitutional republic it is supposed to be a check on the power and ambition of the president and his or her executive Authority and so no matter who won the presidency I figured it would be better to have guy Like Larry Hogan in there than not."

  22:38 Watch ↗

• "really the Senate is supposed to be this body of uh Elder Statesmen who say hey Mr or Madame President uh let's slow down a little bit and think about you know the Constitutional restraints on your power and uh some of the more realistic aspects of uh the ramifications of what you're supporting um and uh yeah I think that uh Angela aler Brooks just didn't really represent that."

  23:20 Watch ↗