The Main Primary Election Wrap-Up

From a macro perspective, yesterday was a very good day for serious progressives. 

Ø  In the State Senate District 12 Democratic primary race, Clarence Lam (supported by this blog) rather handily defeated Mary Kay Sigaty (72.7% - 27.3%). 

Ø  Although the present author is disappointed that Dr. James Howard will not be one of the three Democratic nominees for State Delegate in the 12^th, the team of Dr. Terri Hill (29.9%), Eric Ebersole (28.2%), and Jessica Feldmark (21.5%) is a strong one.  They, along with Dr. Lam, all deserve election in November.

Ø  Team 13, with Delegate Vanessa Atterbeary the top vote-getter (32.7%), followed by incumbent Shane Pendergrass (30.3%) and Council Member Jen Terrasa (27.6%) easily obtained the three Democratic nominations for State Delegate in the 13^th.  Incumbent Guy Guzzone was unopposed in the State Senate Democratic primary.  They are all well-positioned to win in the General Election.

Ø  In the 9^th, Katie Fry Hester (D) will square off against incumbent Gail Bates (who won her Republic primary against Reid Novotny by a 54% - 46% margin). Best of luck to Ms. Hester in a still tough State Senate district for Democrats. Meanwhile, in the related State Delegate seats, Courtney Watson demonstrated her electoral strength in 9B with a larger-than-expected primary victory over a formidable opponent, Daniel Medinger (65.8% - 34.2%).  Ms. Watson (preferred by this blog in the primary) will face off against Bob Flanagan, and she will give him a hell of a run in this swing district. In 9A, Natalie Ziegler (51.7%) and Steven Bolen (30.2%) will run against GOP incumbents Trent Kittleman and Warren Miller in the fall.

Ø  Calvin Ball, as anticipated, won the Democratic nomination for County Executive by an overwhelming margin over Harry Dunbar (83.5% - 16.5%). Mr. Dunbar’s slow growth message couldn’t push him past the 20% mark against the Ball juggernaut.

Ø  Turning to the County Council races, Liz Walsh is giving Jon Weinstein a serious challenge from the left in the First District, with Walsh trailing Weinstein by only 41 votes (50.3% - 49.7%).  This blog recently made the case for Mr. Weinstein’s re-election. This race will come down to absentee and provisional ballots.   

Ø  Opel Jones, running unopposed, will be the Democratic standard-bearer in District 2.

Ø  Again, this blog supported Steven Hunt in the District 3 Democratic primary, given his knowledge and experience at the County-level.  That said, back in February of 2018, we identified Christiana Rigby as one to watch (“perhaps a future County Executive”) and she proved it yesterday with a legitimately impressive 55% showing in a field bereft of slouches. 

Ø  In the 4^th, Democrat Deb Jung captured 63.6% of the vote in a primary win against Dr. Janet Siddiqui (33.1%) and Ian Bradley Moller-Knudsen (3.3%).  No further comment is necessary.

Ø  China Williams will be the Democratic nominee against David Yungmann, the latter having defeated Jim Walsh in the Republican primary by a solid 59.8% - 40.2% margin.

Ø  Rich Gibson (State’s Attorney) and Wayne Robey (Clerk of the Circuit Court) were unopposed in their Democratic primaries.  Meanwhile, the incumbent Register of Wills, Byron Macfarlane secured his re-nomination by a comfortable margin against Terrence McAndrews (67.2% - 32.8%).  In other good news, Marcus Harris won the Democratic primary race for Sheriff against John Francis McMahon (59.2% - 40.8%).    Two of the three Orphans’ Court incumbents were re-nominated in the Democratic primary:  Anne Dodd and Leslie Smith Turner.  As of this writing, Elizabeth Ann Fitch is the apparent winner of the third Democratic nomination, with a 304 vote lead over the remaining incumbent, Nicole Bormel Miller.  It is unlikely that the provisional and absentee ballots will change that order of finish.

Ø  Shifting to the Governor’s race.  Although Krish Vignarajah did not win the Democratic primary, she demonstrated that she has a golden future in Maryland politics and public affairs.  Lacking the resources and institutional support of the Jealous and Baker campaigns, she was still the best communicator in the field and had a message that resonated strongly enough to finish a respectable fourth, only a few hundred votes out of third place.  Statewide, she garnered 8.2% of the vote, ahead of Rich Madaleno (5.7%) and Alec Ross (2.3%) and just behind the Shea-Scott ticket (8.3%).  In Howard County, she placed third with 12.4% of the vote. This blog is proud to have supported her candidacy and we look forward to seeing how Ms. Vignarajah will use her considerable skills in a public service capacity in the years to come.

In solidarity.