According to a published report, Wicomico County at-large councilman John Cannon will enter the race for Delegate for District 38A, becoming the second Republican to seek the seat held by the late Delegate Page Elmore. He'll face Crisfield attorney John Phoebus for the GOP primary nod. With just a few days to go before the filing deadline only one Democrat, Somerset County Commission President Mike McCready, has filed for his party's nomination.

Cannon's entry into the House of Delegates race also means that neither at-large County Council member will return for another term, as Democrat Bill McCain announced previously he would not run again. It also leaves the GOP without a candidate to fill either of the two at-large slots on the ballot as Ryan Hohman announced his withdrawal from the race last month. Two Democrats, former councilman Ed Taylor and political activist Mike Brewington, are already set for the ballot.

With Republicans already holding a tenuous 4-3 edge on Wicomico County Council, the lack of candidates stepping up to fill at-large seats has to be worrying for local GOP leaders. Thus far only two of the district members face a challenger - Sheree Sample-Hughes, a District 1 Democrat, has drawn Republican Dave Goslee, Jr. as her opponent while Stevie Prettyman, Republican from District 2, is being challenged by Libertarian Mike Calpino. All five district incumbents have filed for re-election and the GOP holds a 3-2 edge among district Council members.

The Cannon vs. Phoebus race presents an interesting scenario - in the 2006 primary, Wicomico Republican voters outnumbered their Somerset counterparts 1,227 to 877, but the general election saw Somerset voters become a slim majority in the district. To win, a Wicomico County candidate will have to run well on the Somerset side of the district like Elmore did.