Northwood News ♦ April 2022

County Council District 5 Candidate Forum at April NFCCA Meeting

By Linda Perlman

The 13 April 2022 virtual meeting of the Northwood-Four Corners Civic Association will be a forum for candidates for Montgomery County Council District 5.  As of this newsletter’s press date, eight candidates have filed with the Board of Elections to run for the new County Council 5th District seat:  Brian Anleu, Fatmata Barrie, Christopher Bolton, Daniel Koroma, Cary Lamari, Kristin Mink, William “Chip” Montier, and Jeremiah Pope.  The candidate filing deadline has been extended to 15 April.

Montgomery County has a new County Council district map, after voters approved enlarging the County Council from five to seven districts while retaining four at-large Council seats.  The redistricting process also was necessary because the 2020 U.S. Census showed that there have been substantial changes in our county’s population and demographics over the past decade.  The census found that Montgomery County’s population increased by more than 91,000 and became more diverse over the preceding decade.  Montgomery County has been a “majority-minority” jurisdiction for some time now and the 2020 census found that almost 60 percent of the County’s residents identify as Latino, Black, or Asian.  The federal Voting Rights Act requires all voting districts to be substantially equal in population.

The NFCCA area has been placed in a new County Council District 5 that includes such northeastern Montgomery County communities as North Four Corners (i.e., the NFCCA area), White Oak, Burtonsville, Colesville, and Leisure World.  The newly redrawn District 5 cuts out downtown Silver Spring and Takoma Park where the current County Council representative Tom Hucker resides.  Before Councilmember Hucker, the NFCCA neighborhoods had been moved back and forth between the East County/Burtonsville (former District 4) and downtown Silver Spring-Takoma Park (former District 5) County Council districts.

Blacks form a plurality in the new County Council District 5.  The demographics of the new 5th District are:  Total Population 48,184, consisting of Black 37.1%, White 25.4%, Hispanic 20.5%, Asian 12.1%, and Other 4.9%.

Maryland’s primary election had been scheduled for late June, but on 15 March 2022, the Court of Appeals, Maryland’s highest court, postponed the state’s primary election to 19 July 2022.  The Court delayed the primary election to allow time to decide legal challenges to the validity of a state redistricting plan adopted by the Maryland General Assembly.  Maryland’s redrawn congressional districts map also is being challenged by lawsuits in the Anne Arundel County Circuit Court.  The revised Montgomery County Council district map that added two Council districts and redrew the boundaries of the other districts, which the County Council approved in December, is not being challenged.

Maryland primary elections are closed party primaries.  You must be a registered Democrat or Republican to vote for that party’s candidates for all elective offices other than nonpartisan Board of Education offices.  All candidates who have currently filed for election to Montgomery County Council District 5 are Democrats and only Democratic voters may vote for those candidates in the primary election.  The primary election will be held on 19 July 2022.  Early voting and voting by mail will be available for the primary election, as well as voting in person at Forest Knolls Elementary School, the polling place for Precinct 13-11.   ■

2022 MARYLAND GUBERNATORIAL ELECTION DATES

Registration/Party Affiliation Change Deadline — 7 June

Early Voting — Primary Election 16–23 June

Election Day — Primary Election TUESDAY, 28 JUNE

Early Voting — General Election 27 October–3 November

Election Day — General Election TUESDAY, 8 NOVEMBER