DC Mayor, MD Governor Races Heat Up

With primary elections only five months away, races at every level are beginning to heat up, DC and Maryland included.

In DC, Mayor Adrian Fenty's reelection bid appears to dace a formidable challenge in DC Council Chairman Vincent Gray. Gray, who officially announced his candidacy to be the Democratic nominee for Mayor on Tuesday, appears poised to mount a campaign challenging Fenty's sway over African American voters, a group with which Fenty has recently struggled.

Due to DC being an overwhelmingly Democratic city, the Democratic party's primary is widely considered the true competitive race for mayor. Despite this sentiment, Rob Noel, GW college Republicans communications director refused to rule out the possibility of a strong Republican candidate.

"The citizens of DC are beginning to warm to many republican positions, perhaps most notably the school choice program that republicans advocate," Noel said in an email to WRGW, "Parents are tired of sending their children to DCs (sic) failing public schools and would greatly benefit from the ability to send their children to thriving private schools. A Republican mayor would likely work hard to give them that opportunity."

Michael Garber, Noel's counterpart in the College Republicans, denied to throw support behind a particular candidate in the primary, vowing to support whoever wins that election during the general contest.

In a more traditional partisan race, Maryland Governor Martin O'Malley, a Democrat, appears to most likely face Republican Robert Ehrlich in a rematch of the 2006 contest. The Washington Post reported Tuesday that Ehrlich plans to ride a wave of "anti-incumbent, anti-spending" sentiment among voters to the statehouse.

Despite these sentiments, polls show Ehrlich behind O'Malley by 6.5 points, a margin similar to his loss in the 2006 election.

The College Republicans described Ehrlich as "a strong candidate...[with] a strong platform to run on," specifically noting his previous stint as governor of Maryland. They demurred when asked to explicitly support him, however, electing to await the result of the state's Republican primary.

The College Democrats expressed support for O'Malleys candidacy, and are "looking forward to the challenge" posed by his reelection campaign.