Canvass inches Pittman closer
As count continues, most Md. assembly incumbents in front
Incumbent candidates for most Anne Arundel County seats in the Maryland General Assembly held leads over their opponents, according to mail-in ballot returns.
Election workers spent Thursday counting 11,200 ballots that included races for six state Senate races and nine House of Delegates races, in the first of several canvassing sessions that will stretch into next week.
Republican state Sen. Bryan Simonaire, who represents District 31, held the widest lead. Simonaire received 26,708 of the 35,721 votes counted so far. His Libertarian opponent Brian Kunkoski received 8,580 votes.
Other races with wide margins include two that straddle multiple districts. In District 12, which includes parts of Howard
and Anne Arundel counties, incumbent Sen. Clarence Lam, a Democrat, leads Bob Cockey, a Republican, by about 15,000 votes. In District 21, incumbent Democrat Sen. Jim Rosapepe is about 12,000 votes ahead of Lee Havis, a Republican. The district covers parts of Prince George’s and Anne Arundel counties.
State Sen. Pamela Beidle, the District 32 Democratic incumbent, held a 5,600vote lead on challenger Kimberly Ann June, a Republican.
In District 30, Annapolis Democratic state Sen.
Sarah Elfreth leads Republican Stacie MacDonald by about 3,000 votes.
The closest Anne Arundel Senate race is in District 33, the only seat without an incumbent. Republican Del. Sid Saab is ahead of Democrat Dawn Gile by about 1,200 votes.
Two particularly close House of Delegates races are District 12B and 33C, new districts created during the state’s redistricting process.
Democrat Gary Simmons leads Republican Ashley Arias by 90 votes in District 12B while District 33C incumbent Del. Heather Bagnall, a Democrat, is down by about 900 votes to Kerry Gillespie, a Republican.
Bagnall attended canvassing Thursday at the Anne Arundel County Board of Elections office in Glen Burnie. While her race might end up being close, she said she ran the best campaign possible and now has to trust the voters to make the wisest decision.
Simmons is used to close races. He won his primary for the 12B seat by 20 votes.
“We should be good based on the higher number of Democrat voters that have requested mail-in ballots and have sent mail-in ballots,” Simmons said. “The fact that I won my primary by 20 votes showed me how important the ground game is, being out there, connecting with people. People, once you connect to them and they have a personal connection to you, they go to bat for you.”
The remaining House of Delegatesraceshavewider margins.
In District 21, the three candidates on the ballot are incumbent Dels. Ben Barnes, Mary Lehman and Joseline Peña-Melnyk, all Democrats, who have evenly split the vote, each with about 16,000 votes.
All the incumbents lead in the other multi-candidate races as well.
In District 30A, Democrat Dels. Shaneka Henson and Dana Jones lead with about 15,500 and 15,000 votes, respectively. They’re facing Republicans Doug Rathell and Rob Seyfferth, who received about 11,200 and 9,000 votes, respectively
District 31 Dels. Brian Chisholm, Nicholaus Kipke and Rachel Munoz, are similarly situated. They are leading with about 23,000, 24,000 and 22,000 votes, respectively. They are competing against Democrats Kevin Burke and Milad Pooran and Libertarian Travis Lerol, all of whom are about 10,000 or so votes behind.
And a trio of incumbent Democrats leads the District 32 race with Dels. Sandy Bartlett, Mark Chang and Mike Rogers pulling in about 14,000 votes each. Their opponents are Republicans Michael Jette, Monica Smearman and Michele Speakman. They have received less than 10,000 votes apiece.
In Districts 33A and 33B, Democrat Andrew Pruski and Republican Stuart Michael Schmidt are ahead of their opponents, Republican Kim Mills and Democrat John Wakefield, respectively, by about 2,000 votes.
The largest gap is between incumbent Republican Del. Seth Howard and Democratic challenger Courtney Buiniskis. Howard is more than 3,000 votes ahead in the District 30B race.