Category Archives: 2022 Democratic Primary

2022 Democratic Primary

The Morning After Synopsis: Montgomery County

This post focuses on county offices. For information on what happened in state legislative races in Montgomery County, see my previous post.

County Executive

The big news is that David Blair looks likely to win the county executive race after a night in which the count remained very close. Right now, he leads incumbent Marc Elrich by 1.5% or 1062 votes. My guess is that’s too much for Elrich to make up in mail ballots. Hans Riemer trailed with 21% after running a strong campaign.

Looks like the dog has caught the car and will now have a lot of promises to fulfill. It also means that very rich people will now hold two of the three most prominent offices in the county (i.e. County Exec and Congress). Like Rep. David Trone, Blair will have won on the second try after pouring eight figures into his campaign. Rep. John Delaney who preceded Trone was also a very wealthy businessman. Rep. Jamie Raskin remains the exception.

County Council

In the at-large races, incumbents Evan Glass, Will Jawando and Gabe Albornoz easily won renomination. It looks like they’ll be joined by Gaithersburg Councilmember Laurie-Anne Sayles. Incumbent District 5 Councilmember Tom Hucker trailed not just Sayles but also former MCDCC Member Scott Goldberg.

Marilyn Balcombe easily won the Democratic nomination in District 2 with 47%. Takoma Park Mayor Kate Stewart won the nomination in District 4 with 45%. In District 5, Kristin Mink won easily with 40%. Former Planning Board Member Natali Fani-Gonazalez easily won District 6 with 54% of the vote. Finally, Dawn Luedtke looks set to take the nomination in District 7 with just 32% of the vote.

Incumbents Andrew Friedson (District 1) and Sidney Katz (District 3) also are set to win the Democratic nomination and return to the Council.

Assuming all the Democrats win, as usual, a majority of six of the eleven councilmembers will be new. The new council will also have a majority of women as Sayles, Balcombe, Stewart, Mink, Fani-Gonzalez, and Luedtke are set to become new councilmembers. Outgoing Councilmember Nancy Navarro is the only woman on the current council.

The new Council will continue to have two African American and two Latino members. Perhaps in the most significant breakthrough, the Council will finally have its first Asian American member in Chinese-American Kristin Mink. The Council will also have three Jewish members (Friedson, Glass and Katz) and one openly gay member (Glass).

Courthouse Races

State’s Attorney John McCarthy easily turned back challenges from three opponents and won renomination with 48%. His nearest challenger, Bernice Mireku-North won 21%. Chief Deputy Sheriff Maxwell Uy looks set to become the new sheriff. He won the Democratic nomination with 54%.

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2022 Democratic Primary, 2022 Republican Primary

The Morning After Synopsis: Federal and State Races

Statewide Races

Republicans have nominated a truly extreme ticket of QAnon insurrectionist Del. Dan Cox for governor. He also tried to impeach Gov. Larry Hogan. His running mate, Queen Anne’s Attorney Gordana Schifanelli gives Cox a run for his money in crazy.

The Wes Moore/Aruna Miller ticket has a comfortable lead as the counting continues on the Democratic side with 37%. However, that share of the vote is lower than the 40% garnered by losing Democratic nominee Ben Jealous in 2018.

Meanwhile, Republicans have nominated neo-Confederate theocrat extremist Michael Peroutka for attorney general. Peroutka was elected to one term on the Anne Arundel County Council before losing the primary in his run for reelection. He’ll face Democratic Rep. Anthony Brown, a former Lt. Governor, in the general election.

Harford County Executive Barry Glassman, the Republican nominee for comptroller, cannot be overjoyed about these outcomes. He faces Democratic Del. Brooke Lierman in the general election.

Congress

The big news is former State’s Attorney Glenn Ivey’s trouncing of former Rep. Donna Edwards in the Fourth Congressional District Democratic primary. Right now, Ivey leads Edwards by 51%-35%.

In other interesting races, Heather Mizeur won the nomination in the First District with 69%. She’ll take on Rep. Andy Harris who is now linked to the events of January 6th but remains the favorite in this Republican leaning district.

Over in the Sixth District, Del. Neil Parrott annihilated 25-year old Matthew Foldi by 64%-15%. Foldi, who refuses to say Biden won the 2020 election legitimately, had endorsements from Donald Trump, Jr and Gov. Larry Hogan as well as other prominent national Republicans.

State Senate

Del. Mike McKay won the Republican nomination for the open First District in far western Maryland. In Frederick, Del. Karen Lewis Young won the open nomination to succeed her husband in District 3. Del. Bill Folden easily won the GOP nomination in neighboring District 4.

