ICC opposition put Navarro over the top

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:

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.