Category Archives: Allegany County

More Recent Muni Election Results from Around the State

La Plata

La Plata holds a nonpartisan primary for its single seat elections if more than two candidates run. The top two candidates continue on to the general election In 2017, there was a primary just in Ward II, which was held in March. The general elections were held on May 2. You can find a map of La Plata’s four wards online.

Voters turfed out incumbents in three council seats, and elected a newcomer to the vacant fourth seat in Ward III. All of the winning candidates were part of the New Day for La Plata slate sponsored by the La Plata Business Association.

Council Ward II Primary
Clyde Keith Black (incumbent), 119
Brent Finagin, 110
Jon W. Norris, 52

Mayor
Lynn D. Gilroy (former Ward III councilmember), 440
Jeannine Elizabeth James, 563

Council Ward I
Matthew Timothy Simpson, 621
Ralph Wayne Winkler (incumbent), 369

Council Ward II
Clyde Keith Back (incumbent), 415
Brent Finagin, 567

Council Ward III
Timothy Giles, 353
Emily Mudd Hendricks, 622

Council Ward IV
Paddy Mudd, 548
Joseph W. Norris (incumbent), 448

Port Deposit

There were three seats up for election but only two candidates filed. As a result, the Council will have to fill the vacancy, assuming that they can find someone willing to do the job. Turnout was just 3.3% in this uncontested election.

Council
Tom Knight (incumbent), 9
Bob Kuhs (incumbent), 10

Perryville

Reich and Linkey were the only candidates on the ballot for the two open seats. Turnout was 3%.

Commission
Everett “Pete” Reich, 54
Michelle Linkey (incumbent), 41
Write-Ins, 4

Havre de Grace

Mayor
Bill Martin (incumbent), 1523
Wayne Dougherty (former mayor), 874

Council
Monica Worrell (incumbent), 1860
Jason Robertson, 1692
David Martin (incumbent), 1459
Fred Cullum (former councilmember), 1001

New Market

More contests with no opposition. Turnout was 8.9%.

Mayor
Winslow F. Burhans (incumbent), 73.

Council
Shane Rossman, 68
Mike Davies, 68
Jake Romanell, 59
Scott Robertson, 57
Dennis Kimble, 51.

Mount Airy

Mount Airy held municipal election on May 1. Both incumbents who sought reelection won.

Mayor
Patrick Rockinberg (incumbent), 1226
Benjamin Greenstein, 646
Joseph Muise, 40

Council
Larry Hushour, 1203
Scott Strong (incumbent), 1096

Leslie Dickinson, 838
Karl Munder, 229

Pocomoke City

An election occurred only in for the District 3 Council seat. At least they didn’t have to rerun the election like in 2016 after there were problems with the voting equipment and balloting.

Council District 3
R. Dale Trotter, 86
Monna VanEss, 67

Snow Hill

Since candidates faced no opposition, Snow Hill didn’t even hold an election.

Mayor
John C. Dorm (incumbent)

Council Eastern District
Alison Cook (incumbent)

Lonaconing

Online reports only give the names of the winners.

Mayor
John W. “Jack” Coburn (incumbent)

Council
Warren “Whiz” Foote (incumbent)
Charles F. “Fred” Sloan, III (incumbent)
Julie Hoffman
Robert Eakin

 

 

Share

D1, Pt. II: Allegany County

D1BDistrict 1B in Allegany County

This is Part II in a two part series about District 1 in Western Maryland. While Part I focused on the Garrett County portion of the district, this post centers on Allegany County.

All of District 1B’s population lives in Allegany. Frostburg and a northern section of Cumberland are located in 1B. District 1C is split between Allegany and Washington Counties with 55% in Allegany. The remainder of Cumberland and all of the smaller town of Hancock in Washington County are located in 1C.

Allegany County has been heavily Republican in federal contests. Mitt Romney received 64% of the vote in 2012. Rep. Roscoe Bartlett received 55% of the vote in Allegany even as he went down to defeat to John Delaney with just 37% of the total vote in the entire Sixth Congressional District.

Lately, Allegany has also been quite lopsided in its support for Republicans in statewide contests. Bob Ehrlich won 57% in 2006 and 61% in 2010 in Allegany. Notice that Ehrlich increased his share of the vote in Allegany even as his statewide margin declined. The last Democratic gubernatorial candidate to carry Allegany was Parris Glendening in 1998 with 52% of the vote.