In Baltimore County’s District 10, Del. Ben Brooks beat Del. Jay Jalisi by 37% to 30%. The General Assembly will be improved without Jalisi who has been accused of abuse towards staff and his family.

In Montgomery District 18, Democratic Sen. Jeff Waldstreicher turned back a challenge from Max Socol by a convincing 63% to 37%.

Prince George’s Sen. Ron Watson is narrowly defeating a challenge by Board of Education Member Raaheela Ahmed by 42% to 38% in the District 23 Democratic primary. Former conservative Democratic Sen. C. Anthony Muse is narrowly leading Tamara Brown in District 26 by 50.4% to 49.6% in a race that will have to wait for the mail ballots.

In Harford District 34, former Del. Mary-Dulany James beat Del. Mary Lisanti for the Democratic nomination by 65%-35%. She will face Del. Christian Miele in her third bid to win this seat. Incumbent Republican Sen. Jason Gallion garnered only 49% of the vote against two challengers in Cecil and Harford District 35. He’ll face no opposition in the general election.

In Eastern Shore District 37, Del. Johnny Mautz easily beat incumbent Sen. Addie Eckardt for the Republican nomination by 77%-23%. Eckardt was characterized as too moderate and too old.

House of Delegates

I’m going to focus on Montgomery County in discussing races for this much larger house of the General Assembly.

In his latest bid to return to elective office, former Del. Saqib Ali lost very badly to the incumbent delegates in District 15 with roughly one-half of the votes on the third-place nominee. No doubt the allegations of abuse towards his family didn’t help and will discourage future runs by this once promising politician.

In District 17, Joe Vogel easily won the third Democratic nomination and will join incumbent Dels. Kumar Barve and Julie Palekovich Carr in the House in this very Democratic district. Aaron Kaufmann, appointed to fill a vacant nomination in District 18, faced no opposition and will also be a new member of the House.

In District 39, all three Democratic incumbents won renomination. Del. Gabe Acevero easily came in second despite the rest of the incumbent legislators slating with challenger Clint Sobratti. A lot of fence mending to do in that district,

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2022 Democratic Primary, 2022 Elections, 2022 Republican Primary

More Results Coming In, Exec Race a Barnburner

Republicans appear to be going the full wingnut.

Cox/Schiffanelli is taking the gubernatorial nomination. No wonder Gov. Larry Hogan decided it was a good night to be in Colorado. Meanwhile, former Anne Arundel Councilmember and League of the South Board Member Michael Peroutka is on track to be the Republican nominee for Attorney General.

Not going to be easy for Republican candidates running in swingy areas to have to deal with these people at the top of the ticket. Disappointing for the those of us who would like to see a non-insurrectionist Republican Party.

On the Democratic side, it is looking like Moore for governor, Lierman for comptroller and Brown for attorney general as I type. Franchot’s gubernatorial campaign’s support absolutely collapsed in Montgomery where he trails with just 11% in his home county. Perez is winning Montgomery easily with 47% but it looks like it will be hard for him to overcome Moore’s leads elsewhere.

In the Fourth Congressional District, former State’s Attorney Glenn Ivey is easily beating former Rep. Donna Edwards in both the Montgomery and Prince George’s parts of the district.

In the First Congressional District, former Del. Heather Mizeur is set to take on Andy Harris as the Democratic nominee.

In the Sixth Congressional District, Neil Parrott is defeating Matthew Foldi quite easily for the Republican nomination despite the numerous high profile endorsements received by the 25-year old.

The Montgomery County Executive race is once again looking insanely close. Right now, David Blair leads Marc Elrich by 74 votes! However, District 39, which I would expect to be good for Blair, still has the most outstanding precincts. Contrary to expectations, Blair won the early vote but appears to be trailing on election day. My guess right now is that we’ll have to wait for the mail ballots on this one.

In District 34, Mary-Dulany James is easily defeating Del. Mary Lisanti to once again become the Democratic nominee for state senator.

In District 18, Sen. Jeff Waldstreicher is handily turning back progressive challenger Max Socol in that district’s state senate race.

In District 39, Del. Gabe Acevero is also easily defeating a challenger despite his fellow delegates slating with the challenger. Those should be fun delegation meetings.

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2022 Democratic Primary

Races I’ll Be Watching Tonight

Governor

It’s uncommon that all top three races on the ballot are open all at the same time. The gubernatorial primary on both sides of the aisle will be wide open. Three candidates–Peter Franchot, Wes Moore and Tom Perez are seen–seen as having a shot at taking the Democratic nomination according to recent polls.

