District held Tuesday June 17th.
By a nearly four-to-one margin, Donna Edwards defeated Republican Peter
James to serve the remaining few months of Rep. Albert Wynn's final
term. Edwards defeated Wynn 59% to 37% in the Democratic Primary held
February 12th. Wynn resigned effective June 1st, setting up this special
election. Donna will face James again this November in the regular
election contest for a full term. PDA supported Donna's run in 2006, in
which she narrowly missed beating Al Wynn. PDA made Donna's victory a
major priority in 2008, mobilizing area volunteers, working on a
"virtual phone bank," and bringing in National Board Chair Mimi Kennedy
for the home stretch. Donna appreciates PDA's help, as she wrote to PDA
members after the primary:
"[W]ith the help and support of PDA, we earned an historic victory not
only for our district, but also for progressives across the country. The
residents of Maryland's 4th Congressional District did their part to
change the ways of Washington D.C. and I am proud to now be the
Democratic congressional nominee in this great district. I want to thank
the hardworking PDA activists across the country who helped with the
predictive phone bank and contributed to my campaign, as well as, those
people throughout the district who worked as human billboards,
distributed campaign literature, made phone calls, and performed other
forms of voter outreach. I want to especially thank Tim Carpenter, Diane
Shamis, Tom Pallow, Mike Hersh, Steve Shaff and Steve Cobble for their
extraordinary leadership. I was honored to have PDA National Chair Mimi
Kennedy join me in Maryland for the final days of the primary campaign.
She, with other PDA members, attended a volunteer rally and spent the
last several days visiting metro stops, supermarkets and street corners
all over the district helping to get out the vote."
PDA volunteers worked to help Donna's campaign get out the vote today,
with visibility efforts and email. Donna's victory--earlier than
expected--gives her the chance to live up to the high expectations many
have placed on her. John Nichols and Katrina vanden Heuvel of the Nation
magazine both touted Donna as a strong candidate who could help lead
congressional Democrats in a more progressive direction. PDA
congratulates Donna, her campaign leaders, Maryland PDAers and others
who contributed to this great victory.
