Monday, November 26, 2012
Bartlett said gerrymandering cost him the congressional election but the numbers tell a different story.
Capital News Service Congressman-elect John Delaney won Maryland's 6th District race on Election Day with the support of heavily Democratic Montgomery County, as expected, but a surprising number of Western Maryland voters voted to oust long-time incumbent Roscoe Bartlett, an analysis of the numbers shows. Now, those voters expect Delaney to champion their causes. Delaney campaigned by saying he was determined not to "balkanize the district"—splitting it into subgroups that could be targeted with tailored messages. That strategy appears to have paid off. Though the scant polling of the matchup showed Bartlett and Delaney tied throughout the fall, Delaney's 20-point win revealed the Democrat had more bipartisan appeal than any of Bartlett's…
Sunday, November 11, 2012
Victors attribute the wins to Democratic Party dominance, among other factors.
Capital News Service A dominant state Democratic Party, a progressive electorate, a national trend toward socially liberal policies and the need for more revenue in tough economic times converged in Maryland to bring passage of same-sex marriage, in-state tuition for some illegal immigrants, expanded gambling and a gerrymandered political map, political observers say. All of Maryland's ballot initiatives passed on election night. "(Gov. Martin) O'Malley and the Democrats have complete control," said Blair Lee, political columnist at The Gazette newspapers. "The only (political) competition and conversation was among Democrats … the Republicans are almost now gone the way of the Whig Party in terms of influence and presence." In Maryland, …
Friday, November 9, 2012
FOP Lodge 35 sues County Executive Isiah Leggett over the county government's efforts to convince voters to reign in the police union's bargaining powers.
Despite Montgomery County's passage of a measure to reign in the police union’s powers, the controversy has found a new battleground—the courts. A 2011 law, which Tuesday’s referendum upheld, strips the county police union of its 30-year-old power to negotiate any action by police leadership that has an “effect on employees.” That has been applied to include officer reassignments, disability guidelines, distributing equipment and how to implement a computerized system for writing reports. FOP Lodge 35 successfully petitioned to put the law to referendum, where it appeared on Election Day as Question B. After a contentious campaign that grew especially heated in the weeks before Nov. 6, voters affirmed Question B by a nearly 17 percent …
Wednesday, November 7, 2012
Scenes from the Montgomery County Democratic Central Committee's viewing party for Election Night 2012.
Some 150 Democratic boosters and party leaders gathered at the Hilton Hotel on Rockville Pike to watch the Election Day results, which doubled as a viewing party for results from the presidential race and for U.S. Rep. Chris Van Hollen’s run at the newly redrawn 8th Congressional district. When Patch arrived at around 10 p.m., Van Hollen had already steamrolled past Republican challenger Ken Timmerman for the win. So all attention keened in on the large projection screen at the front of the room toggling back and forth among the TV news networks for updates of the presidential race. Cheers went up when up as George Allen conceded his Senate race in Virginia to Democrat Tim Kaine, then again as the Democrats secured control of the Senate…
Maryland proved overwhelmingly "blue" in voting at the federal level.
Capital News Service Democrat John Delaney ended Rep. Roscoe Bartlett’s 10-term reign in the U.S. House of Representatives on an election night that otherwise featured no surprises among Maryland’s federal races. Bartlett, the 86-year-old Buckeystown resident who has represented Maryland’s 6th Congressional District since 1993, fell to 38.1 percent in vote totals Wednesday. Delaney captured 58.6 percent, with Libertarian candidate Nickolaus Mueller taking 3.2 percent. “It has been my great honor to serve the constituents of the 6th District of Maryland for the past 20 years,” Bartlett said in a statement. “Although the election did not have the outcome we had hoped for, we can hold our heads high knowing that we have fought for the …
President Obama defeated Republican Mitt Romney in the 2012 presidential election.
President Barack Obama and Vice President Joe Biden were re-elected Tuesday night, defeating Republican challenger Mitt Romney and his vice-presidential running mate Rep. Paul Ryan. NBC News called the presidential election for Obama around 11:15 EST. The president sent a message on Twitter at 10:14 saying simply, "This happened because of you. Thank you." The Obama campaign won the most expensive presidential race ever, with both parties raising about $2.6 billion. The race was filled with negative campaigning on both sides, from President Obama attacking Romney’s business experience with Bain Capital to Romney lambasting Obama’s handling of the economy. The race tightened during the final months of the campaign, with gaffes and surges …
Tuesday, November 6, 2012
DREAM Act, expanded gambling and congressional redistricting also survive referendum challenges.
UPDATED (2:26 a.m.)—Same-sex marriage is the law in Maryland. The passage of the controversial law was the biggest win among a list of six other statewide ballot questions including the DREAM Act, expanded gambling and congressional redistricting that all also passed. Gov. Martin O'Malley took to the podium to address the Question 6 victory party at The Soundstage in Baltimore early Wednesday to chants of his last name. O'Malley thanked the crowd for all they had done "in this noble battle to move Maryland Forward." The governor praised supporters for all their hard work and for securing support for the controversial ballot question by talking to their families and their religious institutions. "You were carrying this banner of human …
Voters in Maryland on Tuesday gave the state's 10 electoral votes to Barack Obama.
Barack Obama won Maryland’s 10 electoral votes on Tuesday, defeating Republican Mitt Romney. In the 2008 presidential election, the state voted for the Democratic candidate, and since the 1990s has voted for the overall winner of the presidential race three out of five times. Romney and Obama did not campaign aggressively in Maryland. The state has typically been a Democratic stronghold in recent presidential elections. ABC and CNN reported Obama had won Maryland within 30 minutes of the polls closing around the state. » Follow live election updates here and 'like' our Maryland Patch Facebook page. Women's rights at the national level were a key issue for some in Maryland, including Edgemere resident Trudie Stancliff. "I know of a lot of …
Many polls have seen waits of more than an hour for much of the day.
Voter turnout in Montgomery County has been so strong that election officials say results will likely come later than expected Tuesday night. The Montgomery County Board of Election's schedule had called for the first batch of results to go live on its Website — www.777vote.org — at 9:20 p.m., followed by updates every 20 minutes until midnight. But given the long lines seen throughout the day, elections spokeswoman Marjorie Roher said she expects most of the county's nearly 250 polling sites to stay open well past their appointed 8 p.m. closing time. “If they’re in line, they can vote," Roher said. "So my guess is that we won’t start shutting down the equipment in a lot of the precincts until closer to 9, which means the results will be …
Voters in Montgomery County have a lot to say about same-sex marriage and gambling.
- ELECTIONS
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Tuesday, November 6, 2012
We rounded up this video gallery from polling places across Montgomery County, where voter turnout for Election Day 2012 was said to be brisk. Do you have something to say about the issues? Respond to our voters' pronouncements in comments.
Tony Puca
8:20 am on Wednesday, November 28, 2012
In 1990 I ran in the Democratic Primary in sixth district that had all of Garrett, Alleghany, Washington, Carroll, Frderick, 30%Howard and 16 % of Montgomery that was the Western/rural part. My opponent Beverly Byron was not only an incumbent and one of the most important female members of Congress but the fourth member of her immediate family to hold that office. Unbeatable? I spent $30,000 to … more ›