LA PLATA — Democrat Amanda Stewart is in line to become Charles County’s next commissioner president, leading Republican Joe Crawford by more than 31,000 votes after Tuesday’s general election, according to unofficial results from the Maryland State Board of Elections.
With all 34 Election Day precincts counted, along with early votes and the mail-in ballots processed so far, Stewart had 44,896 votes, or 76.6%, to Crawford’s 13,573, or 23.2%. Democrats led all four district commissioner races by at least 25 percentage points, according to the state’s Charles results page, last updated at 9:21 a.m. Wednesday.
The results are not final. Mail-in ballots that arrive after Election Day and provisional ballots still have to be counted before results are certified later this month. The only race on the Charles ballot close enough that those ballots could matter is the second Board of Education seat in District 1, where 185 votes separate the candidates.
An open presidency
The presidency opened when Commissioner President Reuben B. Collins II ran for the 5th District congressional seat instead of seeking another term, according to the Maryland Association of Counties. Stewart, the District 3 commissioner, won a three-way Democratic primary in June with about 51% of the vote, and Crawford was unopposed for the Republican nomination, the Chronicle reported. Collins lost the congressional primary to Adrian Boafo.
Stewart’s move to the presidency left District 3 open, and Democrat McKayla Wilkes led Republican Julian D. Clark there with 86.9%. District 1 Commissioner Gilbert “BJ” Bowling, who survived his June primary by about a percentage point, led Republican Walton “Walt” Merchant 62.8% to 37.0%. District 4 Commissioner Ralph E. Patterson II led a three-way race with 77.0%.
In District 2, Democrat Brandon A. Paulin, who won a six-candidate primary with 22%, led Republican Eric Reed 78.4% to 21.4%. Reed joined the ballot in August, when the Republican Central Committee designated him after the party’s original nominee, Alorah D. Vantassell, withdrew, according to state election records.
The five-member board sets the county budget, property tax rate and land-use rules. The president is elected countywide; the four district commissioners are elected only by voters in their own districts.
Race Candidate Party Votes Pct. President Amanda Stewart Democrat 44,896 76.6% President Joe Crawford Republican 13,573 23.2% District 1 Gilbert “BJ” Bowling Democrat 9,932 62.8% District 1 Walton “Walt” Merchant Republican 5,847 37.0% District 2 Brandon A. Paulin Democrat 11,976 78.4% District 2 Eric Reed Republican 3,266 21.4% District 3 McKayla Wilkes Democrat 12,306 86.9% District 3 Julian D. Clark Republican 1,834 13.0% District 4 Ralph E. Patterson II Democrat 10,436 77.0% District 4 Eric Vrem Unaffiliated 2,625 19.4% District 4 Artiium Arbyummi Green 450 3.3%
The race still in play
Charles voters elect two school board members from each of the four commissioner districts, and the closest contest on the county’s ballot is for the second District 1 seat. Bernadette Smith led the four-candidate field with 6,049 votes. Shawna Marks held second with 5,419, 185 ahead of Henry Thompson.
The two split the ways of voting. Thompson won Election Day, 3,383 to 3,105, but Marks led among early voters, 1,930 to 1,538, and among the mail-in ballots counted so far, 384 to 313. If the remaining mail-in ballots break the way the early ones did, they would add to Marks’ lead rather than erase it, but the margin is narrow enough that the race will not be settled until the final canvass.
The other school board races were less close. In District 2, Jamila Smith and Eileen G. Parks led, with Parks 769 votes ahead of Jason Henry. In District 3, Dottery A. Butler-Washington and Nicole M. Kreamer led, with Kreamer 770 ahead of Christopher O.J. Alberts. District 4 had two candidates, Denise M. Joseph and Michael “Mike” Lukas, for its two seats. Transportation problems, test scores and budgets topped school board candidates’ concerns in a Capital News Service survey this fall.
District Candidate Votes Pct. 1 Bernadette Smith 6,049 30.0% 1 Shawna Marks 5,419 26.9% 1 Henry Thompson 5,234 26.0% 1 Samichie K. Thomas 3,187 15.8% 2 Jamila Smith 7,320 32.9% 2 Eileen G. Parks 5,868 26.4% 2 Jason Henry 5,099 22.9% 2 Joseph W. Sampson Jr. 3,759 16.9% 3 Dottery A. Butler-Washington 7,363 33.4% 3 Nicole M. Kreamer 5,597 25.4% 3 Christopher O.J. Alberts 4,827 21.9% 3 Aqsa Siddique 4,152 18.8% 4 Denise M. Joseph 10,286 54.8% 4 Michael “Mike” Lukas 8,215 43.7%
Courthouse offices
State’s Attorney Anthony “Tony” Covington, Sheriff Troy Berry and Clerk of the Circuit Court candidate Lisa E. Yates, all Democrats, had no opponent on the ballot. Democrat Loraine Davies Hennessy led Republican Latisha Shorter for Register of Wills, 46,399 to 12,282.
For three Orphans’ Court seats, Democrats Darlene M. Breck, Tisha R. Tyler and Russell Yates each had more than 38,000 votes, well ahead of Republican Angela Parker’s 15,322. Judge Dan Friedman of the Appellate Court of Maryland was winning retention, with 82.2% of Charles voters voting yes.
State and federal races
Charles was the most Democratic of the three Southern Maryland counties. Democratic Gov. Wes Moore carried it with 70.8%, compared with 62.6% statewide with 1,968 of 1,979 precincts reporting. In the race to succeed retiring Rep. Steny Hoyer, Democrat Adrian Boafo won 74.3% in Charles and led Republican Chris Chaffee 68.5% to 30.9% across the 5th District, with all 227 precincts in. Boafo won a 24-candidate Democratic primary in June.
In the General Assembly races:
- Senate District 28: Democrat C.T. Wilson was unopposed and had 40,692 votes.
- House District 28 (three seats): Democrats Debra Davis (33,629), Abena Affum-McAllister (32,679) and Edith J. Patterson (31,589) led Republicans James Emerson Ashburn (11,825) and Winfield W. Clark Jr. (11,098) (voter guide).
- Senate District 27: Democrat Kevin M. Harris led Republican Al Larsen 64.2% to 35.7% districtwide, with all 34 precincts in.
- House District 27A: Democrat Darrell C. Odom Sr. led Republican Jim Crawford 84.6% to 15.2% districtwide.
Charles voters also backed all three proposed amendments to the Maryland Constitution by wider margins than voters statewide: Question 1, on funding state employee bargaining agreements, with 78.2%; Question 2, on temporary members of the Commission on Judicial Disabilities, with 68.8%; and Question 3, on review of congressional maps, with 68.5%. The State Board of Elections describes each question.
What happens next
About 34,000 Charles voters cast ballots in person on Election Day in the governor’s race, compared with about 22,000 early voters and about 3,300 mail-in ballots counted so far. Under the state election calendar, mail-in ballots postmarked by Election Day count if they arrive by 10 a.m. Nov. 13. Local boards begin the provisional ballot canvass Nov. 12 and the second mail-in canvass Nov. 13, then begin certifying results. The State Board of Canvassers is scheduled to certify statewide results Dec. 3.
All results in this story are unofficial. Full race-by-race returns are in the Chronicle’s Charles election results page.
