Expected, but yet still wonderful:

Democrat Donna F. Edwards was elected to the U.S. House of Representatives by voters in Montgomery and Prince George's Counties yesterday, becoming the first black woman selected to serve Maryland in Congress.

Edwards, 49, a lawyer and nonprofit executive from Fort Washington, defeated Republican Peter James and Libertarian Thibeaux Lincecum in a contest marked by exceptionally low turnout at the polls. Edwards will replace eight-term Rep. Albert R. Wynn (D), whom she defeated in a primary election in February.

"We've been able to do it, and with your help," she told a crowd of about 100 supporters last night at a victory party in Lanham, including House Majority Leader Steny H. Hoyer (D-Md.). "I actually cannot wait to get into the United States Congress."

Welcome, Congresswoman Edwards.

Donna Edwards has just taken the stage at the SEIU convention after a passionate introduction: "The new voice for working people in Maryland."

Edwards: "In about 2 weeks I'm going to represent the 4th congressional district in Maryland and it's because of you!"

Stream is HERE.

.TV online : provided by Ustream

Update [2008-6-3 10:36:15 by Todd Beeton]:Edwards: "Workers should have the right to get together, to organize because it benefits not just you in organized labor but it benefits me too."

"To all you banks and credit card companies that got away with just about everything over the last 20 years: 'game over.' We're going to say to the oil and gas companies, 'you know what, your good times, gone!' To WalMart and all those other marts, 'you can not take advantage of workers in the United States and workers around the world and get away with it. Game over!' So I'm gonna mosey on back to Prince George's County and compete in that special election on June 17th and then I'm going to go to work for you."

I like this "game over" theme.

Update [2008-6-3 10:40:7 by Todd Beeton]:That was quick. She was great, I'll throw the video up when it's ready.

Rep. Albert Wynn, D-Md., whose backing of the war in Iraq led to his defeat in the primary, will announce his resignation from Congress this afternoon, Democratic Party sources said. Wynn, who lost in the primary to Donna Edwards, has scheduled an announcement for 2 p.m. He is expected to leave in June.

This is from nationaljournal.com. I do not have an exact link yet.

Still waiting on results from MD-04 where progressive challenger Donna Edwards is trying to take out entrenched Rep. Al Wynn. Matt Stoller is out in the field and has been reporting some good numbers from the precincts that have reported. Cautious optimism...

Stoller calls in to tell me that they have two precincts in.  Montgomery County #521 which went 59% to 35% for Wynn last time, went 508 votes to 167 this votes this time around for Edwards.
Also, Prince Georges County 13-13 which went 60% to 38% in favor of Wynn last time, was 415 (Edwards) to 432 (Wynn) this time.

So, way early. But two precincts in with favorable results.
Update (Chris): 0504 Montgomery 371-161. In 2006 it went 280-161 for Edwards last time. Monto 1313: 2006 Edwards got 348-122. This time, 654-148. Mont Co 13-15: 489-94 in 2006. 694-92. Looking excellent.

Update [2008-2-12 23:9:32 by Todd Beeton]:With 51% reporting Donna is up 59-37. She's expanding her lead now. Amazing. Chris Bowers has some thoughts on what an Edwards victory means.

Update [2008-2-13 0:17:14 by Todd Beeton]:WashingtonPost.com has called the race for Donna Edwards. Huge victory tonight. Congrats to all who really worked hard on this race, particularly Matt Stoller who really went all in on this race. Great work!

Thanks, vox populi for reminding everyone that there's an important congressional primary on Tuesday in MD-04 and to help out however you can. Wynn is desperate, he's hoping for the surge in Obama voters in his district will overwhelm the polls and vote for him as an after-thought -- name recognition and ballot placement favor him. He's also endorsed Obama and gone on TV as a surrogate for him, an appearance that was not sanctioned by the Obama campaign. Wynn is just trying to bask in the glow. The reality is, per Matt Stoller who's been doing a great job of championing Donna Edwards over at Open Left, that when Wynn endorsed him, Obama didn't send out a press release announcing it, something he always does. I should note that Donna Edwards has endorsed Barack Obama as well.

