ICC opposition put Navarro over the top

Government

by David Alpert • May 4, 2009 12:20 pm

Maryland Politics Watch digs into the numbers of Nancy Navarro's victory over Ben Kramer in the Democratic primary in Montgomery District 4. Navarro outperformed her 2008 performance, when she lost to Don Praisner, in almost all precincts and groups except in the Leisure World senior community. Most notably, she picked up a significant number of votes in the precincts most affected by the ICC:

Photo by Dan Reed.
One set of precincts performed differently in the two special elections: the 10 precincts along the alignment of the Intercounty Connector (ICC). Marilyn Praisner was a longtime ICC opponent. In 2008, 7 of these precincts voted for Mr. Praisner, who won the 10 precincts by 982-810 (47-39%). In 2009, 9 of these precincts voted for Navarro, who won the 10 precincts by 1,111-740 (51-34%). Kramer de-emphasized his prior support for the ICC during the campaign, but the people who lived near it were not fooled.

Had Navarro supported the freeway, she would likely have lost; had Kramer opposed it, he might have won. Supporting the project didn't seem to win Kramer many votes elsewhere, though the numbers don't reveal why Kramer's voters supported him.

Coupled with the strong popularity of the Purple Line, Montgomery County is developing a strong consensus around solving the region's mobility challenges with transit rather than more freeways.

3 comments — Share	— tags: ICC, Maryland, Montgomery, Nancy Navarro, politics

ACT produces District 4 scorecard (Apr 15, 2009)
Hear from the District 4 candidates (Mar 16, 2009)
Who's our candidate for Montgomery District 4? (Mar 4, 2009)
Residents support the Purple Line at Bethesda/Chevy Chase hearing (Nov 19, 2008)
MoCoCo picks developer over transit-oriented activist (Jun 26, 2008)

Comments

I just wish Maryland had a strong consensus on the need to pay for those transit projects.

by Adam Pagnucco on May 4, 2009 1:26 pm

What concerns me here is that the precincts' voting patterns might not actually reflect an anti-freeway, pro-transit sentiment -- but more that they reflect NIMBYism.

by Adam S on May 4, 2009 4:46 pm

To say that a candidate in that part of Moco to win a election based on Opposition to the ICC is very moronic because the ICC is already in motion for Completion and to stop it now(too late since the the last attempt to appeal it was dropped) WILL BANKRUPT the Entire State and anyone with Common Intelligence can forget about any form of updated improvements on Rapid Transit because the revenue from the ICC Tolls will be used to help financially fund transit Improvements along the ICC Corridor like the Dulles Corridor is doing for Improved Buses and the Future Silver Line Subway.

Instead of using an Political Election based on outdated(anti-Freeway) issues they should be more concerned about Importing More High Paying Jobs and Upgrading/Developing Retail Centers so that the People in Eastern Moco wouldn't have to waste Time sitting in Heavy Traffic(which is now 7 Days a Week) on I-495 to Tysons Corner, Pentagon City, DC, and Alexandria.

by Steve on May 5, 2009 5:27 am