# Republicans in Baltimore **URL:** \ **Category:** Politics & Elections\ **Created:** [July 20, 2017, 12:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/republicans-in-baltimore/791717 "2017-07-20T12:05:11Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [July 20, 2017, 12:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/republicans-in-baltimore/791717/1 "2017-07-20T12:05:11Z")
Interviewed yesterday by the New York Times, Trump said: > [@](#): > > “I said, ‘Who’s your deputy?’ So his deputy he hardly knew, and that’s Rosenstein, Rod Rosenstein, who is from Baltimore. There are very few Republicans in Baltimore, if any. So, he’s from Baltimore.” This seemed very weird. Not to make too big a deal of it, there were a little more than twice as many Democrats as Republicans registered in Baltimore County during the last presidential election. In fact, that’s the case for Maryland as a whole, so it’s not as if Baltimore is a standout in the state. (according to figures from the Maryland State Board of Elections – [Voter Registration Statistics](http://www.elections.state.md.us/voter_registration/stats.html) ) So I think we can take it that the President was indulging in hyperbole. of course, Conservative outlets have been bemoaning the state of Maryland for a while: Washington Times article from 2012: > [@](#): > > Maryland: A lonely state for Republicans > > Party electorate a paltry 26% > **[Maryland: A lonely state for Republicans](https://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2012/nov/8/maryland-a-lonely-state-for-republicans/)** > > Fresh from decisive losses in seven of Maryland’s eight congressional districts and its worst performance ever in a U.S. Senate race, the Maryland Republican Party is searching for answers to stop its slide into irrelevance in the increasingly... Of course, that’s measuring by elected officials, not Republicans in the state. Considering that Trump gets much of his information from such sources, maybe he really does believe that there are few Republicans in Baltimore. But the facts, while showing far fewer Republicans than Democrats, are still far from “none”. > **[6 Wild Claims Trump Made In His Bizarre New York Times Interview](https://www.huffpost.com/entry/trump-new-york-times-interview_n_59700842e4b0110cb3cb9745?ncid=inblnkushpmg00000009)** > > The president spoke about Russia, Comey, Sessions and more during the exclusive sit-down. ---
**Author:** ![JohnT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnt/32/15048_2.png) [@JohnT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JohnT)\ **Post date:** [July 20, 2017, 12:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/republicans-in-baltimore/791717/2 "2017-07-20T12:55:26Z")
The only valid point made and confirmed in that interview is that the President is _severely_ cognitively impaired. Anything else gleaned from the interview is suspect and may not have any basis in reality. ---
**Author:** ![ElvisL1ves](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/5daacb/32.png) [@ElvisL1ves](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ElvisL1ves)\ **Post date:** [July 20, 2017, 1:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/republicans-in-baltimore/791717/3 "2017-07-20T13:19:24Z")
Nitpick: Baltimore County does \*not \*include Baltimore. Both the city and its suburbs are strongly Democratic, though. ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [July 20, 2017, 1:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/republicans-in-baltimore/791717/4 "2017-07-20T13:22:36Z")
It’s all part of his typical exaggeratory speech. By now, we should know not to take Trump literally. I could see him saying exactly the same thing about Chicago, if he hasn’t already. ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [July 20, 2017, 1:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/republicans-in-baltimore/791717/5 "2017-07-20T13:43:11Z")
> [@ElvisL1ves](#): > > Nitpick: Baltimore County does \*not \*include Baltimore. Both the city and its suburbs are strongly Democratic, though. I took that from the lead on the Wikipedia article: > [@](#): > > This article is about the city in Maryland. For the surrounding county, see Baltimore County, Maryland. It’s not until you read much farther down that you get to: [quote] Baltimore is an independent city, and not part of any county.[/quote > **[Baltimore](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Baltimore)** > > Baltimore\[a\] is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Maryland. With a population of 585,708 at the 2020 census, it is the 30th-most populous city in the United States. Baltimore was designated an independent city by the Constitution of Maryland\[b\] in 1851, and is currently the most populous independent city in the nation. As of the 2020 census, the population of the Baltimore metropolitan area was 2,838,327, the 20th-largest metropolitan area in the country. When combined with the The ... This is extremely weird to me-- I don’t recall ever encountering a city (aside from Washington, D.C. and New York City) which isn’t part of the surrounding county, but is a political entity unto itself. (New York City is even weirder, with each borough being its own county). But every other city I’ve known has been part of a county. All of this is independent of the point – Baltimore doesn’t differ materially from its surroundings, politically. ---