Allegany District 1B has been one of the most hotly contested delegate seats over the past several decades. Incumbent Democratic Del. Kevin Kelly won reelection in 2010 with just 51% over Republican Mary Beth Pirolozzi, a Cumberland City Councilmember.

Kelly originally won his seat in 1986 when he was one of two Democrats elected from a two-member district located entirely in Allegany. He easily won reelection in 1990.

In 1994, Kelly lost the Democratic primary in the newly redistricted single-member District 1B, receiving 43% as opposed to 57% for Del. Betty Workman, his colleague in the former two-member district. But Kelly turned the tables in 1998, winning the primary over Workman by 59% to 41% and then went on to win the general with just 51% of the vote. Kelly beat his Republican opponent with a more comfortable 56% of the vote in 2002 and 2006.

This year, Kelly has no primary opposition but faces Jason Buckel, a member of the Allegany County Republican Central Committee, in the general election. In January, Buckel had just $2.6K in his campaign account compared to $18K for Kelly, though Buckel could raise money during the session while Kelly could not.

Allegany Central

Central Allegany County Partisanship
(Source: Dave’s Redistricting, More Orange is More Republican)

Though Kelly has a long history in this district, no Democrat can ever take anything for granted. Despite its Republican lean, 1B contains some of the less Republican precincts in Allegany located in Frostburg and Cumberland (see above), which should aid Kelly.

D1C

District 1C in Allegany and Washington Counties

District 1C is perhaps best known as the district that unseated the sitting Speaker of the House in 2002. Democratic Speaker Cas Taylor, who brought enormous amounts of state funds home and worked relentlessly to aid Western Maryland’s economy, lost his reelection bid by 76 votes.

Redistricting was more the culprit than the fickleness of Allegany voters. Prior to 2002, 1C was contained entirely within Allegany County. District 1 grew more slowly than the the State as a whole in the 1990s and had to expand east, so 1C had to take in sections of Washington County. While Speaker Taylor won 61% in his home stomping ground of Allegany, he garnered just 29% in the new, extremely Republican Washington portion of the district.

Del. LeRoy Myers, who defeated Speaker Taylor, is retiring after three terms. Two Republicans, Ray Givens and Mike McKay, are competing for the GOP nomination, while Democrat Nick Scarpelli has no opposition within his party.

Swept in as part of the tea party wave in 2010, Mike McKay serves as President of the Allegany County Board of Commissioners. He’s the CEO of a company with six dry cleaning locations. McKay has the support of sitting Del. Myers.

Perhaps because actually having to run a government tends to moderate extreme views on all sides, McKay is now being tea-party challenged from the right by Givens. A Hancock resident, Givens has never held office but was very active in opposition to Gov. O’Malley’s gun safety legislation and supports fracking.

Givens has served in the military, and worked in corrections and law enforcement. In January, McKay reported $15K cash on hand as compared to $10K for Givens.

As McKay lives in Allegany and Givens is from Washington, this primary could well turn into a classic friends-and-neighbors contest that depends on the level of support and ability to turn out voters within each candidate’s home base. Del. McKay should benefit from his experience in office as well as his endorsement by Myers. But Givens could gain energy from gun rights advocates.

Meanwhile, as unlikely as it may sound, Republican 1C is one district where the Democrats hope to make a pick up. Cumberland City Councilman Nick Scarpelli is a local magnate with investments in chains of funeral homes and shoe stores as well as real estate.

Scarpelli is very conservative for a Democrat–he is pro-gun, pro-life and pro-fracking. His major goal is to join the majority caucus and be part of the fine tradition of bringing home the bacon to this long economically challenged region. Scarpelli can self fund and plans to advertise on television–a lot cheaper in the Hagerstown media market than elsewhere in Maryland.

His chances likely depend at least partly on who wins the GOP primary. Scarpelli would have a stronger shot against Givens than McKay. Regardless, he will make this a much more interesting race than one would expect in this mostly Republican part of the world.

District 1B Rating: Toss-Up (Slight Edge to Kelly).
District 1C Rating: Lean Republican (Slight Edge to McKay in the primary).

Share