Sesker beats Fredericks in sheriff ’s race

Dems retain County Council majority; Pittman officially secures second term

Democratic candidate Everett Sesker defeated incumbent Anne Arundel County Sheriff Jim Fredericks, according to final election results.

Sesker, a former Prince George’s County Police Department officer, defeated Fredericks, a one-term Republican, with 50.5% of the vote. Fredericks had built a lead of more than 18,000 votes after Election Day, but thanks to more than 2-to-1 advantage in mail-in votes, Sesker erased the deficit. He finished with 105,290 votes to Fredericks’ 102,940.

Democratic County Executive Steuart Pittman secured a second term after defeating Republican County Council member Jessica Haire with 53.7% of the vote, results showed. Pittman received 115,421 votes to Haire’s 99,004 votes. Pittman will be inaugurated on Dec. 5.

The Anne Arundel County Council will retain its four-member Democratic majority. All incumbents on the council and state legislature retained their seats following the completion of ballot canvassing Friday. The Anne Arundel County Board of Elections finished scanning the remaining 9,500 ballots at its Glen Burnie headquarters just before 8 p.m., completing more than a week of counting ahead of the state’s deadline to certify the 2022 midterm election.

While some candidates who were leading in the final days of ballot canvassing had already declared victory or their opponents conceded defeat, a handful of races weren’t decided until the final set of returns were reported.

The lone undecided council race was for the District 5 seat where incumbent Republican Amanda

Fiedler was still locked in a race against Democrat Carl Neimeyer. Final results showed Fiedler winning reelection with 53% of the vote.

Pete Smith will represent District 1 after winning 60.5% of the vote. Incumbent Democrat Allison Pickard won a second term to represent District 2 with 54% of the vote. Incumbent Republican Nathan Volke won a second term in District 3, winning 94% of the vote. The District 4 seat will now be held by Democrat Julie Hummer, who won 72% of the vote.

Incumbent Amanda Fiedler maintained her District 5 seat for a second term with 53% of the vote. Incumbent Lisa Rodvien won a second term in District 6 seat with 56% of the vote and Republican Shannon Leadbetter will replace Haire after the winning District 7 seat with 54% of the vote.

All General Assembly incumbents kept their seats in both the Senate and House of Delegates. The Senate gained one Democrat in the District 33 senate seat, a position previously held by a Republican, and newly created districts from redistricting favored Democrats including in the 12B, 33A and 33C House seats.

Senate incumbents, including Democrat District 30 state Sen. Sarah Elfreth, Republican District 31 state Sen. Bryan Simonaire and Democratic state Sen. Pamela Beidle in District 32, as well as Democratic Sens. Clarence Lam and Jim Rosapepe in Districts 12 and 21, respectively, all held leads throughout canvassing. The final results confirmed their victories.

In the battle for the District 33 Senate seat, previously held by longtime Republican legislator Ed Reilly, Republican Del. Sid Saab and Democrat Dawn Gile faced a close race to fill the vacant role. Gile won the seat with 55% of the vote over Saab, final results show.

Other General Assembly seats without incumbents saw tight races including the newly created District 12B seat in the House of Delegates in which Democrat Gary Simmons defeated Republican Ashley Arias with 55.4% of the vote. Former Anne Arundel County Council member Andrew Pruski won the District 33A House seat with 67% of the vote, while the other two races were closer with Stuart Michael Schmidt winning in District 33B by 297 votes, 50.7% to 49.2%, and incumbent Del. Heather Bagnall, a Democrat, returning to the legislature to represent the new District 33C with 54% of the vote.

Without any challengers, it was certain the Democratic trio of Dels. Ben Barnes, Mary Lehman and Joseline Peña-Melnyk would return to their District 21 House seats to represent parts of Anne Arundel and Prince George’s counties.

Incumbent Democratic Del. Shaneka Henson will reclaim her District 30A seat, joining her colleague Del. Dana Jones who declared victory Wednesday. District 30B incumbent Republican Del. Seth Howard will also return to the General Assembly.

District 31 and 32 will also retain their trios of leaders with Republican Dels. Brian Chisholm, Nicholaus Kipke and Rachel Muñoz returning to represent District 31 and Democrat Dels. Sandy Bartlett, Mark Chang and Mike Rogers returning to represent District 32.

Democrats swept other judicial races, including Clerk of Court where Scott Poyer defeated Terry Gilleland, 54% to 46%. Erica Griswold defeated Lauren Parker in the Register of Wills race, 50.5% to 49.2%. Vickie Gipson, David Duba and Marc Knapp defeated Republicans Maureen Carr-York and Nancy Phelps and Tony McConkey. All eight charter amendments were approved by wide margins.