**Author:** ![ElvisL1ves](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/5daacb/32.png) [@ElvisL1ves](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ElvisL1ves)\ **Post date:** [July 20, 2017, 1:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/republicans-in-baltimore/791717/6 "2017-07-20T13:49:57Z")
St. Louis County doesn’t include St. Louis, either. There may be other examples. ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [July 20, 2017, 1:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/republicans-in-baltimore/791717/7 "2017-07-20T13:56:03Z")
> [@CalMeacham](#): > > This is extremely weird to me-- I don’t recall ever encountering a city (aside from Washington, D.C. and New York City) which isn’t part of the surrounding county, but is a political entity unto itself. [“Independent city”](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Independent_city_(United_States)) is the term you’re looking for, I think. There’s apparently 41 of them, almost all in Virginia, with the exception of Baltimore, St. Louis, and Carson City. ---
**Author:** ![John\_Mace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_mace/32/185_2.png) [@John\_Mace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Mace)\ **Post date:** [July 20, 2017, 2:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/republicans-in-baltimore/791717/8 "2017-07-20T14:22:16Z")
> [@pulykamell](#): > > [“Independent city”](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Independent_city_(United_States)) is the term you’re looking for, I think. There’s apparently 41 of them, almost all in Virginia, with the exception of Baltimore, St. Louis, and Carson City. Emphasis added. But, oddly enough, not Independence, MO. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![that\_darn\_cat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/59ef9b/32.png) [@that\_darn\_cat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/that_darn_cat)\ **Post date:** [July 20, 2017, 2:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/republicans-in-baltimore/791717/9 "2017-07-20T14:55:57Z")
[quote=“CalMeacham, post:5, topic:791717”] I took that from the lead on the Wikipedia article: It’s not until you read much farther down that you get to: [quote] Baltimore is an independent city, and not part of any county. [/quote > **[Baltimore](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Baltimore)** > > Baltimore (/ˈbɔːltɪmɔːr/ BAWL-tim-or, locally: /bɔːldəˈmɔːr/ bawl-da-MOR or /ˈbɔːlmər/ BAWL-mər) is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Maryland, the fourth most populous city in the Mid-Atlantic, and the 30th most populous city in the United States with a estimated population of 595,218 in 2023. Baltimore was designated an independent city by the Constitution of Maryland\[a\] in 1851, and today it is the most populous independent city in the nation. As of 2023, the population of th Prio... This is extremely weird to me-- I don’t recall ever encountering a city (aside from Washington, D.C. and New York City) which isn’t part of the surrounding county, but is a political entity unto itself. (New York City is even weirder, with each borough being its own county). But every other city I’ve known has been part of a county. All of this is independent of the point – Baltimore doesn’t differ materially from its surroundings, politically.[/QUOTE] Actually, it does. From your link: Baltimore City Republicans: 32,337 Baltimore City Democrats: 308,854 In my experience as a Baltimore City resident, it’s very liberal and far less wealthy in most neighborhoods. As you get further into the county it’s wealthier and more conservative. ---
**Author:** ![Procrustus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/procrustus/32/2994_2.png) [@Procrustus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Procrustus)\ **Post date:** [July 20, 2017, 3:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/republicans-in-baltimore/791717/10 "2017-07-20T15:25:38Z")
> [@pulykamell](#): > > It’s all part of his typical exaggeratory speech. By now, we should know not to take Trump literally. … In other words, he either doesn’t know the truth or doesn’t tell the truth. Yet he wonders why he gets some negative press. I wonder why it isn’t ten times worse, as it should be. ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [July 20, 2017, 3:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/republicans-in-baltimore/791717/11 "2017-07-20T15:41:34Z")
[quote=“that\_darn\_cat, post:9, topic:791717”] > [@CalMeacham](#): > > I took that from the lead on the Wikipedia article: > > It’s not until you read much farther down that you get to: > > Actually, it does. From your link: > > Baltimore City Republicans: 32,337 > Baltimore City Democrats: 308,854 > > In my experience as a Baltimore City resident, it’s very liberal and far less wealthy in most neighborhoods. As you get further into the county it’s wealthier and more conservative. Something wrong there. Ahh – I see. I misread the table., thinking Baltimore County represented county and city, and getting twice as many there as in Maryland as a whole. I hadn’t noticed that the city had different statistics (and didn’t realize at the time that the City was essentially its own county). Still, surprising that there are such disparate results for the surrounding county as for the citry. Even granting that cities tend more Democratic, that usuyally extends to the suburbs as well. ---
**Author:** ![BobLibDem](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/boblibdem/32/3149_2.png) [@BobLibDem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BobLibDem)\ **Post date:** [July 20, 2017, 3:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/republicans-in-baltimore/791717/12 "2017-07-20T15:44:32Z")
Not sure what the complaint is. The vast majority of the elite lawyers live in large cities, and the vast majority of large cities are primarily Democratic. I don’t see where Rosenstein being from Baltimore is unique in any way. ---