Beyond seeing who wins, I’ll be curious to see the winning percentage. In 1966, George P. Mahoney took the nomination with just 30.2% of the vote before going on to lose to Spiro Agnew. Ben Jealous won with 39.6% in 2018 before losing to incumbent Larry Hogan.

On the Republican side, Kelly Schulz and Dan Cox are seemingly in a battle not just for the nomination but the soul of the Maryland Republican Party. Del. Cox is a full bore Trumper who supported the January 6 insurrection and sued Hogan over mask mandates. Former Del. Schulz is a Hogan conservative.

Comptroller and Attorney General

Democrats have competitive races for both of these offices, especially for attorney general between Anthony Brown and Katie Curran O’Malley. While Brown has served at Lt. Governor and a Member of Congress, Curran is an experienced prosecutor. The comptroller’s race is a fight between Bowie Mayor Tim Adams and Del. Brooke Lierman.

Congress

There are two interesting primaries this year. In the First District, Heather Mizeur and David Harden are competing for the Democratic nomination. Mizeur is a former delegate and talented pol from Takoma Park who moved to the Eastern Shore after falling short in her gubernatorial bid.

Harden has deep roots in the district. A former career foreign service officer, he was later nominated and confirmed as Assistant Administrator for the U.S. Agency for International Development’s Bureau for Democracy, Conflict, and Humanitarian Assistance. Either candidate will face an uphill battle against extremist incumbent Rep. Andy Harris.

Meanwhile, the Republicans have a barn burner over on the other side of the state to take on incumbent Rep. David Trone in the Sixth District. The leading candidates are Matthew Foldi, a 25-year old endorsed by Donald Trump, Jr., Larry Hogan, Kevin McCarthy and Mike Pompeo who refuses to say Biden won the election.

His main opponent is Del. Neil Parrott. He’s best known on this blog as the advocate of the “bathroom bill” but was also endorsed by the Washington Post because he acknowledges Biden is the legitimate president and opposed the violence on January 6th.

State Legislature

I’m staying mainly focused on Montgomery County here where the marquee race for the state senate is between incumbent Jeff Waldstreicher and challenger Max Socol in District 18 for the Democratic nomination.

But I am curious how the fight for the Democratic nomination between former Del. Mary-Dulany James and Del. Mary Ann Lisanti plays out in District 34 in Harford County. James narrowly lost to Republican Bob Casilly by 189 votes in 2018. Former Del. and Assistant Deputy Secretary for Disabilities Christian Miele seems likely to get the Republican nod.

On the Republican side, it will worth watching whether endangered incumbent Sen. Addie Eckardt can fend off a strong challenge from Del. Johnny Mautz over on the Eastern Shore in District 37.

In the delegate races, there are couple that I’m following. Will incumbent Del. Gabe Acevero, cordially disliked by all of the other incumbents who endorsed a challenger, win renomination in District 39? Will appointed incumbent Linda Foley beat well-funded frequent candidate Saqib Ali, who has been in the media lately for abuse allegations?

County Races

Opponents David Blair and Hans Riemer along with outside groups have brought in truly unbelievable sums of cash to defeat incumbent Marc Elrich for the Democratic nomination for county executive. Will they succeed in topping him?

The at-large council race feels like a game of musical chairs. My guess is that Gabe Albornoz, Evan Glass and Will Jawando have the edge for three seats, so who wins the fourth? Incumbent Tom Hucker is trying to jump from district to at-large and represents a very high share of Democratic primary voters. But he faces strong competition from Scott Goldberg and Laurie-Anne Sayles.

In District 4, Friends of White Flint Director Amy Ginsburg has benefited tremendously from large expenditures by the misnamed “Progressives for Progress” developers. But her opponents, Takoma Park Mayor Kate Stewart and Del. Al Carr, also have strong geographical bases of support for the open seat that spans from White Flint to Takoma Park. There are also strong battles for open council seats in Districts 5, 6 and 7. (I know less about the state of play in those districts, so won’t write more here.)

State’s Attorney John McCarthy faces strong challengers that claim he has not been progressive or innovative enough in approaching police reform. The sitting four circuit court judges also face similar challenges in their effort to retain their seats. (Vote for the incumbents.)

And One Party Race

Last but not least, the Montgomery County Democratic Central Committee plays a critical role in filling state legislative vacancies. Will Great Abstainer Jennifer Hosey defeat challenger Gloria Aparicio to keep her seat representing District 17? (Vote for Aparicio.)

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2022 Democratic Primary, Marc Elrich

Raskin, Frosh Endorse Elrich

Raskin endorsing Elrich

Earlier today, Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-8) endorsed Marc Elrich for re-election as county executive. “There are two types of politicians, justice politicians and power politicians. Marc has always been a justice politician.” Raskin also lauded Elrich’s handling of the COVID-19 pandemic.

