What I Learned Before Voting:
With the 2026 General Election approaching, I wanted to better understand the candidates for the District 9 Board of Education seat, the two appellate judges appearing for retention, and what the statewide and Prince George’s County ballot questions would actually change.
This is not an endorsement of any candidate or position on a ballot question. I’m simply sharing what I found so other residents can do their own research and make informed decisions.
District 9 Board of Education: Erica Bennett and Chandrai “CJ” Jackson-Saunders
Both candidates bring significant education experience, but their backgrounds are different.
Erica K. Bennett is currently principal of John H. Bayne Elementary School. PGCPS identifies Bennett as the school’s current principal, and district records show that she became principal there for the 2017–18 school year. That gives her nearly a decade of experience leading a PGCPS school and dealing directly with students, teachers, parents, staffing, school operations and academic performance.
Chandrai “CJ” Jackson-Saunders brings a different type of experience. She is a nationally certified school psychologist who reports more than 35 years in public education, including extensive work involving student services, special education, student wellness and school systems. She also has the experience of currently serving on the Prince George’s County Board of Education.
Jackson-Saunders currently serves on the Board’s Operations, Budget and Fiscal Affairs Committee. That committee reviews the operating budget, Capital Improvement Program, staffing plans and allocations, fiscal matters, audits and other school-system operations.
She is also the Board liaison to the Parent and Community Advisory Council, giving her another formal connection to parents and community representatives throughout the school system.
For residents of southern Prince George’s County, another point worth considering is community accessibility. During this election cycle, Jackson-Saunders has appeared at community events in our area, something BrandywineMD.com has previously documented.
The June primary also gives voters an indication of where the race stood going into November. Jackson-Saunders finished first with 8,299 votes (39.05%), while Bennett received 6,058 votes (28.51%). Those were the two candidates who advanced to the general election.
Both candidates’ official election filings list Fort Washington addresses.
The distinction I came away with is fairly straightforward: Bennett brings extensive current, hands-on PGCPS school administration experience, while Jackson-Saunders brings decades of school psychology/student-services experience combined with current Board governance, budget and community-engagement experience.
That is a more useful comparison than simply saying one candidate has an education background and the other does not. Both do.
The Judicial Retention Questions
The ballot also asks voters separately whether Peter K. Killough and Dan Friedman should continue serving on Maryland’s appellate courts.
These are retention elections, not races between two competing candidates. A NO vote does not amount to selecting another judge from the ballot.
Justice Peter K. Killough
Peter Killough currently serves on the Supreme Court of Maryland representing the Fourth Appellate Judicial Circuit, which includes Prince George’s County.
His background has a particularly strong Prince George’s County connection. He served as a Prince George’s County Circuit Court judge from January 2018 until July 2024, when he joined the Supreme Court of Maryland. Before becoming a judge, he served as a Maryland Assistant Attorney General and, from 2016–2018, directed the Attorney General’s Medicaid Fraud Control Unit. He is a University of Virginia School of Law graduate and previously served as a U.S. Army captain.
Voters therefore have both his professional résumé and an actual judicial record to examine.
Judge Dan Friedman
Dan Friedman has served on Maryland’s intermediate appellate court—now called the Appellate Court of Maryland—since September 2014.
His previous experience includes serving as an Assistant Attorney General and counsel to the Maryland General Assembly, Baltimore City Associate Solicitor and Chief of Litigation, private practice and other legal work.
What does voting NO mean?
The important thing to understand is that you are not choosing between Killough or Friedman and another named candidate.
The ballot is asking whether each judge should remain in office. If a judge is not retained, the resulting vacancy is handled through Maryland’s judicial appointment process rather than automatically going to another candidate appearing beside that judge.
That makes these questions different from a normal contested election.
Maryland Question 3 — Congressional Redistricting
Question 3 deserves careful reading because the ballot language itself became the subject of litigation.
On September 3, 2026, the Supreme Court of Maryland ordered revised wording for the question. The Maryland State Board of Elections now lists the revised language on its official ballot-question page.
Question 3 would essentially do three things:
- Clarify that certain Maryland constitutional districting requirements apply specifically to districts for the Maryland Senate and House of Delegates.
- Allow the General Assembly to give the Supreme Court of Maryland original jurisdiction to review the state’s congressional districting plan.
- State that nothing in the Maryland Constitution itself provides applicable criteria for determining congressional district boundaries.
For residents of Brandywine and southern Prince George’s County, the practical issue is congressional redistricting because those boundaries determine which communities are grouped together for representation in Congress.
A vote FOR approves those constitutional changes. A vote AGAINST rejects them.
Prince George’s County Questions
Several county questions could have direct consequences for residents.
Question A — Harmful Businesses Taxes and Fees: This would allow Prince George’s County, where otherwise authorized by law, to impose taxes and fees on businesses determined to adversely affect community health, safety, welfare or economic development. The ballot gives tobacco stores, liquor stores and self-storage businesses as examples. It would remove the requirement for the public to vote on those particular taxes and fees.
Question B — Eliminate At-Large Council Members: Beginning in December 2030, this would eliminate the County Council’s two at-large seats, reducing the Council from 11 members to nine. The nine district council seats would remain. For District 9 communities such as southern Prince George’s County, that would mean there would no longer be two additional councilmembers elected countywide.
Question C — Redistricting Plan: This would require the County Council to use a bill rather than a resolution, with notice and a public hearing, when changing the redistricting plan proposed by the Redistricting Commission.
Question D — County Purchasing: This expands the County Purchasing Agent’s authority to sign purchasing documents and allows Prince George’s County to partner with other public entities when purchasing goods and services.
Question E — Union Arbitration: This would give unionized County employees access to an additional independent arbitration service for disputed labor issues.
Questions F–J: County Borrowing
These questions authorize Prince George’s County to borrow money through bonds for broad categories of capital projects. They should not be interpreted as guarantees that any particular project in Brandywine, Baden, Aquasco or another community will receive funding.
For example, Question F authorizes up to $67.306 million for community-college facilities, while Question G authorizes up to $140.089 million for roads, bridges, parking lots and maintenance facilities.
For residents of southern Prince George’s County, I think Question G is particularly worth understanding because of the number of road and bridge concerns in our area. But authorization to issue $140 million in bonds is only a drop in the bucket because District 9 itself, needs so many roads improvements.
What I Think Is Worth Looking At Closely
After going through the ballot, I would not treat all of these questions as one package.
Question 3 and County Questions A and B deserve particularly close attention because they involve changes to governmental authority, representation or the constitutional framework rather than simply authorizing spending.
The bond questions are different. Those are primarily decisions about whether Prince George’s County should be authorized to borrow money for particular categories of capital improvements.
And in the District 9 school-board race, voters have a meaningful choice between two candidates with substantial but different backgrounds:
Erica Bennett: long-term, direct PGCPS school leadership and administration.
Chandrai “CJ” Jackson-Saunders: decades of school psychology/student-services experience plus current Board governance, budget and community-engagement experience.
Neither description tells anyone who to vote for. It does, however, give District 9 residents a better basis for deciding which type of experience they believe is most important for the next four years.
For anyone who wants to read the ballot language for themselves, the official source is the Maryland State Board of Elections 2026 ballot-question page.
https://elections.maryland.gov/elections/2026/ballot_questions.html?utm_source=chatgpt.com
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