Prince George's County Maryland--no longer Ward 9

People often refer derisively to Prince George's County Maryland as "Ward 9" (DC has 8 wards) as that county was the primary destination for African-Americans moving out of the center city. These days, PG County is a majority African-American county with the highest income of any such county in the U.S., and this has been written up in many publications across the country, including the New York Times Magazine maybe 6 years ago.

Today's Baltimore Sun reports, in "Prince George's pivotal in '06 vote," that PG County is a lot more than merely a DC suburban bastion. From the article:

"The '06 election is going to be won or lost in Prince George's," said state Sen. Ulysses E. Currie, a Democrat from the county. "The governor was in Prince George's two days ago. Mfume was there. Ben was there. O'Malley was there. Everyone realizes you have to go through Prince George's.

"The story of the 2002 election was Gov. Robert L. Ehrlich Jr.'s ability to win over swing voters in moderate and conservative suburbs around Baltimore. But politicians and strategists from both parties say that demographics, voting patterns and the dynamics of this campaign will make Prince George's a pivotal battleground in 2006.

The county has long been neck-and-neck with Baltimore City as the state's most solidly Democratic jurisdiction - in presidential and gubernatorial races, both routinely give the Democratic nominee more than 75 percent of the vote. But in raw numbers, the growing suburban county has far eclipsed the city. Kathleen Kennedy Townsend, the Democratic nominee for governor in 2002, beat Ehrlich by nearly 106,000 votes in Prince George's. She won Baltimore City by 81,000 and Montgomery County by 67,000.

By itself, Prince George's offset Ehrlich's margin in 16 other counties combined, though his margins in Anne Arundel and Baltimore counties, where turnout was high, were enough to carry him to victory. Since then, more than 47,000 new Democrats have registered to vote in Prince George's. The county has the third-most registered voters in the state, behind Montgomery and Baltimore counties, and the most registered Democrats.