It was another day on the campaign trail for candidates vying for political office in the November election as the Business Alliance of Charles County (BACC) hosted a meet and greet Thursday, Oct. 9 at Middleton Hall in Waldorf.
The event was held in an unstructured environment with candidates standing at stations handing out information and conferring with constituents..
Despite the low turnout of John Q. Public, BACC President/CEO Ken Gould said the candidates responded.
“We had more come who didn’t register,” Gould said, “and we had some people register who didn’t attend.”
The upcoming election has its share of interesting races. While some of the county commissioner races may have been settled in the primary earlier this summer, several of the districts may face interesting challenges.
Melanie Holland, who only lost to Democratic incumbent Debra Davis by 400 votes in June, has launched a write-in campaign in the District 3 race.
“We’ve been getting the word out,” Holland said. “We’ve been very busy putting up signs and meeting with people.”
Davis said she is excited about the make-up of the new board.
“I will just be glad when all the campaigning is over and we can get to work,” she stated.
District II candidate Ken Robinson is facing Republican challenger Charles Lollar, who ran an unsuccessful candidacy for governor in the primary, then turned his attention toward the local race.
“We’ve been a Democratic county for as long as anyone can remember,” Robinson said. “As long as I get the Democratic vote, we should be just fine.”
Robinson predicts a larger turnout for the general election than the paltry 22 percent which emerged to vote in the primary.
“We should be in the 51, 53 percent range,” he conjectured.
Candidates for Charles County Circuit Court Judge were in attendance, including judges Jerome Spencer and H. James West and contender Thomas Simpson.
Many candidates for the Charles County Board of Education were present, including Virginia “Ginny” McGraw, former Principal of the Year in Charles County at J.P. Ryan.
“I retired from the public school system, but then I realized, I’m not done yet,” McGraw said. “I have a lot more to offer yet.”
McGraw’s daughter Christina works at Thomas Stone High School in special education.
“It runs in the family,” McGraw said.
Contact Joseph Norris at joe.norris@thebaynet.com