Balto. Co. state’s attorney race remains tight; Baltimore sheriff too close to call

Voters clearly selected winners in Tuesday’s primary election for some state and local offices, but after two days of canvassing mail-in ballots a few consequential races remained too close to call Friday.

Dan Cox, a conservative endorsed by former President Donald Trump, is the projected winner of the Republican gubernatorial primary, while Wes Moore led Tom Perez in the Democratic contest as of Friday evening in what is now a two-candidate race.

Other prominent races still remain very close. Here’s a roundup:

Attorney General: Congressman Anthony Brown was declared the victor over former Baltimore City Circuit Court Judge Katie Curran O’Malley in the Democratic primary.

Brown served as lieutenant governor for O’Malley’s husband, Martin O’Malley, during his second term. The pair went head-to-head in a battle to replace Attorney General Brian Frosh, who decided last year not to run for a third term.

The job pays $165,000 next year.

By the end of Tuesday night Brown had received nearly 10,000 more votes than O’Malley in Baltimore City, her home base. If he defeats Republican nominee Michael Peroutka in the general election, he would be the first Black person directly elected to statewide office.

Peroutka, a former Anne Arundel County councilman, took about 57% of the votes over challenger Jim Shalleck, an attorney from Montgomery County. Peroutka once belonged to League of the South, a self-described “Southern Nationalist organization” that advocates for “preserving the traditional culture of the South” for “Southerners of European descent.”

Comptroller: Baltimore Del. Brooke E. Lierman was declared the presumptive Democratic nominee for comptroller by the Associated Press on Tuesday night.

Lierman, who is finishing her second term in the House of Delegates as a representative of South Baltimore, downtown and the Inner Harbor, earned 65% of votes as of Friday evening. Bowie Mayor Timothy J. Adams conceded Wednesday.

Lierman will face Republican Harford County executive Barry Glassman, who ran unopposed in the primary, in the general election.

Next year the comptroller will be paid $165,000.

State’s attorney Baltimore County: The race to be Baltimore County’s top prosecutor remains tight. Incumbent State’s Attorney Scott D. Shellenberger had received 50.8% of the Democratic primary vote as of Friday evening, holding a thin lead over challenger Robbie Leonard’s 49.2%.

On the Republican side, James A. Haynes led Deborah Hill with 55% of the vote to Hill’s 45% on Friday.

Baltimore City sheriff: The first competitive race for Baltimore sheriff in years remained too close to call after days of mail-in ballot tallying. Challenger Sam Cogen had just a 454-vote lead over 33-year incumbent Sheriff John Anderson as of Friday evening.

Cogen has collected 30,383, or 50.4%, of the counted votes, while Anderson’s 29,929 account for 49.6%. Anderson has been Baltimore’s sheriff since 1989 and earned a salary of $157,139 in fiscal year 2021.

Congress: Heather Mizeur, a former Montgomery County delegate and 2014 gubernatorial candidate, was declared the District 1 Democratic nominee Tuesday night and will take on incumbent Congressman Andy Harris, the state’s sole Republican House representative, in November.

Mizeur bested former Foreign Service officer Dave Harden by a margin of 2-to-1 in the race to oppose Harris, a six-term congressman who met with Trump to discuss disrupting President Joe Biden’s 2020 election victory.

Nicolee Ambrose won the District 2 Republican nomination for U.S. House, the AP called Friday evening, at which point she’d collected 33% of the votes — 10 points more than any competitor — in a crowded, six-person race. She’ll face C.A. Dutch Ruppersberger, a Democrat who has held the office since 2003, in the general election.

In the District 3 Republican race, Yuripzy Morgan won the nomination, per the AP. She’d tallied 33% of the votes by Friday evening in a five-candidate race. She will run against Democrat incumbent John Sarbanes, who has been the district’s Representative since 2007.

Lawmakers in the U.S. House and Senate make $174,000 baseline salaries.

U.S. Senate: In one of the earliest called races, Democratic U.S. Sen. Chris Van Hollen beat back a primary challenge just months after suffering a minor stroke. He is favored in November to win a second term against Republican Chris Chaffee, who launched a failed congressional bid in 2014.