Register of Will's race Prince George's County

Anthony D. Muse is a new source for me let me know what you think of the interview. We're talking about the Register of Will's race in Prince George's County. I'm not comfortable putting Jocelyn Route in a good light. I think she's a fundamentally bad person. I let Anthony D. do his own format and edit it and I'm just introducing it so it doesn't matter whether I'm thrilled or not. Let me know what you think. Do you want to hear more from Anthony D. Muse. By the way, this is not Anthony C. Muse the senator. This is the honest one.

Anthony D. Muse: Muse speaking.

Barry O’Connell: Anthony D., how are you?

Anthony D. Muse: I am doing wonderful. I wanted to talk to you about the geographic breakdown of the ever-interesting Register of Wills race. Would you like to hear the details?

Barry O’Connell: I would.

Anthony D. Muse: Most sane observers would say that this race has been between Jocelyn Route and Belinda Queen Cunningham.

Jocelyn Route is a former council member in Bladensburg and a current employee of the Braveboy administration who hails from the 47th Legislative District.

Belinda Queen Cunningham is a former Board of Education member and former County Council candidate who hails from the 25th Legislative District, but also has very strong inroads in the 24th District, where her Board of Education seat was located.

These have largely been considered the two front-running candidates in the race.

Now, there’s been a shocker in the last hours of the race. Dr. Antwan C. Brown, the former chair of the Prince George’s County Democratic Central Committee, has been endorsed by Governor Moore.

That said, Dr. Brown hails from the 26th Legislative District in the southern portion of the county, which is one of the higher-turnout districts in the county.

But before we get into the geographic breakdown, there are some larger questions:

What ballots are these candidates on?

What troops do they have?

What logistical support do they have in place to make sure volunteers and paid staff have signs, water, umbrellas, literature, and everything else they need?

What alliances have been made?

Those are the big questions.

Now let’s get into the geography.

Barry O’Connell: I’ve heard some young guy is doing ballots and polling places and making a fortune. I forget his name, but he’s somewhere around Woodmore.

Anthony D. Muse: Well, it’s an interesting young fellow. I hope to meet him one day.

Now, Dr. Brown is from District 26. However, I do not believe he is going to be on the District 26 ballot. I am uncertain if that’s true because I have not personally seen it.

Jocelyn Route hails from the 47th District and is also going to be on quite a few ballots in the 24th, where she is aligned with Tiffany Alston.

Additionally, she is on ballots associated with County Executive Braveboy and Council Member Burroughs.

Across the county, including in the 21st Legislative District, there is a smattering of support for Jocelyn Route.

Belinda Queen Cunningham, however, is on a number of down-ballot sample ballots. I won’t mention names because I don’t want to ruin anyone’s surprise, but she is appearing on quite a few.

She also has strong inroads in both the 24th and 25th Districts because of her service on the Board of Education and her previous County Council campaign.

Here’s where things get interesting.

Januari McKay, one of the more noteworthy candidates, is from the Bowie area and is on the ballot for Raheel Ahmed in the 23rd Legislative District.

I think January McKay is going to eat into votes that might otherwise have leaned toward Belinda Queen Cunningham based on familiarity.

Let me continue down the list because there are so many candidates in this race.

Kayla Bryant is also from the 47th Legislative District. She has campaign signs, but I don’t know what she is going to have in terms of broader campaign infrastructure. We can more or less consider that a wash.

David Jack from Upper Marlboro has had basically no visible campaign activity and doesn’t even have campaign signs. We can consider that a wash as well.

Stephanie Overton Sinard, who I think is a very credible and important candidate in this race, is another interesting factor.

I believe Stephanie Overton Sinard will have a sample ballot. She is endorsed by the Treasurer, and I think her support is predominantly going to be in the South County area, especially District 27 and Upper Marlboro.

Another wrinkle: Rosalyn Pugh is on the District 25 ballot, which probably takes more votes away from Belinda Queen Cunningham than anyone else.

Starsha Sewell from Capitol Heights does not appear to have campaign signs.

Desdemona Smith is from Upper Marlboro. I understand there are campaign signs, but I am skeptical about the level of resources available.

Finally, Linda Thornton Thomas is also from District 26 and lives in Temple Hills.

I imagine Antwan Brown and Linda Thornton Thomas will be among the stronger candidates in District 26.

I expect Stephanie Overton Sinard to run strongest in District 27.

Belinda Queen Cunningham likely runs strongest in Districts 24 and 25.

Jocelyn Route likely runs strongest in Districts 21 and 47.

That means Districts 22 and 23 are really where this race is going to be decided.

Barry O’Connell: Okay.

Anthony D. Muse: The Bowie polling locations and the Good Luck area are going to be particularly important.

I would also include the Beltsville early voting site among the most important locations.

Districts 22 and 23 have a lot more independent-minded voters, a lot more people who are not simply voting a slate, a lot more young voters, and a lot of newer residents.

Especially in District 22, where there are multiple new candidates on the ballot who may drive turnout, the down-ballot effects could be very significant.

Barry O’Connell: Why are there so many people running for this? It seems really unusual.

Anthony D. Muse: I think there are several reasons.

First, it’s a way to build countywide name recognition.

Second, because nobody in the race is what I would call an overwhelmingly dominant political figure.

The highest-profile candidates include a former Democratic Central Committee chair, a former council member from a relatively small municipality, and a former Board of Education member.

That means almost every serious candidate is capable of earning a meaningful vote share.

Not that Kayla Bryant is going to win, but she could receive enough votes to affect the outcome.

When you have nine or ten candidates in a race, every percentage point matters.

Barry O’Connell: It’s going to be a crazy one.

Anthony D. Muse: I think so.

If I were ranking likelihood of victory, I would put Belinda Queen Cunningham first, Jocelyn Route second, Dr. Antwan C. Brown third, Dr. Stephanie Overton Stanard fourth, and January McKay fifth.

That’s simply my opinion.

Who knows what alliances might be made, broken, or reshaped in the coming days?

This is a very interesting race, especially given the backdrop of tensions between the County Executive and County Council.

If Greg Holmes chose to endorse a candidate, I think it could have a significant impact.

Barry O’Connell: What about Peebles? I heard he endorsed Belinda.

Anthony D. Muse: He has.

Belinda Queen Cunningham is on Joel Peebles’ ballot, and I believe the Joel Peebles ballot will be one of the three most widely distributed ballots in the upcoming primary.

You want to be on that ballot.

If my understanding is correct, the three most distributed ballots will be the Braveboy ballot, the Joel Peebles ballot, and probably the Kevin Ford ballot.

Barry O’Connell: Is Adrian doing a ballot?

Anthony D. Muse: Unclear.

I am aware of some information regarding whether the Baker campaign is or is not doing one, but I don’t want to disclose information that was shared with me by Baker’s campaign manager.

Anthony D. Muse: I think this Register of Wills race is going to be one for the ages.

I have also given you the only active polling effort that I am aware of in this race, and I’ve been told on good authority that the results are expected to be released on Tuesday.

Barry O’Connell: Okay.

Anthony D. Muse: Please include the link, and please send me the transcript when this is done so I can clean it up. You have a terrible habit of making editors work harder.

Barry O’Connell: Sounds good.

Anthony D. Muse: Thank you so much, Barry. Bye-bye.

This is Anthony D. Muse signing off.

Barry O’Connell: Take care, Anthony.

Barry O’Connell: Is that D-E-Muse or D. Muse?

Anthony D. Muse: D. Muse.

Barry O’Connell: Okay.

Anthony D. Muse: Just like that.

Barry O’Connell: Talk to you later.