Know how else we know Wynn is desperate? Look at this last minute influx of cash -- more than $150k in the last 3 days -- Wynn received from his corporate backers, desperate at the prospect that they may lose one of their greatest shills in congress.

The thing is, they're right to be desperate. Donna right now appears strong, polling ahead of Wynn in a recent Lake Research (D) poll 40-32 and receiving a strong endorsement from The Washington Post.

For her part, though, Ms. Edwards, a lawyer and foundation executive, has been an effective, energetic advocate for a range of liberal causes -- the environment, higher minimum wages, stemming domestic violence, campaign finance reform. As a community organizer, she has been an unstinting voice for improving mass-transit options, although sometimes at the expense of building roads that the 4th District badly needs. Even in cases where she clashed with local developers, however, she won their respect as a sensible and no-nonsense adversary. Poised, persistent and principled, she would make a fine representative for the 4th District.

The fact is, other Democrats, such as Steny Hoyer, have thrown sopme last minute support behind Wynn as well. An Edwards win would be a real blow to the incumbency racket in Washington and would send a strong message to potential primary challengers everywhere, that these bad Democrats can be taken down. As with most elections, this one is much larger than just one person or one district, so give what you can and do what you can to help Donna Edwards today.

A big election, help Donna Edwards any way you can, jerome

With so much focus on the presidential contest, another important race takes place Tuesday in Maryland's 4th Congressional district featuring Netroots favorite and progressive activist Donna Edwards against corrupt, corporate Democrat named Al Wynn.

This is a rematch from 2006, when Wynn supporters physically assaulted Edwards supporters outside polling sites.

In recent days, Wynn sent out robocalls attacking Donna Edwards as a tax cheat. The Wynn campaign is very desperate and is making this very personal.  http://www.cqpolitics.com/wmspage.cfm?do cID=news-000002668478

Al Wynn is everything you can ask for in a bad Democrat.  He voted for the Iraq War.  He's a champion of predatory lenders and credit card companies.  He's pro-big oil.  He supports No Child Left Behind.  He's spent so much time in Washington he's forgotten where he came from.

I ask you to give Donna some 11th hour love.  She'll need every dollar she can get to defeat Wynn, something she came within 3 points of doing in 2006.  Visit my ActBlue page and give what you can.

http://www.actblue.com/page/voxpopuli

A victory for Donna is a victory for progress in the Democratic Party.  Thank you!

[cross-posted from Free State Politics]

I wish I knew the answer to the question posed by the title. Some of the possible scenarios trouble me, because of the influence clergy traditionally have on (especially) older congregants in their flock (both within and outside African-American communities), and because of some of the, shall we say, less-than-holy relationships some of these pastors have traditionally had with local political machines. Combined with their still-critical role in many communities, especially when abandoned by the leaders theoretically elected to take up their causes - see for example here (PG-specific example) or here (a good explanation from NYC that applies well elswhere in the US, from the late and much-missed Steve Gilliard) - the potential influence of clergy in African-American communities such as PG's should not be dismissed lightly.

What brought this query to mind is an endorsement letter I received from Senator C. Anthony Muse (MD-Sen-26), in support of Congressman Wynn (letter mailing paid for by the Wynn campaign, fyi/fwiw). I've transcribed the letter, and it is provided after the jump. What you should know about good ol' Senator Muse is that he is also Reverend Dr. C. Anthony Muse, pastor of Ark of Safety Christian Church in Upper Marlboro. It probably doesn't hurt that his wife, church Elder Pat Lawson Muse, is the 4pm news co-anchor at DC's NBC affiliate WRC-TV (Channel 4), where she's been an on-air anchor for quite a few years now.

More after the jump...

With all the buzz and dramatic events unfolding in the presidential race, some of these smaller races are falling even further behind in getting noticed, but in Maryland's 4th district, there's some exciting things going on! I'm sure you all know that Donna Edwards is running again this cycle again Albert Wynn. Donna Edwards is true progressive leader that has proven her dedication for peace and social justice. We (The Council for a Livable World) have endorsed her and so have other great groups like NARAL and Emily's List, plus tons of blogs, etc have endorsed her. If you've never seen her in person or on TV -- watch this video to get a taste of the type of leadership that could be in Congress in 08 if she gets the support she deserves!