By Adam Pagnucco.
This is the second in a series from cast vote data on the Montgomery County Democratic primary. Let’s look at voters for David Blair, who lost an incredibly tight county executive race to incumbent Marc Elrich. Blair’s performance overall was strong in the southwest and much of Upcounty and he won pluralities in heavily White and Asian precincts. His most important endorsement came from the Washington Post. These characteristics affect his correlations with other candidates.
The chart below shows how Blair voters voted in the county council at-large primary.
This is an inverse pattern from Elrich voters. Blair voters gave a bump to Scott Goldberg, who ran strong in Blair’s home base of Potomac. In fact, Blair voters would have elected Goldberg to the council instead of Laurie-Anne Sayles. They also voted more often for Gabe Albornoz than for Will Jawando.
Blair voters were not terribly different from all voters in most districts but there are three where they varied significantly.
The chart below shows Council District 2. Marilyn Balcombe won the district handily, but among Blair voters, she totally crushed her opponents.
The chart below shows Council District 4. The winner, Kate Stewart, shared a Takoma Park base and progressive endorsements with Elrich. Amy Ginsburg, who came in second place, shared the Washington Post endorsement with Blair. Ginsburg was the choice of a majority of Blair voters.
Finally, incumbent State Senator Jeff Waldstreicher won big over socialist-endorsed Max Socol in District 18, but he got an 8-point bump among Blair voters. Blair ran well in Chevy Chase, which supported Waldstreicher by a ton, while he lost to Elrich in much of the Georgia Avenue corridor, where Socol’s percentage was higher.
We will look at voters for Hans Riemer next.