Maryland Attorney General Anthony Brown and Republican challenger Jim Rutledge are offering voters sharply different visions of the state’s top legal office ahead of the Nov. 3 election, with disagreements over lawsuits against the federal government, police accountability and environmental enforcement. Rutledge, a Harford County attorney, argues the office should avoid suing Washington over policy disputes and focus more on Maryland. Brown says his administration’s challenges to President Donald Trump’s policies have protected state residents and resources, including $110 million in education funding that the White House sought to freeze. The contest has drawn little attention, and neither candidate faced a primary opponent. Political science professor Todd Eberly of St. Mary’s College of Maryland said Brown is strongly favored, citing the state’s Democratic advantage and Rutledge’s limited name recognition and campaign resources. Eberly estimated Rutledge could receive about 36% of the vote, while Brown could draw roughly 60%. Rutledge said he is counting on independent and Republican voters, as well as Democrats who are dissatisfied with Brown’s approach to law enforcement. The Fraternal Order of Police has endorsed Rutledge. One of Rutledge’s central proposals concerns officers placed on prosecutors’ “do-not-call” lists, which identify officers whose credibility may be questioned in court. He supports a police-backed proposal to bar placing officers on those lists without their knowledge. Rutledge argues officers should have a chance to challenge the reasons for their inclusion. The lists became public under Anton’s Law, a 2021 measure that made police administrative, misconduct and personnel records subject to public information requests. Rutledge says the process can damage officers’ careers and prevent them from testifying. Brown, who did not directly address Rutledge’s proposal, has defended the state’s broader police-accountability framework. Brown’s office oversees an Independent Investigations Division authorized to prosecute deaths involving police. The division’s first charges against officers came in 2024, in connection with a fatal high-speed chase in Anne Arundel County. The officers were cleared of the charges in September 2025. Brown said accountability can also include civil claims and administrative reforms, and pointed to measures such as body cameras and changes to police training. The candidates also differ on the attorney general’s role in challenging the federal government. Since Trump began his second term in 2025, Brown has joined other Democratic attorneys general in more than 150 lawsuits, court briefs and advisory letters opposing administration policies. Rutledge said the state should not sue the federal government simply because Maryland disagrees with its policies. He contends the office should concentrate on matters within the state and says he would not take direction from a president or political party. Brown argues the legal actions respond to federal decisions affecting Marylanders, including attempts to withhold funding approved by Congress. He said the state has preserved millions of dollars through the litigation and described the work as protecting residents’ education and transportation interests, rather than pursuing political aims. On environmental issues, Rutledge says the attorney general should take a firmer stand against waste entering the Susquehanna River from New York and Pennsylvania. The river feeds the Chesapeake Bay. Rutledge cited his environmental work as an attorney and his service as a Bel Air town commissioner from 2023 until October 2025, when he stepped down for a family matter. Brown, Maryland’s first Black attorney general, is serving his first term after a lengthy career in public office. His work has included continuing an investigation into abuse by Catholic clergy in the Archdiocese of Baltimore, which resulted in a 463-page report, and securing expanded authority for the office to bring class-action civil-rights cases. The candidates are both 64 and lawyers, but their paths and political profiles differ. Brown previously served in the Maryland House of Delegates, as lieutenant governor, and in Congress. He lost the 2014 governor’s race to Republican Larry Hogan, a comparatively successful statewide Republican whose political profile Eberly said Rutledge does not share. The primary results underscored the state’s partisan imbalance: Brown received 568,685 votes and Rutledge 161,800. As of September, Maryland had about 2.2 million registered Democrats, just over 1 million Republicans and about 1 million unaffiliated voters. Rutledge says he sees an opening among voters concerned about public safety; Brown is asking voters to give him another four years to continue his work.