By Adam Pagnucco.
The Washington Post has endorsed Democrat April McClain Delaney and Republican Tom Royals in the Congressional District 6 primary.
The Post’s endorsement, one of the more influential ones in local politics, is an asset to both candidates. That’s especially true for Delaney, who is in a fierce race against Delegate Joe Vogel and faces other appealing candidates in a large field. But here is the problem: it is SO late. At this writing, 13,999 CD6 Democrats and 7,431 CD6 Republicans have already had their mail ballots received by local boards of elections as of yesterday. Thousands more ballots could already be completed and en route. The total number of people in the district who voted early yesterday was 1,701. More than a thousand probably voted early today.
That means many thousands of voters have already voted before the Post endorsed.
In the last cycle, I was the campaign strategist for county executive candidate David Blair. After the campaign ended, I presented evidence that the extreme lateness of the Post endorsement contributed to our 32-vote loss. Consider this: in that campaign, the Post endorsed 24 days before election day. In this year’s CD6 primary, the Post endorsed 11 days before election day.
Almost any candidate would rather have the Post endorsement than not have it. But when it’s this late, many voters don’t see it prior to voting. Furthermore, it’s hard for candidates to exploit it through last-minute mailers and TV commercials.
If the Post wants its endorsement to be as influential as it once was, it must improve its time performance. Otherwise, its value to both candidates and voters will decline.