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With the primary
only a few weeks away, Democratic candidates are looking for last minute
votes while others are looking ahead to the General Election in November.
Many Democratic candidates attended The 6th District Democratic Clubs
candidate forum at the American Legion Hall in Rosedale on Thursday,
Aug. 19. The Sixth Legislative District has a competitive House of Delegates
and Senate race. Delegates Sonny Minnick, Mike Weir, Jr. and John Olszewski,
Jr. are looking to get reelected. Although Olszewski couldn't attend
the meeting, Minnick and Weir defended the incumbents record. We brought
back money to the community for schools, roads and our seniors, Weir
said. The amount of money we brought back is phenomenal. The retired
firefighter and national guardsman is also proud of the positive grade
the Chesapeake Bay received and mentioned the crab population is the
highest its been in years. Minnick is a small business owner and will
continue to support small businesses across the state. Small business
is the backbone of our economy. Right now we are going through some
rough times. Our job is to keep small businesses in business. The three
incumbents are being challenged by six Democratic opponents in the primary.
One of the challengers is Cassandra Brown-Umoh, who said her family
has been in the area since the 1800s. She worries about crime in the
District and wants to bring in more dollars for the local schools. "I'm
the only woman that is running in the race. Diversity is our strength,"
Umoh explained. "When everyone works together, we can achieve more
as a community."
Todd Crandell is another candidate for the House and he is concerned
that the Sixth District has seen a loss of jobs over the last few decades.
We (Dundalk and Essex) are the two poorest communities in Baltimore
County, Crandell said. We developed a plan to change that. We are the
only ones to develop a plan to improve our community. Crandell is on
a ticket with Jordan Hadfield, who is challenging Incumbent Norman Stone
for the senate seat. Hadfield said he loves Dundalk just as much as
anyone else but wants to see a change. He is promoting his campaign
Blueprint of Progress If you haven't thought about moving into Rosedale,
Essex or Dundalk, you should think about it in the next four years,
Hadfield told the crowd. We are going to make some changes. Stone is
proud that the General Assembly funded education and public service
while still cutting $5.7 million from the budget. Stone said he voted
against all tax increases and will continue to vote against them in
the future. "I'm a conservative Democratic. I'm anti-taxes, explained
Stone. I don't vote for tax increases, I believe you can cut the budget
before we raise taxes."
Another primary to
watch is the Sixth District Coucilmanic race. Councilman Joe Bartenfelder
gave up his seat to enter the County Executive race. Three Democrats
are competing for that vacant seat. Democrats Cathy Bevins, Todd Schuler
and Steve Verch are competing for the nomination. Sept. 14 has to be
about electing me for the County Council, Schuler stated. Bevins didn't
attend the event. Verch is running on the platform of creating term
limits for county council members. "Some folks have been in office
for too long. We need to set term limits, Verch added. We don't have
to worry about pensions with term limits. Councilmen can take their
401K to their next job."
Candidates for the House of Delegates 8th District, Cal Bowman and Ruth
Baisden and Delegate Eric Bromwell don't face any opposition in the
primary, but will face three Republican opponents in November. Perhaps
Bromwell summed it up best for the Democrats. This is a Democratic region.
There are more Democrats than Republicans. If all the Democrats vote
for the Democrats, we win.
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