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Democratic Maryland Senators’ Worlds Will Look Different If Party Assumes Control Following Georgia Runoff Election

January 6, 2021

Among the House-passed measures that stalled in the Senate was a political reform bill sponsored in 2018 — and again this year — by U.S. Rep. John Sarbanes, a Democrat who represents parts of Anne Arundel, Baltimore, Howard and Montgomery counties, as well as a section of Baltimore City. The sweeping bill contains ethics reform, campaign finance reform and voting rights protections and was designed, Sarbanes said, to "drain the swamp" in a way GOP President Donald Trump has not. The legislation was reintroduced this week with an announcement by Sarbanes, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and others with the unstated hope that the Senate would flip to Democrats who would approve the bill.