By Adam Pagnucco.
Former planning board member Natali Fani-Gonzalez utterly crushed a quality field in the mid-county Council District 6, winning every precinct. She now inherits Nancy Navarro’s mantle as the champion of Wheaton. Natali, that makes me your constituent!
Let’s examine Fani-Gonzalez’s cast vote data, starting with the county executive primary.
Marc Elrich and Hans Riemer over-performed among Fani-Gonzalez voters and David Blair under-performed, giving Elrich a solid win. This is consistent with Elrich’s strong performances in Wheaton and Glenmont-Norbeck, which are the heart of District 6.
Now let’s look at how Fani-Gonzalez voters voted in the council at-large race.
Fani-Gonzalez voters picked the winning council at-large candidates in the exact same order as total voters: Evan Glass first, Will Jawando second, Gabe Albornoz third and Laurie-Anne Sayles fourth. Tom Hucker edged out Scott Goldberg for fifth place. This replication of all-voter preferences is a bit unusual for a council district candidate but may reflect Fani-Gonzalez’s receipt of 56% of primary votes in an 8-candidate field.
After winning the 2009 special election, Navarro was never seriously threatened for the remainder of her time on the council. Given Fani-Gonzalez’s dominant performance last year, it would not surprise me if potential opponents avoid her as well.