Top, left to right, Barbara Thompson, Todd Morgan and Greg Sauter; bottom, left to right, Jerry Clark, Don Statter and Ted LeBlanc.
Prince Frederick, MD – With the looming resignation of longtime Southern Maryland legislator Tony O’Donnell, the race to replace is underway. Six Republicans who have indicated they will seek the soon-to-be-vacant seat representing House of Delegates District 29-C addressed partisans and the press Monday evening, June 13 at Calvert Elks Lodge. The session was hosted by the Calvert County Republican Men’s Club as part of their monthly meeting.
Recently, Governor Larry Hogan appointed O’Donnell, who has served in the Maryland House of Delegates since 1994, to the state’s Public Service Commission (PSC). O’Donnell told The BayNet earlier this month that he will be sworn in as a commissioner on the utilities panel later this summer.
District 29C includes lower Calvert and a portion of central St. Mary’s. The sections are linked by The Governor Thomas Johnson Bridge.
The candidates currently vying for recommendations from the counties’ two Republican central committees and, eventually, Hogan’s appointment to fill O’Donnell’s unexpired term are—from Calvert County, former county commissioner Jerry Clark, former committee member Don Statter and Orphans Court Judge Ted LeBlanc—and from St. Mary’s, incumbent Commissioner Todd Morgan, former commissioner Barbara Thompson and St. Mary’s Republican Club President Greg Sauter.
Each candidate was given time to state their case for receiving the appointment.
Sauter, a Naval Academy graduate who has lived in St. Mary’s County for almost 20 years, cited his experience working on the successful GOP campaigns in the county in 2014 and his experience lobbying in Annapolis on behalf of the Prolife Movement as two of his assets. “I’ve always been frustrated with Maryland politics,” said Sauter, who pledged to continue O’Donnell’s advocacy of conservative values.
“We’re a ‘red’ district,” he stated. “You need someone you can trust.”
“It’s a great opportunity to represent Calvert and St. Mary’s,” said Morgan, who added he would work with both counties’ boards of commissioners. “I’m a fiscal conservative. I’ve made friends on both sides of the aisle.” Regarding the Thomas Johnson Bridge, Morgan declared, “I think there are lots of things we can do for the economy on both sides of the bridge.”
LeBlanc, an attorney, outlined his career as a small business owner and promised to “promote smaller government. I want to do what I say I’m going to do. You always knew where Tony stood.” He affirmed is support of the current governor, adding that he was on Hogan’s “team.”
“Things have really changed and I’m happy to have been part of it,” said Thompson, a former county commissioners’ president from 1994 to 1998. “It’s important to have people in Annapolis who are familiar with local government.” Thompson noted that she ran against Roy Dyson in the 1998 state senate race in the two counties. “I have campaigned in Calvert County before and did very well.”
Statter noted that he worked on O’Donnell’s first campaign in 1994 and strongly supports the lawmaker’s efforts to expand aquaculture in the region. The initiative, he said, is the region’s best hope for returning to the status of major player in the seafood industry. “We need to return to that,” he said. “We’ve got to get the bureaucracy out of the way.” Statter said he is a geologist by training and is concerned about the possibility that the region’s aquifers could run dry. “We need people in Annapolis who know about that [geology and aquifers],” said Statter.
“I know the lower end of Calvert County better than anybody,” said Clark, who also mentioned he has previously owned commercial property in St. Mary’s. Clark stated that he strong support for the Dominion Cove Point project may have been his undoing in his successful primary campaign seeking a fourth term on the Calvert Board of County Commissioners. He asked the Republican stalwarts to not hold it against him but during the 2014 campaign he received “unsolicited donations from unions” due to his support for Dominion’s controversial export project.
Two current members of the Southern Maryland Delegation—Senator Steve Waugh of District 29 and Delegate Deb Rey of District 29B—were on hand for the meeting. Both spoke briefly to the gathering.
“Thanks for competing,” Waugh told the six candidates.
Contact Marty Madden at marty.madden@thebaynet.com
