Frick Back In Delegates Race, Filing Deadline Roundup

Del. Bill Frick, at an attorney general candidates forum in October, will run for re-election in District 16, via mdfriendofhillary

Tuesday’s filing deadline produced a big surprise in the local County Council race and a big change in a local House of Delegates race.

We told you about former County Councilmember Duchy Trachtenberg’s near last-minute filing to take on incumbent Roger Berliner for the District 1 Council seat.

Turns out there was more drama to come.

At about 8 p.m., an hour before the filing deadline, District 16 Del. Bill Frick decided to bow out of the race for attorney general and file for re-election to his House of Delegates seat.

Frick’s re-entry into the District 16 discussion now means two of three incumbents — Frick and Del. Ariana Kelly — are up for re-election. The third, Del. Susan Lee, is running to take over the seat of State Sen. Brian Frosh, who is running for attorney general.

That adds more intrigue to a Democratic primary for three seats that for more than a year was thought to include two open seats. Lawyer and local party official Marc Korman and lawyer Hrant Jamgochian were thought by many to be the frontrunners for those two open seats.

Frick’s last-minute reversal makes the situation more complicated. The Bethesda resident was trailing at least three other candidates — including Frosh — in attorney general polls. As the race shaped up last year, many thought Frick would leave politics before running again for delegate.

Also in the Democratic primary for District 16 will be Jordan Cooper, Peter Dennis, Karen Kuker-Kihl and Gareth Murray. Rose Maria Li will run unopposed in the Republican primary.

As for Lee, she has two late contenders for the State Senate seat: Potomac’s J’aime Drayton and Bethesda lawyer Hugh Hill.

Bethesda resident Meyer Marks, who was weighing a bid for District 16 delegate, will run as a Republican for the Senate seat.

There were few last day surprises in District 18, where all three delegate incumbents and incumbent State Sen. Rich Madaleno have already slated up. Incumbents Al Carr, Ana Sol Gutierrez and Jeff Waldstreicher will take on challengers Natali Fani-Gonzalez, Rick Kessler, Elizabeth Matory and Emily Shetty in the Democratic primary.

Madaleno will have competition from transgender rights activist Dana Beyer.

The Berliner vs. Trachtenberg race will be interesting. Trachtenberg served as an at-large council member from 2006-2010, then lost her re-election bid when newcomer Hans Riemer won an at-large seat with labor union support. Here’s the potential dynamic, as explained by the Washington Post’s Bill Turque:

The District 1 contest could be a grudge match of sorts. After allying with Trachtenberg on many issues, Berliner endorsed Riemer in the 2010 primary, a move that political insiders say Trachtenberg regarded as a personal betrayal.

Here’s some more insight from David Lublin, Town of Chevy Chase council member and author of the Seventh State blog:

My immediate guess is this race will be ugly. Neither minds throwing a rhetorical punch or arguing their case. Duchy will probably try to paint herself as the true progressive woman as opposed to insider lawyer Berliner.

Roger has $52K in his campaign kitty while Duchy has $123K. Both will raise more. Each has their set of fans but also have developed some enemies in the district. It will be interesting to see if any of Duchy’s former colleagues endorse her over Roger, their current colleague.

In other filing day news, Kevin Walling — who had previously announced he’d be running for District 16 delegate — is instead running for an at-large spot on the Democratic Central Committee. Wendy Cohen, Loretta Jean Garcia and Almina Khorakiwala are running for the two District 16 seats on the Central Committee.  There are eight at-large seats.

Cohen, a vice president at the American Gastroenterological Association, and Khorakiwala, an active member of the county and state Democratic party, are part of a larger slate of local party members.

All four at-large Council incumbents — Riemer, Marc Elrich, Nancy Floreen and George Leventhal — are running for re-election. They’ll be challenged by Democrats Beth Daly and Vivian Malloy.

In the Republican mix for at-large Council seats is Robert Dyer, the Bethesda resident known for his blog on Bethesda. According to his website, he’s running on a three-point platform that includes the preservation of affordable housing and “new growth and development policies will incentivize construction of low-density, Levittown-style subdivisions with affordable single-family homes with lots sized to expand as families grow.”

Dyer also ran as a Republican for an at-large Council seat in 2010.

Flickr photo via mdfriendofhillary

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