Three incumbent state legislators in District 15—Sen. Brian Feldman of Potomac and Dels. Kathleen Dumais of Rockville and David Fraser-Hidalgo of Boyds—filed for re-election this week, and announced they will run together as the “District 15 Team Slate.”
“Over the past several years, we have formed a close working relationship,” they said in a joint statement. “Our diverse areas of legislative expertise and focus, as well as our various committee assignments, have benefitted our constituents and we look forward to continuing to serve the residents of District 15.”
A fourth incumbent in the district, Del. Aruna Miller, is giving up her seat to run for Congress.
Slating allows candidates to pool funds and share costs during primary and general elections.
The District 15 announcement follows a similar move in August by three incumbents in neighboring District 16—Sen. Susan Lee and Dels. Ariana Kelly and Marc Korman, all of Bethesda. The remaining incumbent there, Del. Bill Frick, is running for county executive.
It appears that incumbents in several other of the county’s eight legislative districts will campaign jointly:
• In Rockville/Gaithersburg-based District 17, Dels. Kumar Barve, Jim Gilchrist and Andrew Platt announced last week that they would jointly seek re-election. Rockville Councilwoman Julie Palakovich Carr is also running in next June’s Democratic primary.
• In Silver Spring/Takoma Park-based District 20, Sen. Will Smith and Dels. David Moon and Jheanelle Wilkins will announce plans after Thanksgiving to run as a slate. Veteran Del. Sheila Hixson announced her retirement this week.
• In District 19, which stretches from Silver Spring to Gaithersburg, Del. Ben Kramer—running for state Senate—and Dels. Bonnie Cullison and Maricé Morales are expected to form a slate. Current Sen. Roger Manno is running for Congress; Kramer’s move to succeed him has opened a delegate seat.
At this stage, there appears to be little prospect that the incumbent slates in Districts 15, 16, 19 and 20 will seek to anoint a non-incumbent to join them for the seats that Miller, Frick, Kramer and Hixson are giving up.
Sources said some incumbents in these districts are leery of being seen as attempting to dictate to voters, particularly in light of recent political blowback in District 39, which extends from North Potomac through Germantown.
In that instance, Sen. Nancy King and Dels. Shane Robinson and Kirill Reznik opted to add Lesley Lopez to their slate over several other Democratic primary contenders vying for the seat of Del. Charles Barkley, who is running for County Council.
A different dynamic exists in District 18, which is centered in Chevy Chase. There, only one incumbent—Del. Al Carr of Kensington—is seeking re-election.
In that instance, there has been speculation about the emergence of rival slates formed by activist Dana Beyer and by Del. Jeff Waldstreicher, who are vying to succeed Sen. Richard Madaleno, a candidate for governor.
