The Montgomery County chapter of the National Organization for Women (NOW) has released its early endorsement list. Its first picks are:
Maryland General Assembly
Senate
District 39
Saqib Ali
House of Delegates
District 14
Eric Luedtke
District 15
Brian Feldman
District 16
Charles Chester
District 18
Dana Beyer
District 19
Jay Hutchins
Montgomery County Council
At-large
George Leventhal
School Board
District 3
Patricia O’Neill
NOW says, “This is not a final list, and candidates will be added as they are endorsed.” Fair enough. Most early endorsements are no-brainers, that is, people who are obvious picks because of their long records of support in and out of office. By that measure, why are so many of the county’s most renowned female candidates off the list, like former NARAL staffers Cheryl Kagan and Ariana Kelly? Why was Duchy Trachtenberg, a former President of Maryland and MoCo NOW, not endorsed? And how about Marc Elrich, who worked with George Leventhal on the successful 2007 bill to protect domestic workers?
Wow, NOW.