BREAKING: Prince George's Officials to Back Derrick Leon Davis for County Council

UPDATE: Today's canvass-rally has been re-scheduled from SAT 8/26 to SAT 9/10. Irene!

Tomorrow, numerous Prince George's elected officials are expected to back Derrick Leon Davis for County Council. Davis is running for the District 6 seat which is currently up for a special election (voting info here).

The dates for the Special Primary Election and the Special General Election are September 20, 2011 and October 18, 2011, respectively. The polls for each election open at 7:00 A.M. and close at 8:00 P.M.

Mr. Davis hails from Mitchellville, Maryland and is a former O'Malley appointee and Chair of the Maryland Automobile Insurance Fund. According to an invitation leaked to Maryland Juice, tomorrow Davis is hosting a morning rally-canvass featuring the following special guests:

• Senator Joanne Benson, District 24
• Delegate Aisha Braveboy, District 25
• Delegate Derick E. Davis, District 25
• Delegate Justin Ross, District 22
• State's Attorney Angela Alsobrooks, Prince George's Co.

The Saturday, August 20th event is being hosted at Davis' campaign office at 1101 Mercantile Lane (the former Prince George's office of the Obama campaign). The schedule calls for a 9:30 am canvass, followed by a 2:30 pm volunteer party.

It is not surprising to see Democratic officials closing ranks behind Davis, as he was the runner up in the 2010 Democratic Primary for District 6 County Council:

COUNTY COUNCIL 6 - 2010 Democratic Primary Results 

1. Johnson, Leslie E. 5176
2. Davis, Derrick Leon 4049
3. Turner, Arthur 1404
4. Bethea, Venus 822
5. Polk, Mark A 662
6. Abdullah, Abdul-Rahe 436

The Prince George's Democrats are also likely to rally behind a single candidate to help them move past the incidents that gave rise to the special election. In 2010, Davis was bested by Leslie Johnson, wife of then County Executive Jack Johnson. As the Washington Post wrote, Johnson stepped down from the District 6 Council seat after facing criminal charges:

She pleaded guilty in June to charges of destroying evidence in a far-reaching federal corruption probe that ensnared her husband, former Prince George’s County executive Jack B. Johnson (D). Jack Johnson is scheduled to be sentenced Sept. 15.

District 6 is heavily Democratic (O'Malley beat Ehrlich here 91.28% to 8.14% in 2010), so the winner of the September 20th Democratic Primary will almost certainly win the General Election. The P.G. Politics Blog has a compilation of candidates' statements, websites, and contact information.

The remaining 13 candidates include Arthur Turner, who placed third in the 2010 Democratic Primary. Their names, along with their cities of residence, are as follows:

1. Venus Bethea, Upper Marlboro
2. Van Caldwell, Upper Marlboro
3. Thirl Crudup, Upper Marlboro
4. Wanda Dixon McKnight, Capitol Heights
5. Esther Hankerson, Upper Marlboro
6. Wayne Lynwood Leach II, Upper Marlboro
7. Cassandra "Casey" Lewis, Upper Marlboro
8. Margaret Okoroji-Schaeffer, Upper Marlboro
9. Christine Osei, Bowie
10. Mark Polk, Lanham
11. Brad Donnie Ray, Largo
12. Sherine Taylor, Largo
13. Arthur Turner, Largo

The Gazette previously noted Derrick Leon Davis' support from Prince George's Executive Rushern Baker:

Baker has been seen at fundraisers last week for Davis, and told reporters Tuesday he supports Davis for the seat. [Arthur] Turner has been endorsed by former Councilman Samuel H. Dean (D-Dist. 6) of Mitchellville...

With this development, Davis appears to be cleaning up in the race -- but we'll be keeping our eyes on any potential gamechangers!