Gubernatorial candidate Anthony Brown on Saturday touted the support he’s getting from local elected officials in his quest to win Montgomery County.
Brown, Gov. Martin O’Malley’s lieutenant governor, and running mate Ken Ulman, Howard County Executive, are facing Attorney General and former Montgomery State’s Attorney Doug Gansler and Takoma Park state delegate Heather Mizeur in the 2014 Democratic primary.
The Brown campaign held the event — in which it announced endorsements from 16 elected officials in Montgomery — at the town hall of the Town of Chevy Chase, not far from where Gansler lives.
“Maryland leads and Montgomery County public officials are on the leading edge of the leadership,” Brown said. “What I know is that no matter where you find people, they want the same things for themselves and for their family. They want opportunities made possible by a good education. They want to raise their families in a safe neighborhood with a clean environment, access to quality medical care. They want to live in a society that is just, with a justice system that is fair.”
Brown talked about his military service, the state’s recent new laws on gun control and the death penalty repeal and private-public partnership legislation that the state hopes to use to finance and build the Purple Line light rail. He also pledged his support to Montgomery County’s planned push for state construction funding in the 2014 General Assembly.
Councilmembers Valerie Ervin, Nancy Navarro and Hans Riemer lent their support, as well as a number of state legislators and municipal leaders.
“We talked about transportation funding. We talked about reliable electricity. We talked about a lot of different issues. And I thought that discussion really inspired a lot of confidence from me in what kind of governor he would be,” Riemer said of his conversations with Brown.
Navarro said the goal for her and the rest of Brown’s endorsers is clear — help Brown and Ulman win Montgomery County in the June 24 primary.
She touted the accomplishments of the term-limited O’Malley administration during the Great Recession and cautioned against going a different direction.
“We understood that we had to be very focused on our economic development strategy and at the same time, very focused on those issues that affect the most vulnerable,” Navarro said. “We don’t need to switch and to experiment. What we need to do is continue to support this extraordinary leader to take us, now that times are getting better, to take us to that next level.”
Ervin — misakenly — sounded the same message, urging people to volunteer for the O’Malley campaign, before correcting herself.
“In Montgomery County, we’re about to make history very soon,” Ervin said. “The word courage comes to mind and the root of the word courage is heart. And we have two gentleman standing behind me that are the epitome of heart, because they could be doing anything with their lives that they want to. They’re very highly educated, bright, talented, young men and they’ve chosen to spend their lives in service for all of us. For that, we have to say thank you.”
