MCPS democracy was in full swing Monday afternoon when SGA members from middle and high schools across the county nominated B-CC junior Eric Guerci and Richard Montgomery sophomore Alex Abrosimov as the candidates for the 2016-2017 Student Member of the Board (SMOB).

At the all-day convention at Watkins Mill, Guerci and Abrosimov both emphasized their experience and success as leaders: Guerci is the current SMOB and Abrosimov is sophomore class president at RM.  The two edged out Wheaton junior Liam Kim and Blair sophomore Olivia Gonzalez for the two spots.

Eric Guerci

Guerci’s support at the convention was inescapable.  He eschewed the podium his opponents used for a more town hall-style walking speech, forgoing notes in favor of his natural charm. And his charisma was magnetic: his statements were often followed by raucous chants of “Er-ic, Er-ic,” and he was the only candidate who got a standing ovation after his opening speech.  

He’s been here before, and it shows. He could easily talk at length and in-depth about all of the issues presented. Moreover, he calmly and smoothly shifted to his experience as SMOB in response to nearly every question from delegates, emphasizing his position without coming off as arrogant.  

“My term as SMOB hasn’t been about me,” Guerci said in his speech to the delegates. “It’s about you.”

Specifically, he mentioned some of his successes from this year, such as the changes to final exams and the revamped calendar that removed the names of religious holidays.

He had a flair for the crowd, a likely function of already having a countywide campaign under his belt. He fielded a question about bilingual teachers with a response in Spanish, making the crowd go wild. As the day wore on, he gradually shed his jacket, unbuttoned his collar, and rolled up his sleeves, creating a cool and composed look while many of his opponents looked flustered.

In the end, Guerci dominated the vote: Nearly two-thirds of the 307 delegates voted for him to move on to the general election.

If he has any weaknesses, it’s that his knack for crowd-pleasing can border on the obsequious. During the lengthy question-and-answer period, he opened and closed his response to every statement with some variation of “thank you for your question” or “what a great question.”

“Continuity is so important for progress,” he told the Black & White.  “That’s why it’s so important for me to keep moving forward.”

Alex Abrosimov

Going up against Guerci will be RM sophomore Alex Abrosimov.  Like Guerci, Alex is running on his experience and track record: He had an undeniably successful sophomore year in the RM SGA.  Among other accomplishments, he was able to get food trucks to come to the school and created a 200-person student union to help students lobby the SGA and administration.

Abrosimov was also a strong speaker at the podium, but he was particularly gifted in person. During the short meet-the-candidates section, he held his audience captive with a spell-binding presentation on, of all things, food trucks. He knew all about which zoning and property laws permitted and forbade food trucks and the exact legislative process to reform them. His command of this issue was truly impressive.

Make no mistake, though, he’s far from a one-issue candidate.  While all four candidates spent a lot of time discussing the achievement gap, Abrosimov was the most clear in his plan to address it, calling for total redrawing of district lines.

“Make them simple; make them not gerrymandered,” Abrosimov told the Black & White.  “Right now, we have de facto segregation.”

What was so unique about the line was that it shied away from the usual, empty platitudes that typically characterize candidate speeches. While most candidates like to avoid treading into controversial territory, Abrosimov appeared to embrace it, repeating his claim about the racialized district lines and vowing to work to change them if elected. He was the only candidate to speak on the issue of redistricting.

Abrosimov was also not shy in his criticism of the slowness of the Board’s decision-making process at the moment.

“For every ‘solution,’ there’s a committee that makes more committees that get nothing done,” he said.

Although he certainly starts in a hole thanks to Guerci’s incumbency (and dominance among the delegates), Abrosimov remains confident about his chances come April. Gonzalez endorsed him on Twitter a few hours after she lost the nomination to Abrosimov and Guerci.

“I think my chances are good,” Abrosimov said. “People around the county are not pleased with how things are going this year.”

For an evaluation of their respective electoral chances, check out SMOB 2016: A conversation on the upcoming general election.