Leading Democratic candidates fight for votes in Montgomery County special election

Nancy Navarro and Don PraisnerSILVER SPRING — Nancy Navarro and Don Praisner, the leading Democratic candidates in today’s special primary election to fill the vacant District 4 seat on the Montgomery County Council, campaigned within steps of each other at the massive Leisure World retirement community in Silver Spring, today.

“We always know that turnout will be low for a special election, but turnout is at its highest here,” said Navarro, who worked the crowd as voters came to the polls.

Praisner said of Leisure World’s electoral bounty: “It’s where the voters are.”

The District 4 seat was left open after the Feb. 1 death of Praisner’s wife, Marilyn, who was first elected to the council in 1990.

Despite early hopes, both candidates and precinct workers said turnout had been slow throughout the day, with the first voters arriving just before 7:30 a.m.

With hours to go before the polls close at 8 p.m., Navarro said she was feeling optimistic.

“We’ve run a wonderful campaign that has been very energetic and strategic.”

Navarro, the president of the Montgomery County Board of Education, said her campaign was confident that they had done enough to reach out to Latinos and labor organizations.

“In order to move the county forward—we have to have a broad base of support,” she said.

Labor unions representing school employees and government workers contributed a large sum of the $34,446 Navarro had raised for her campaign, according to a recent campaign finance report.

Praisner has raised this issue during the campaign, and he reiterated his point today, saying the contributions Navarro has received could damage her “independence” if elected to the council.

“She has not shown independence on the school board,” Praisner said of Navarro. “The superintendent runs the school system, not the school board.”

Navarro countered by saying Marilyn Praisner “accepted money from labor and it was never a story.”

Although he acknowledged his wife had accepted contributions from organized labor, Don Praisner said: “My wife had a reputation of independence that Nancy has not shown.”

If elected, Navarro said her most pressing challenge would be to reach out to the community and boost her profile, speaking to as many district and county residents as possible.

Praisner, for his part, said he would look to carry on his late wife’s “tradition of leadership.”