**Author:** ![Thing\_Fish](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ecb155/32.png) [@Thing\_Fish](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thing_Fish)\ **Post date:** [July 20, 2017, 3:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/republicans-in-baltimore/791717/13 "2017-07-20T15:59:33Z")
> [@pulykamell](#): > > [“Independent city”](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Independent_city_(United_States)) is the term you’re looking for, I think. There’s apparently 41 of them, almost all in Virginia, with the exception of Baltimore, St. Louis, and Carson City. Also The City and County of San Francisco. ---
**Author:** ![AlsoNamedBort](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alsonamedbort/32/3213_2.png) [@AlsoNamedBort](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AlsoNamedBort)\ **Post date:** [July 20, 2017, 4:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/republicans-in-baltimore/791717/14 "2017-07-20T16:01:26Z")
[quote=“CalMeacham, post:11, topic:791717”] > [@that\_darn\_cat](#): > > Still, surprising that there are such disparate results for the surrounding county as for the citry. Even granting that cities tend more Democratic, that usuyally extends to the suburbs as well. It’s not that off. For example, Chicago went almost 7 to 1 for Hilary, while the rest of Cook county only 2 to 1. Even closer in the surrounding suburb counties ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [July 20, 2017, 4:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/republicans-in-baltimore/791717/15 "2017-07-20T16:47:49Z")
> [@Thing\_Fish](#): > > Also The City and County of San Francisco. That’s under the similar, but “not the same as” note in the Wikipedia article. Apparently, that’s a consolidated city-county. Others of that type include “Philadelphia, Denver, Honolulu, Jacksonville, Indianapolis, Nashville, Louisville, Lexington, Athens, Augusta, New Orleans, [and] Anchorage.” ---
**Author:** ![Thing\_Fish](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ecb155/32.png) [@Thing\_Fish](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thing_Fish)\ **Post date:** [July 20, 2017, 5:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/republicans-in-baltimore/791717/16 "2017-07-20T17:33:16Z")
The distinction seems to amount purely to the jurisdiction’s self-definition. In both cases, a single governmental unit takes on the responsibilities usually divided between city and county governments. And the census bureau treats independent cities as counties for statistical purposes. ---
**Author:** ![andrewm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/c57346/32.png) [@andrewm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/andrewm)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2017, 3:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/republicans-in-baltimore/791717/17 "2017-07-21T03:14:54Z")
> [@BobLibDem](#): > > Not sure what the complaint is. The vast majority of the elite lawyers live in large cities, and the vast majority of large cities are primarily Democratic. I don’t see where Rosenstein being from Baltimore is unique in any way. It’s worth noting that he is _not_ from Baltimore. He is from Pennsylvania. He was appointed to an office in Baltimore by GWB. ---
**Author:** ![Okrahoma](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/90db22/32.png) [@Okrahoma](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Okrahoma)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2017, 3:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/republicans-in-baltimore/791717/18 "2017-07-21T03:21:02Z")
> [@CalMeacham](#): > > Considering that Trump gets much of his information from such sources, maybe he really does believe that there are few Republicans in Baltimore. But the facts, while showing far fewer Republicans than Democrats, are still far from “none”. Considering that the ratio of Democrats to Republicans in Baltimore is 9:1, saying that “there are few Republicans in Baltimore” is quite accurate. ---
**Author:** ![dasmoocher](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/dbc845/32.png) [@dasmoocher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dasmoocher)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2017, 2:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/republicans-in-baltimore/791717/19 "2017-07-21T14:35:02Z")
> [@Procrustus](#): > > Yet he wonders why he gets some negative press. Don’t ya know? Anything negative about Trump _IS_ FAKE NEWS!!! > [@andrewm](#): > > It’s worth noting that he is _not_ from Baltimore. He is from Pennsylvania. He was appointed to an office in Baltimore by GWB. And, he just worked in Baltimore. He resided in Bethesda, Montgomery County, a DC suburb. ---
**Author:** ![QuickSilver](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/quicksilver/32/7832_2.png) [@QuickSilver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/QuickSilver)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2017, 2:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/republicans-in-baltimore/791717/20 "2017-07-21T14:55:09Z")
> [@Okrahoma](#): > > Considering that the ratio of Democrats to Republicans in Baltimore is 9:1, saying that “there are few Republicans in Baltimore” is quite accurate. So fucking what? Registered Dem to Repub ratio in NYC is also 9:1. Believe you me, it gives me no comfort or pleasure to think that the Incompetent Orange Menace might not actually be a (GASP!) real Republican! [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/republicans-in-baltimore/791717.md?page=2)