I took a video of the second part of the endorsement:

Video of second part of Raskin’s endorsement

Attorney General Brian Frosh endorsed Elrich on Tuesday:

Marc has led our County through the COVID pandemic with one of the best responses in the nation. That alone would get my vote. But he has done much more:

  • He has created a Climate Action Plan and has started the implementation with new standards for Building Performance. He has increased accountability on polluters.That is why he’s been endorsed by Sunrise Movement Rockville and Food and Water Action.
  • He has funded our K-12 education at higher levels than ever before, while ensuring schools are being built and students are being taught. It’s why he was enthusiastically endorsed by our County teachers.
  • He has been a strong defender of the rights of women to make their own health care decisions, including pushing for a $1 million fund to aid women access abortion resources after the unconscionable Dobbs decision. It’s why he’s been endorsed by Pro-Choice Maryland.
  • He has treated labor as partners instead of as opponents, while still being a great steward of the County’s tax dollars. This year’s budget funded important new programs, all without raising taxes. It’s why he’s been endorsed by the Metro Washington Council of the AFL-CIO and so many of our County’s labor unions.
  • He has made our government and County more equitable by establishing the County’s first Office of Racial Equity & Social Justice. He has made sure that the members of the office are in the room when important decisions are made, and he has made the County a more welcoming place to immigrants. That is one of the many reasons he’s been endorsed by CASA in Action, the Association of Black Democrats, the Latino Democratic Club, the Coalition of Asian Pacific American Democrats of Maryland and more.
  • Marc has made our County safer for so many, while safeguarding the health of our firefighters and public safety officers. It’s why he’s been endorsed by the Montgomery County Career Firefighters and the Montgomery Volunteer Fire & Rescue Association.
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2022 Democratic Primary, District 18, Montgomery Council District 4

Del. Al Carr Jumps in Council Race, Leaves Vacancy

Even as Tom Hucker (D-5) was abandoning his quixotic county executive bid, Del. Al Carr (D-18) jumped from a safe, unopposed re-election to one of the three delegate seats in his district to the District 4 Council race.

He joins Takoma Park Mayor Kate Stewart and Friends of White Flint Executive Director Amy Ginsburg among others in that contest for this seat extending from White Flint through Kensington to Takoma Park. Carr is a former Kensington Town Councilmember.

Does this mean District 18 will have a Republican delegate? One Republican did file. However, party central committees can fill vacant nominations. Unhappily, this means that the Montgomery County Democratic Central Committee will choose D18’s next delegate.

The big winners from this are Dels. Jared Solomon and Emily Shetty, who will not face a contested primary. The big losers are other potential candidates and the voters. Instead of an open contest with many candidates who would likely try to fill a vacancy, D18 voters will see MCDCC members from all over the county choose their next delegate.

Among others, Max Socol, Sen. Jeff Waldstreicher’s challenger could seek the seat. I doubt that will happen for several reasons. While Sen. Waldstreicher would likely love to dispense with a tough challenger, he’s hardly likely to set him up to dog him in the General Assembly for four years and would oppose it from behind the scenes. Socol also seems very focused on unseating Waldstreicher, though an easy seat in the House of Delegates is appealing.

Finally, the extremely identity conscious MCDCC is likely to think hard before replacing an African American delegate with a white male. Natali Fani-Gonzalez, who served on the Planning Board and ran a respectable race for delegate four years ago would be a strong candidate. But she seems all in on her own race for County Council in District 6.

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2022 Democratic Primary, Tom Hucker

Hucker Withdraws from Exec Race, Files for Council

Councilmember Tom Hucker (D-5) has withdrawn from the county executive race. It’s a sensible decision as it would’ve almost certainly been a losing battle. He’s filed for the county council. But not for his old seat. Instead, as I speculated this morning, he has filed for an at-large seat.

The next question is whether or how soon MCEA, the influential teachers’ union, will flip its endorsement from Brandy Brooks’s flailing campaign to Hucker—or possibly to Council President Gabe Albornoz, who seems a lock for reelection.

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2022 Democratic Primary, Tom Hucker

In Lane 4: Decision Time for Tom Hucker

County Councilmember Tom Hucker (D-5) has filed to run for county executive. Today he has to decide whether to stick with that chancy race or file for reelection. Positioning himself as a strong progressive, Hucker was first elected to the Council in 2014 after narrowly defeating now-at large Councilmember Evan Glass in the Democratic primary.

