Letter To The Editor

Maryland Democrats lost two giants this fall. Ann-Marie Remillard and Christine Davenport, two former leaders of the Anne Arundel County Democratic Party, have sadly passed.

Ann-Marie was our party’s biggest cheerleader. A former nun turned passionate advocate for the working class, she would shout from the rooftops if she could. When not talking to voters about health care, affordable living, and protecting the environment, Ann-Marie was recruiting the next generation of leaders.

I met Ann-Marie in 2003. A student at Anne Arundel Community College, I started a Democrats club on campus. Ann-Marie found me out of nowhere. She invited me to the committee’s annual dinner. Next thing I knew, Baltimore Mayor Martin O’Malley made a stop at an event in Glen Burnie. Ann-Marie invited me again.

That’s how Ann-Marie was; she was a go-getter. She wanted to make things happen, and she did. My last “assignment” was to pick up Chris Van Hollen signs from her garage and place them at the polls in 2022. I couldn’t say no, even though I no longer lived in the county.

Dr. Christine Davenport was a prominent member of the community, not just in politics but in her church, with Silhouettes of the Bowie/Mitchellville Alumni Chapter of Kappa Alpha Psi Fraternity, and the Martin Luther King Jr. Breakfast Committee. She was elected chair of the Anne Arundel Democrats in 2010, the first Black woman to hold the position.

She served for many years. She allowed me to run the silent auction at the committee’s annual dinner and tasked me with candidate recruitment in 2018.

Impressed with her leadership, I chose to try to follow in her role. At the end of her term as chair, I ran and won. Christine immediately embraced me and offered help. I took her guidance and always remembered how she had run the committee, and I tried to follow in her footsteps.

She leaves a void in the community.

As we approach the holidays, I am reminded I won’t be sending these two wonderful women holiday cards this year. My heart goes out to their families. They may not be with us this holiday, but their memories will.

Patrick Armstrong
Former Chair, Anne Arundel County Democratic Central Committee, 2018-2020