Prince George's County Races to Watch on Election Day: an Expected Braveboy Win, Four School Board Contests and a Second Election in New Carrollton
County Executive Aisha Braveboy faces only a write-in challenger and is expected to win easily. The competitive action is on the Board of Education - Districts 2, 3, 6 and 9 - and in New Carrollton, where voters go back to the polls on November 9 to pick a mayor.
In deep-blue Prince George's County, the primary is typically the decisive election - which is why the county's top race on Tuesday is expected to be its quietest. County Executive Aisha Braveboy holds the power of incumbency and a massive financial advantage, and her lone challenger is running a write-in campaign; she is expected to easily win, according to The Banner's election preview. The real work, the preview notes, starts November 4, when Braveboy will probably begin her first full term facing a chronically underperforming school system, a depleted federal workforce, a council under fire for questionable grant awards and more than a few major economic development projects.
The competitive races are for the Board of Education, where four seats are being watched. In District 2, Terence Clegg of Greenbelt, who has worked for the Department of Human Services, faces Caroline Decaire-Goldin of Riverdale, the director of teaching and learning at the D.C. State Education Agency and a former elementary school teacher; the seat has been open since board member Jonathan Briggs resigned in June. In District 3, Brentwood council member Juan Arango-Millan runs against Jamie McGonnigal, a parent and former PTA president at Hyattsville Elementary. District 6 pits two newcomers against each other: Tyra Janet Bennett, a county schools graduate who founded the District 6 Literacy & Learning Lab, and Ashley Kearney, an at-large member of the Seat Pleasant City Council. District 9 is the only competitive race with an incumbent - Chandrai 'CJ' Jackson-Saunders, who has served since February after 35 years as a D.C. Public Schools teacher and work as a school psychologist, against Erica Bennett, a county schools principal and an educator for nearly 30 years.
One corner of the county votes twice this month. Less than a week after Election Day, New Carrollton's 13,000 residents head back to the polls on Monday, November 9, for a special election to pick a new mayor. Phelecia Nembhard was voted out of office by the city council in September over allegations that she violated a hiring freeze. City Council member Briana Urbina and former Mayor Katrina Dodro, who lost to Nembhard in 2025, are running to fill the remainder of the term, which ends in May 2027 - and regardless of the outcome, both say they will run for a full term next year.
