Less than a fifth of eligible voters in Prince George’s County turned out for the primary election, despite a week of early voting opportunities and a deluge of political mailers, commercials and phone calls.
The primary is usually in September, but this year Maryland lawmakers pushed it back to June 24. It seems that not everyone got the memo: Across the state, about 23 percent of registered voters cast ballots, and in Prince George’s County, that figure was closer to 18 percent
At the state level, Senator Paul Pinsky (D-22) ran unopposed. His three district colleagues, delegates Tawanna Gaines, Anne Healey and Alonzo Washington, won their races, easily beating first-time candidate Rushern L. Baker IV.
State Sen. Victor Ramirez (D-47) faced little opposition from Walter Lee James, Jr., winning 68 percent to 32 percent. Only one delegate, Michael Summers, ran for re-election; he lost his seat, coming in a distant third (17 percent) to Mount Rainier Councilmember Jimmy Tarlau (27 percent) and Diana M. Fennell (24 percent) in her second bid for the seat.
Each district gets three delegates, but because this one had just been split into 47A and 47B in the last redistricting, only the top two vote-getters in 47A won a seat. The third will go to Will Campos, who ran unopposed in the newly created 47B ward.
