Last week’s primary election in Maryland yielded a mixed bag of surprises and expected results, including for the numerous Jewish candidates.
Thanks to a 2016 referendum imposing term limits in Montgomery County, the races there saw a spike in candidates.
The packed and hotly contested Montgomery County executive nomination race is still a toss-up between businessman David Blair and Council Member Marc Elrich (D-At Large). Elrich, who is Jewish, still has a slim lead over Blair in the Democratic race. The race should be decided by next week and the nominee will face Republican Robin Ficker in November.
Elrich and Blair topped a field of six, including former Rockville Mayor Rose Krasnow, Council Member Roger Berliner (D-District 1) and Council Member George Leventhal (D-At Large). All three are Jewish. The final candidate in the running was Del. Bill Frick (D-District 16).
The Democratic nominations for four Montgomery County Council at-large seats were largely up for grabs with only one incumbent, Hans Reimer, running. Reimer led the 33-candidate field, followed by Will Jawando, Evan Glass and Gabe Albornoz. Glass is Jewish.
The Montgomery County Council District 1 Democratic nominee will once again be Jewish, with Andrew Friedson getting the nod after Berliner left the seat for a bid for county executive. The four other districts retained their incumbents, including District 3’s Sidney Katz, who is Jewish and narrowly fought off a primary challenger.
Congressional races
Maryland Congressional District 6 also drew a wide pool of Democratic candidates after Rep. John Delaney left the seat to run for president. Businessman David Trone won the Democratic nomination. Trone, who is not Jewish, belongs to Temple Beth Ami in Rockville with his family. He beat out, among others, state Del. Aruna Miller (D-District 15), who came in second; Dr. Nadia Hashimi, who came in third, and state Sen. Roger Manno (D-District 10), who came in fourth. Manno is Jewish.
Trone will face Republican Amie Hoeber in the November general election. Hoeber, who is Jewish, handily beat her three Republican challengers.
In District 8, Rep. Jamie Raskin, who is Jewish, trounced two primary challengers for the Democratic nomination and will face Republican John Walsh in November.
Maryland State Assembly
In the Democratic primary races for seats in the Maryland State Assembly, two incumbents lost their seats. Dels. Marice Morales (D-District 19) and Shane Robinson (D-District 39) did not make the cut. Robinson finished fourth to Lesley Lopez, Gabriel Acevero and Del. Kirill Reznick, who is Jewish.
Meanwhile, the contentious race for the open state Senate seat left behind in District 18 by Sen. Richard Madaleno — who unsuccessfully ran to become the Democratic nominee for governor — between Democratic Del. Jeff Waldstreicher and Dana Beyer, who are both Jewish, ended in Waldstreicher’s favor. He faces no Republican opponent in November.
In District 16 Dels. Marc Korman and Ariana Kelly, both Jewish, topped the Democratic primary list. At press time, a third seat was still a toss-up between Samir Paul and Sara Love.
The results of remaining Democratic races were largely unsurprising, with incumbents leading their races. A number of Jews were winners in these races. In District 14, Del. Anne Kaiser won her primary bid for reelection, along with her fellow incumbents. Sen. Brian Feldman, who is Jewish, topped his primary in District 15. Sen. Cheryl Kagan in District 17 ran unopposed in her primary. Jared Solomon was nominated for one of two empty seats in District 18. In District 19, Del. Ben Kramer ran unopposed for state Senate.
