Off to the Races in Districts 15, 16, and 17

This is the first in a series of occasional posts profiling Democratic primaries in Montgomery County state legislative races. I hope to link to the websites of all the candidates so you can check them out for yourself. I have lived in Districts 15, 16, and 18 so I probably know more about these districts but I'm going to attempt to profile the primary contests for the General Assembly in all eight Montgomery districts. Apologies if my geographic description of each district excludes your town; I'm trying to keep them short. Incumbents are heavily favored in all three of the districts (15, 16, and 17) which I look at today though there is an open delegate seat in District 17.

District 15 (Potomac and Poolesville). Both Democrats and Republicans have full slates of candidates which are unopposed in the primary so they can focus their energies on the general election contest, the main event in this competitive district. Democratic Sen. Robert Garogiola defeated Republican incumbent Jean Roesser in 2002 by less than 2% of the vote after the boundaries of the district had been redrawn. Garogiola is seeking reelection against Bill Askinazi, a Republican attorney who ran a competitive but losing race for delegate in 2002.

All three incumbent delegates, Republican Jean Cryor and Democrats Kathleen Dumais and Brian Feldman, are seeking reelection. Del. Cryor is currently the only Republican elected to the General Assembly from Montgomery. Craig Rice joins Del. Dumais and Del Feldman on the Democratic ticket. Rice, an African-American candidate in a district that is only 7 percent black, is part of the happily increasingly common occurence in Montgomery of racial minorities seeking election outside of majority-minority districts. He may find it a tough road to dislodge the well-liked Cryor despite the increasing Democratic leanings of the district.

District 16 (Bethesda). Sen. Brian Frosh is unopposed in the primary. Democratic Delegates William Bronrott, Marilyn Goldwater, and Susan Lee are all seeking reelection. Lee is the first Chinese-American to win election to the Maryland House. Challenging the slate of incumbent delegates in 2002, Charles Chester came in a distant fourth but is giving it another go in 2006. Regina "Reggie" Oldak, Vice President of the Montgomery County Commission for Women, has also filed to run for delegate. Knocking off one of the incumbents will be very tough in this district.

District 17 (Rockville and Gaithersburg). Sen. Jennie Forehand is unopposed for reelection in both the primary and the general. Del. Kumar Barve and Del. Luiz Simmons are seeking reelection. Vying for the third slot are five other candidates, including Jim Gilchrist who came only 210 votes behind Simmons in 2002 and is the son of former County Executive Charles Gilchrist. He is joined on the hot summer hustings by Attorney Laura Berthiaume, Elbridge James (no website), Saybrooke Homeowners Association President Cory Siansky, and Montgomery County Victim Services Advisory Board Chair Ryan Spiegel.

The large number of entrants into that race should make the incumbent delegates in that district sweat for reelection even though one expects both to come through fine if they work at it. Gilchrist built up valuable name recognition in his previous narrow loss four years ago though I don't expect the other challengers to concede the race without a fight. Laura Berthiaume may benefit from being the only woman seeking one of the three delegate slots though the district nominated and elected three men in 2002.