A few months ago, Johnny Olszewski Jr. seemed untouchable.

After becoming the youngest county executive in Baltimore County history, the Dundalk Democrat handily won reelection in 2022. Earlier this year, he coasted to victory in his party’s primary for a rare open seat in Congress, then got a shoutout from President Joe Biden at a press conference after the Key Bridge collapse. “Johnny Oooh, I like that” Biden said with a grin, acknowledging the rising Democratic star.

The 41-year-old Olszewski is heavily favored to win the general election against a perennial candidate who’s never held elective office.

Then, new stories resurfaced from a 4-year-old case in which the county approved a payment for a retired county firefighter who is the brother of one of Olszewski’s friends, and who also happens to be his real estate agent.

That same friend, John Tirabassi, works for a trucking company that the county bought $4 million worth of dump trucks from in 2023 and 2024. The revelations, first reported in The Baltimore Sun and the Baltimore Brew, prompted the Maryland GOP to call for Olszewski to resign as county executive and withdraw from the 2nd District congressional race.

“Johnny Olszewski has no business continuing to serve as Baltimore County Executive, let alone continuing his campaign for Congress,” Maryland Republican Party Chairwoman Nicole Beus Harris said in a statement circulated Wednesday evening. “If he refuses to do the honorable thing and drop out, we will be working every day between now and November to expose his corruption to voters and defeat him at the ballot box.”

The story continues at The Baltimore Banner: Johnny Olszewski seemed invincible. Then came questions about a 4-year-old case.

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