NAACP May Stay in Maryland

The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People will consider moving its headquarters, in Baltimore, to Prince George’s County rather than to Washington, following politically charged lobbying efforts by Maryland gubernatorial rivals, reports the Baltimore Sun.

The NAACP has been vocal about its intention to move its headquarters, which have been in Baltimore since 1986, to Washington, to be closer to the federal seat of power. Martin O’Malley, Baltimore’s mayor, who is considered the top runner for the Democratic nomination, has pushed to keep the civil-rights organization in the city.

Robert Ehrlich, Maryland’s governor and the incumbent Republican candidate, met with Bruce S. Gordon, the NAACP president, on July 31.

Mr. Gordon was reportedly very responsive to the governor’s pitch of moving the NAACP offices to a new complex in Prince George’s County, a largely black area with a strong economy, located close to the capital.