5th District

The two candidates hoping to pick up where County Council President Diane R. Evans will leave off in December have some big shoes to fill.Evans, barred by a term limit from another run for the council, won wide respect during her eight-year tenure for tackling tough budget issues and pension reform and was admired by many constituents and fellow council members.The candidates seeking to replace her as the District 5 representative are Democrat Mary P. Marsh and Republican Cliff R. Roop. Voters might have a hard time distinguishing between them ideologically: Both say education funding is their No. 1 priority and call for better communication with the school board.

Veteran Democratic Rep. Steny H. Hoyer emerged all but unscathed from a gentlemanly televised debate with Republican challenger Thomas E. "Tim" Hutchins, who sounded mostly positive themes in his uphill race for Maryland's 5th District congressional seat. The debate, taped Monday and televised last night on Maryland Public Television, was the first face-to-face meeting in the low-key campaign between the 10-term congressman and the two-term state delegate from Charles County. The 5th District includes Southern Maryland and parts of Prince George's and Anne Arundel counties.

In the first of six City Council candidates' debates this month, three women incumbents faced six male challengers in a forum that centered on arresting flight from the city and improving 5th District neighborhoods across Northwest Baltimore.The forum Wednesday night at the Forest Park Senior Citizen Center attracted about 60 people to listen to nine candidates exchange views on schools, crime, city revenue, billboards and blight.Running for the three seats are seven Democrats and two Republicans.

When Phoebe Martin started working in the cafeteria at 5th District Elementary School in 1963, she would knead dough for fresh rolls, make hamburger patties and bake wonderful-smelling cinnamon buns.The students at the Upperco school, many of whom lived on farms and didn't know about pizza, favored hot roast beef sandwiches and peanut butter fudge.On Friday -- her last day at the Northwest Baltimore County school -- Martin nostalgically recalled the days before prepackaged pizzas and hamburgers were trucked to 5th District.

Over the past several years, Baltimore County has made steady progress as it seeks to air condition all its public schools. Despite limited funding, the county is on track to reduce the number of schools lacking air conditioning from 54 percent in 2010 to 36 percent within two years. Unfortunately, that progress is not shared uniformly throughout Baltimore County. There is a significant disparity between the western, northern and eastern parts of the county. Looking at schools by County Council district, after the current round of air conditioning, the number of non-air conditioned schools will stand at 28 percent in the 1st District (Catonsville)

Executive* Charles I. Ecker (R)Council* 1st DistrictShane Pendergrass (D)* 5th District* Charles C. Feaga (R)Circuit Court*James B. DudleyState's Atty.* Richard J. Kinlein (R)Legislature* District 13* Senate:* Thomas Yeager (D)House, 13B:* Martin Madden (R)* Arthur Reynolds (R)

Unofficial results in Tuesday's primary election in the campaign fordelegates to the Democratic and Republican presidential nominating convention in the 1st, 2nd, 3rd and 5th Congressional Districts are listed below. Some delegates are pledged to presidential candidates, while others are uncommitted.REPUBLICANS* 1st District: Mary McNally Rose -- 11,007 votes for George Bush* 5th District: Phillip Bissett -- 3,097 votes for George BushDEMOCRATS* 1st District: Patricia Clagett -- 7,349 votes, uncommitted; William H. Bolander -- 6,774 votes for Bill Clinton; Gregory Kamenetz -- 7,558 votes for Paul Tsongas* 2nd District: None* 3rd District: Philip C. Jimeno -- 1,956 votes for Bill Clinton* 5th District: Sylvia Fielder Jennings -- 2,200 votes, uncommitted; Earl B. Dean -- 2,534 votes, uncommitted

1st District:John CainNicholas C. D'Adamo Jr.Perry Sfikas2nd District:Anthony J. AmbridgePeter BeilensonBeatrice Gaddy3rd District:Linda C. JaneyKevin O'KeeffeMartin O'Malley4th District:Lawrence BellSheila DixonAgnes Welch5th District:Vera P. HallIris G. ReevesRochelle Rikki Spector6th District:Arlene B. FisherEdward L. ReisingerMelvin L. Stukes

On Baltimore's west side, the road to the good life leads northwest along the Liberty Road, Reisterstown Road and Park Heights Avenue corridors. In the 1950s, Jewish migration from the upper 4th District northward prompted a process of ethnic succession, which continues to the present day, in which upwardly mobile blacks replaced departing whites along the three main corridors leading out of the city.Unlike the 3rd District, which became a stable haven for upwardly mobile Irish and Italian families after World War II, the 5th District has been in an almost continuous state of transition since the 1960s.

Baltimore's 5th District, in the city's northwest quadrant, has undergone a process of almost continuous transformation over the past three decades, but its politics have never quite managed to keep up with the changes. By the time the 5th elected its first black City Council member in 1979, blacks had comprised half the population for nearly a decade. Still, it took nearly another decade for the 5th to elect a second black council member.The three incumbents -- Vera P. Hall, Iris G. Reeves and Rochelle "Rikki" Spector -- accurately reflect the present racial makeup of the district and the black-Jewish coalition that is the district's main political force.