Congressman Steny Hoyer speaks with Calvert commissioner candidate Holly Heintz Budd, right.
Prince Frederick, MD – The final Saturday before a Primary Election is a time to charge up the party stalwarts. On Saturday, June 23 Calvert County Democrats held a parking lot party with the aim at rallying the troops for Tuesday’s Primary. “It’s the most important election I’ve ever been involved in,” said Congressman Steny Hoyer, who has been involved in campaigns since the mid-1960s. “This election is about your neighbors and friends. The soul and character of America—that’s what is at risk.” Hoyer added that the 2020 Election—a presidential year—will be even more important.
Noting the presence of Maryland Senate President Mike Miller at the gathering at Calvert Democratic Headquarters in Prince Frederick, praised the lawmaker as “the most committed and loyal Democrat in the state.” Hoyer also made mention of a full-page ad that appeared in a daily newspaper in which another Democrat—State Comptroller Peter Franchot—urged District 27 voters to reject Miller’s bid for re-election and instead back newcomer Tommi Makila. Hoyer called the ad “crap” and said it “is just wrong.” Hoyer called Miller “a bull in a China shop,” explaining that the senate president’s brand of politics might bruise some feelings of other legislators and elected officials but the results help Marylanders in areas such as education, environment and employment.
“This is the start of something big,” said Miller, when he addressed the crowd. “We are going to take back the courthouse, the state house and in 2020 we’re going to take back the White House.”
“We have to beat Larry Hogan in November,” said gubernatorial candidate Jim Shea. “He’s been constrained in his first term because he wanted to get re-elected.” Shea observed that many Democrats like and support Hogan “because he hasn’t done that much harm.” That would change in a second-term, according to Shea, who predicted Hogan in his second term will be posturing to become a national GOP figure, to the detriment of the state.
Prior to addressing the crowd, Shea told TheBayNet.com that he had started his day of campaigning in his home jurisdiction Baltimore County prior to driving to Southern Maryland and planned to continue his campaign swing that afternoon in Montgomery County. Shea is one of nine Democratic candidates on the Primary Election ballot.
Local candidates attending the rally gave brief remarks to the rally.
One of the candidates, Holly Heintz Budd, who is running for county commissioner in the Third Election District, proudly noted that an incumbent Republican commissioner recently labeled her a “too far left environmental wacko extremist” prompting cheers from the crowd.
Delegate Michael Jackson told the partisans to “capitalize on the things we’ve done” to benefit constituents. Jackson added that it was crucial to vote in both June and November. “If Democrats vote we win,” he said.
Contact Marty Madden at marty.madden@thebaynet.com
