Will Donald Trump impact down-ticket races in Maryland?

BALTIMORE —Donald Trump as the presumptive nominee for president presents a fork in the road for other Republican candidates in Maryland.

The name at the top of the ticket does matter in a presidential election cycle as GOP candidates for office must consider whether they embrace Trump or distance themselves from him.

Republicans, like U.S. Senate candidate Kathy Szeliga, are outnumbered 2-1 in the very blue state of Maryland. Going into the general election, Maryland Republicans need Independents to win.

"They can either embrace Donald Trump as part of their narrative, as their guy, as their nominee, or they really try to re-center their attention on just their districts, just the state, and really try to run a localized campaign and take Washington, D.C., politics out of it," Goucher College pollster Mileah Kromer said.

Kromer said for Democrats, like Szeliga's opponent Rep. Chris Van Hollen, it is also decision time on a Trump strategy.

More