While there’s a lot of campaigning left to do, I decided to put together a panel of six people that are pretty involved in the happenings within our county so that we can figure out which candidates may be leading this race a few months before the primaries.
Our panel consists of the following people (top left to right in the photo, then bottom left to right):
• Laura Stewart (Education Advocate)
• Kevin O’Rourke (Founder/Editor, GermantownPulse.net)
• Ryan Miner (Founder/Editor, AMinerDetail.com)
• Dan Reed (Founder/Editor, JustUpThePike.com)
• Alex Tsironis (MCPS Teacher, Founder/Editor, www.mocoshow.com)
• Andrew Ross (Owner, Great Kids Events)
Here’s how this works:
We each submitted a “Top Ten” list of candidates that we feel have the best chance at winning. The lists provided were not to be influenced by any candidate(s) we may support personally.
A first place finish on the list earns the candidate 10 points, second place earns the candidate 9 points, third place = 8 points and so on. No points are awarded to candidates left off of any list.
The total points were added up and a “Top Ten” list of candidates was created based on how many points each candidate earned through their ranking on our panelists lists (all candidates can be found here: www.paulbessel.com/montgomery-county-maryland-candidates-list/#county_council_at_large_filed)
10. Cherri Branson (Montgomery County’s Procurement Director)
9. Danielle Meitiv (“Free Range Mom”)
8. Jill Ortman-Fouse (Montgomery County Board of Education Member)
7. Will Jawando (Attorney/Activist)
6. Hoan Dang (Community Organizer/Activist)
5. Marilyn Balcombe (President, Gaithersburg/Germantown Chamber of Commerce)
4. Gabe Albornoz (Montgomery County’s Recreation Director)
3. Bill Conway (Attorney)
2. Evan Glass (Executive Director- Gandhi Brigade)
1. Hans Riemer (Montgomery County Council President)
A few notes:
– Every panelist listed at least one candidate that didn’t make the cumulative list.
– All but two panelists had sole incumbent, Hans Riemer, in the first place slot on their list.
– The absence of a name on the “Top Ten” list does not mean that candidate does not have a chance to win, just as the presence of a name on the list does not guarantee anything.
– One candidate made the majority of the panelists lists, but still did not earn enough points to make the top ten cumulative list.
- One candidate only made two of the panelists lists and still made the top ten cumulative list.
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