Diana Purnell, (left) the incumbent District 2 representative on the Worcester County Commissioners, has registered for re-election. Longtime Democratic Party activist Roxie Dennis (right) will challenge Purnell for the seat in a 2026 primary.
There will be a primary election among Democrats vying for the District 2 County Commissioner’s seat, as incumbent Diana Purnell last week filed to run for re-election against challenger Roxie Dennis.
Dennis is hardly a newcomer to local politics. She’s been on the ballot for years as an elected member of the Worcester County Democratic Central Committee, which she now chairs, but has never run for an elected legislative position in government.
“I’ve been preparing myself for this since 2014 since Mrs. Purnell took the position,” Dennis said in an interview. “I want to be a voice for the people. I have committee people who are saying, ‘I believe too, Roxie, this is your time.’ I feel it’s time for a change, and I am the voice for the people at this time.”
Dennis has worked for more than 30 years for the Wicomico County Board of Education as a teacher and student advisor. She plans to retire from the school system if elected. Dennis is also a pastor with Ambassadors for Christ International Ministries in the Germantown area of Berlin and has served as the president of the local NAACP branch, where she’s currently an organizational vice-president.
Campaign issues for the staunchly pro-union Dennis include funding for education and teacher salaries, a renewed focus on the county jail and its staffing levels, and affordable housing – which she prefers to call “attainable housing.”
“What is ‘affordable’ for one person isn’t attainable for someone else,” Dennis noted. “Some people can’t afford $2,200 a month payment for a house and they might have 3 or 4 children.”
Same old problems, same old explanations of the obvious, no new worthwhile solutions.
The only answer to “affordable” or “attainable” housing is to pack more small living spaces together and institute rent controls, which always fail in the end because of their attraction to the economically and socially vulnerable and the criminals who prey on them with drugs, violence and protection rackets.
Which is the lesser of the two evils?
I could not find any reason to vote for either of these two Demoncrats…..
Roxie Dennis is a train wreck. I had to work with her at Punehurst before I retired. All about race bating, making excuses, and doing as little as possible daily.
That’s her! Typical behavior.
lmao, worcester having their own little carve out of racial gerrymandering! gotta love maryland! NOT!
Between the two… Diana Purnell is slightly the lesser evil
I vote to move from this state