Leslie Richards's Electoral History

Josh Shapiro and Leslie Richards (www.shapirorichards.com) are the Democratic candidates running for Montgomery County Commissioner this year. Shapiro is fairly well known, Richards less so. Since I took a look at the electoral history of one of the Republican candidates last month it seemed prudent to look at Richards's as well.

She was elected to the Whitemarsh Board of Supervisors in 2007.

Three Democrats ran in the primary (# votes in parentheses): Sara Erlbaum (895) Leslie S. Richards (863) David E. Brooke (850)

In the general election the three Democrats ran against three Republicans. Vote totals for the Democrats were all higher than the Republicans. Vote totals for the Dems and the percentage of overall votes is listed below:

Leslie S. Richards 2,421 (18.56%) Sara Erlbaum 2,344 (17.97%) David E. Brooke 2,280 (17.48%)

The Republican with the highest number of votes was Richard Cutler with 2,032 (15.58%). He was only about 250 votes behind the lowest Dem vote getter, but nearly 400 behind Richards.

There is always a higher turnout in a general election than a primary so comparing the two is a little difficult but I did notice that while Richards came in second in the D primary she came in first in the general, not only getting more votes than all the Republicans but more than all the other Democrats.

I haven't been able to find out much about the campaign but one might assume that Richards was out hustling for votes during the summer and fall of 2007. In any event she has some experience with a contested election, has worked with a team of candidates, and can draw broad support from the community.

[Source note: if you want to review the returns yourself, they are at: http://voterservices.montcopa.org/voterservices/cwp/view,a,1459,q,66459.asp