An upset in District 2 County Council Seat.
Frederick, Md (KM). Frederick County Delegate Kathy Afzali came out on top in the Republican Primary for County Executive on Tuesday. . She defeated Councilman Kirby Delauter and newcomer Regina Williams.
As the November 6th General Election approaches, Afzali says she will reach out to citizens who may be unfamiliar with her. “The reality is you don’t want to let them down. I have a lot of work to do between now and November. And that is really getting to all those voters I didn’t have a chance to get to yet,” she says.
Afzali will be facing incumbent Democrat Jan Gardner in the General Election. She had no opposition in her party’s primary. During her campaign,
Gardner says she will talk about her accomplishments during her four years in office. “I’m going to talk about improving education, lifting teacher salaries. I’m going to talk about saving Citizens and Montevue, and advancing the Seniors’ First initiative. I’m going to talk about the great job growth that we’ve had in the county so more people can live and work here in the county,” she says.
Afzali is finishing up her second term as a state delegate. Gardner says Afzali was “not a very productive member of the General Assembly, had few legislative accomplishments.”
In the District Two County Council race, former citizen activist Steve McKay scored an upset victory over incumbent Tony Chmelik in the GOP Primary. He called it “pretty awesome” and said “it’s still sinking in” when reached by phone for comment Tuesday night. He attributes his win to contacting a lot of citizens in person. “I did a lot of door knocking over the last three months, Republican door knocking,” he said. “There’s a lot of voters out there that I’ve got to reach to. If I’ve learned nothing from this process, I’ve learned the importance of coming to someone’s door, introducing myself and telling them why I’m running. ”
He will face Democrat Lisa Jarosinki in the General Election in November.
The other incumbent Democrats on the board, Jerry Donald in District One, M.C. Keegan-Ayer in District Three, and Jessica Fitzwater in District Four, had no opposition in their party during the Primary. Donald will face Republican Kevin Grubb in the General Election; Keegan-Ayer will run against Joe Parsley in November; and Fitzwater’s challenger will be Jimmy Trout.
The Fifth District will have GOP candidate Michael Blue squaring off against Democrat Shannon Bohrer in November.
In the at-large races, former County Commissioner Kai Hagen came out on top in the Democratic Primary. “I hoped to do well. I expected to well. But you never know. I’ve been very nervous the last week or so imaging scenarios that didn’t go so well. It’s nice to look forward to what I eventually expect will be a good night’s sleep,” he said.
Coming in second in the primary was Susan Reeder Jesse. “I feel good, tired by good. I’m ready to move on to the general. I came very close in getting the general in 2014. So I know what I need to do. So I’m going to work very hard to get a seat on the Council,” she says.
On the Republican side, former Frederick Alderman Phil Dacy came in at number-one in the at-large race. “It was a lot of hard work. But I’m very gratified that our message of change was really resonating with the voters of Frederick County, ” he said.
Also running on the GOP ticket for an at-large Council seat is Danny Farrar.
In the District 3B Delegate race, Ken Kerr was unchallenged in the Democratic Primary. “What I was looking for tonight was evidence of a good turnout in the district. I’ve been out knocking on doors and canvasing some of the neighborhoods in the district, getting to know the voters. So It’s good to see that they turned in some fairly decent numbers for me today,” he said.
Kerr’s opponent will be incumbent Republican Delegate Bill Folden.
In District 3A, Democratic incumbents Carol Krimm and Karen Lewis Young were winners. They will face Republicans Mike Bowersox and James Dvorak in November.
Incumbent Republican Barrie Cilliberti and newcomers Dan Cox and Jesse Pippy will facing off with Democrats Ysela Bravo, Lois Jarman and Darrin Ryan Smith in the District 4 contest in November.
Frederick County State Senator Ron Young defeated challengers Jennifer Dougherty and Jennifer Brannon in the Democratic Primary for the District Three Senate seat. He was asked if he’s concerned that the GOP is looking to pick up his seat in order to make it easier for Governor Hogan’s vetoes to be sustained. “The Governor made me his number-one target. I’m proud of that and I’ll make him mine,” Young says.
He will be facing Republican Craig Giangrande who defeated Councilman Billy Shreve.
In District 4, incumbent Republican Michael Hough faced no opposition in the Primary. So far in the vote count, Democrat Jessica Douglass is out ahead.
Incumbent Brad Young came out on top in the race for Board of Education. “As a candidate, you’re always nervous going into the day until you see those first numbers. Having seen a lot of the numbers now, I’m very gratified that to see that people appreciate the work that I’ve done. I’m in it for the right reasons. It’s great to see that people appreciate that and vote for you,” he said.
The next three candidates are Karen Yoho, Jay Mason and Incumbent Liz Barrett. They were followed by April Miller, Camden Raynor and Cindy Rose. But on Tuesday, the results were too close to call between Kim Williams and Marie Fischer Wyrick. Four seats on the School Board are up for election this year, and citizens will pick four out of eight.
In the 6th District Congressional Race, David Trone, the co-owner of Total Wine and More will be running as a Democrat against defense consultant Amie Hoeber, who will be campaigning as a Republican.
By Kevin McManus