Since we are all immersed in the political hubbub until November, this seems like a timely post reminding us of who our officials are. And we can look at some maps and kinda sorta relate it to our garden club districts. Here is the current Congressional District Map:
Our U.S. Senators are:
Barbara Mikulski (D) who ends her term in 2017.
Christopher Van Hollen (D) will be running for that seat against Del. Kathy Szeliga (R)
Ben Cardin (D) (2007- )
Our U.S. Representatives are
Andy Harris R District 1—upper half of Carroll vs Joe Werner (D)
Dutch Ruppersberger, D District 2 vs Pat McDonough (R)
John Sarbanes D District 3- vs Mark Plaster (R)
Donna Edwards D DIstrict 4 Not running for reelection. So for her seat, Anthony Brown (D) vs Geo McDermott (R)
Steny Hoyer (D) District 5 vs Mark Arness (R).
John Delaney (D) District 6 vs Amie Hoeber (R)
Elijah Cummings (D) District 7 vs Corrogan R. Vaugn
Chris Van Hollen (D) District 8–lower half of Carroll. Declined to run in order to go for Mikulski’s seat. So Jamie Raskin vs Dan Cox R
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Now we go to Maryland State Level.
Governor Larry Hogan (R) (2015- )
Lt. Governor Boyd K. Rutherford
Attorney General Brian E. Frosh
Comptroller Peter Franchot
Treasurer Nancy Kopp
Maryland State Legislature
Meets 90 calendar days, next session begins January 11, 2017.
There are 47 districts represented by 47 senators and 141 delegates. Below is the current districting.
These are the Senators that cover the area FGC of MD calls ” Western Maryland-District V”. (Carroll County is in bold.)
Gail H. Bates District 9
George C. Edwards District 1
Guy Guzzle District 13
Michael Hough District 4
Edward Kasemeyer District 12
Justin Ready District 5
Adrew Serafini District 2
Ronald Young District 3
These are the (24) Maryland House Delegates for Western Maryland-District V. (Carroll County in bold)
Kathy Afzali 4
Vanessa E Atterbeary 13
Wndell R Beitzel 1A
Jason Buckell 1B
Barrie S Ciliberti 4
Eric Ebersole 12
Robert Flnagan 9B
William Folden 3B
Terri L. Hill 12
Trent Kittleman 9A
Susan Krebs 5
Carol Krim 3A
Clarence Lam 12
Mike McKay 1C
Warren E. Miller 9A
Neil Parrott 2A
Shane Pendergrass 13
April Rose 5
Haven Shoemaker 5
Frank S. Turner 13
David E. Vogt III 4
Brett Wilson 2B
William J Wivell 2A
Karen Lewis Young 3A
Let’s do a quick analysis of the State Democrat/Republican Balances by numbers looking from the perspective of garden club districts. This is just an interesting exercise to see how our garden club districts compare politically.
*Note Shared means that the Senator or Delegates District crossed our version of Garden club Districts-for example serves in both our Districts I and II.
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Republican Senators Democrat Sen. Republican Del. Democrat Del.
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Eastern Shore is Federated Garden Clubs of MD District I: Caroline, Cecil, Dorchester, Kent, Queen Anne’s, Somerset, Talbot, Wicomico, Worcester
Tallies: 2 + 1 shared 1 9+2 shared 1
Southern Maryland is our District II: Anne Arundel, Calvert, Charles, Prince George, St. Mary’s
Tallies: 3 11 11 31
Our District III is represented by Baltimore County and Harford County.
Tallies: 3 +1 shared 4+1 shared 10+2 shared 13+3 shared
Our District IV is solely Baltimore City.
Tallies: 0 5+ 1 shared 0 16
Our District V, Western Maryland, comprises Allegany, Carroll, Frederick, Garrett, Howard and Washington Counties.
Tallies: 5 1 16 5+ 3 shared
What is missing in our District analysis is Montgomery County, MD which seems to be considered not part of FCGMD but the Capital District.
Tallies: 0 8 0 24
Our District V has the largest number of Republican Senators and Delegates (not shared), ties for lowest number of Democrat Senators and is beat for lowest Democrat Delegates by the Eastern Shore,District I.
Districts II, III and IV have the strongest Democrat influence by numbers as seen in our club districts.
Outlier Montgomery County has the most overwhelming preponderance of Democrats with no Senators or Delegates who are Republican. Interestingly, there is a redistricting lawsuit going forward concerning a map drawn by Democrats after the 2010 census, to ensure control of congressional seats. It took advantage of Montgomery County’s vast number of Dems. According WAPO, “the redistricting specifically targeted western Maryland’s 6th District, where lines were altered to help unseat 10-term incumbent Rep. Roscoe G. Bartlett (R). Bartlett was defeated by John Delaney (D) in 2012.” Yup. Politics is a dirty business.
