County Council
Incumbent Tom Quirk won the Baltimore County 1st District Democratic primary with 6,416 votes or 57% percent of the vote. The Democratic candidate will square off against Republican Pete Melcavage, II, in the general election, who ran unopposed in the Republican primary.
The race was particularly of note, especially as The Baltimore Sun endorsed the challenger over the incumbent – and Quirk, himself, endorsed challenger Ed Hale, Jr. in the Republican primary race for District 3 over incumbent Wade Kach. Kach won that race with 4,242 votes or 51 percent of the vote. He will compete in the general election against Colleen Marie Ebacher, who won the Democratic primary with 5,982 votes or 74 percent of the vote.
The only race for the Baltimore County Council without an incumbent is the race for District 2, which Council President Vicki Almond vacates to run for county executive. Izzy Patoka wins the Democratic primary for that seat with 8,437 votes or 57 percent. He competes against Republican Michael Lee in the general election, who ran for the GOP nomination unopposed.
Circuit Court Judges
The Baltimore County sitting circuit judges had to compete against challenger Robert Cohen for their seats on the bench. Since 1999, Cohen has served as a Baltimore assistant public defender, Allegany County prosecutor, and military judge – rendering him a potentially viable candidate. However, the sitting judges still won. The Baltimore Sun details the contentious race.
Board of Education
For the first time ever, Baltimore County voters had an opportunity to vote for school board members in their respective primaries. Formerly a fully appointed board of education, the body now is partially appointed, with elections for seven members by councilmanic district and the Governor still appointing the remaining five members. The board of education candidates are all non-partisan, and as such, the same candidates are listed on both the Republican and Democratic ballots. The top two vote getters from both primaries will be listed on the November ballot.
The Baltimore Sun provides a detailed explanation of the dozens of candidates. Scroll to the bottom of the Maryland State Board of Elections’ Baltimore County page to see who won.
MACo’s election coverage and analysis relies, as always, on unofficial results published by the State Board of Elections. Official results will follow, after a full accounting of pending ballots. Given the larger-than-usual expected number of provisional ballots (which would not be included in the unofficial vote total), readers are advised that any close unofficial results are subject to realignment in the days ahead.