The campaign’s January campaign finance report showed that he had $252,533.09 in bank. To my surprise, googling “Tom Hucker County Executive” did not produce a campaign website, so here is his twitter account. (Thanks to a reader; it’s tomhucker.com.) On the plus side, he represents the one-fifth of the county with the most Democratic primary voters.

Hucker’s run for county executive has nevertheless always struck me as quixotic because I don’t really see a lane for him. His core argument is essentially that he’d be a more effective leader than Elrich, which is unclear and exactly what the other candidates claim.

Two candidates are competing for the same base. The major policy difference I see is that Hucker is ardently pro-Thrive, the proposed general plan for the next 30 years, which alienates a good section of Elrich’s supporters. I imagine Hucker would contend that this makes him more progressive while others would say it aligns him with big business against ordinary residents of the county.

Elrich’s supporters may also not appreciate his efforts to set himself up for the run by taking potshots on the administration while serving for a year as Council President. Meanwhile, Hans Riemer seems to have the ardent urbanist vote, such as it is, nailed down. Hucker doesn’t have pots of money like David Blair and is not going to win business support.

Hucker also lacks the identity constituency around which so many Democrats align. While not a bad politician, he also doesn’t have the sort of charisma that is getting Wes Moore a lot of positive attention in the gubernatorial race.

Unlike Councilmember Riemer, Hucker can still run for one more term on the county council before he runs up against term limits. At that point, the county executive’s race would be open. It’d still be a tough race but at least he’d have more of an open lane. Labor is sticking with Elrich, who has already been endorsed by MCEA and three SEIU locals. Progressive Maryland and Progressive Neighbors have too.

Several candidates have filed for Hucker’s redrawn district, including Takoma Park Mayor Kate Stewart Porter and Friends of White Flint Executive Director Amy Ginsburg. Hucker would still be the strong favorite. On the other hand, Hucker could also file for one of the at-large seats. Brandy Brooks’s campaign is tanking, so there is a real opening for a progressive candidate for the open seat.

Hucker has until 9:00pm to decide.

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2022 Democratic Primary, Brandy Brooks

Metro DC DSA Condemns Brooks, Will Vote on Revoking Endorsement

Metro DC DSA issued a statement after meeting with embattled at-large Montgomery County Council Candidate Brandy Brooks. Their claims are damning: “At no point did she deny the allegations against her” and “we’re disappointed to see her twist the language of abolition and restorative justice to try to deflect from her actions.”

The DSA (Democratic Socialists of America) are a left-wing organization that has been closely aligned with and highly supportive of Brooks. Here is their complete statement:

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2022 Democratic Primary, Brandy Brooks

Fallout Continues from Brooks Campaign

Yesterday, at-large County Council Candidate Brandy Brooks announced that she is “taking a period of two weeks to care for myself and reflecting” in the wake of a “report of a hostile workplace environment caused by me.” Brooks says that “a mediated agreement was developed and the terms of that agreement executed.”

While stating that she seeks “to be as transparent as possible” and decrying “increasingly inaccurate and malicious reports,” Brooks’s campaign has not disclosed more information about the matter.

Campaign Manager Michelle Whittaker let me know via email that she disagreed with my post stating that Brooks “has suspended her campaign.”

I guess Whittaker can say that taking two weeks off is “taking a brief break” rather than “suspending her campaign.” In Dave, a comedy from back in 1993, the White House claimed that the president had “suffered what doctors describe as a minor circulatory problem of the head” after a major stroke. But engaging in self-care and reflecting doesn’t sound like an active campaign. It’s hard to imagine others will be working hard on it when the candidate and campaign manager aren’t.

When asked about the hostile work environment claim, Whittaker explained that: “I cannot add further comment about that at this time. If you have a question about the campaign operations, I may be able to provide more information.”

Funding Problems

The campaign has been plagued by rumors regarding its high burn rate—campaign argot for spending money fast—and that it doesn’t have enough left for printing and sending campaign mailers and other forms of voter contact as the primary approaches.

Brooks’s most recent campaign finance filing, filed on February 15, reported $55,227.76 in the bank—significantly below what is normally needed for a viable countywide campaign. Nothing in the media, printing or postage sections of either the January or February filings indicate that the Brooks campaign has prepaid for mailers or much other media. She reported spending a total of $1,803.21 on Facebook ads.

According to these two most recent filings, 61% of $47,178.07 in expenditures were on salaries and other compensation. Payments to MCW Creative, Michelle Whittaker’s company accounted for $7,550.00, or 16%, of the total spent on salaries and other compensation. Besides being Brooks’s campaign manager and a communications professional, Whittaker is also her sister.

Here are the screenshots from the reports:

Whittaker did not respond last night to questions on the total amount paid to her or the cash-on-hand available to the campaign.

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