State’s Attorney

Incumbent Marilyn Mosby won the Democratic nomination, receiving 36,633 votes or 49.2 percent of the vote.

The campaign got particularly contentious on the eve of the primary, when challenger Ivan Bates threatened to sue Mosby and challenger Thiru Vignarajah for defamation. Bates had been campaigning on the claim that he had never lost a homicide case. Mosby and Vignarajah both counterclaimed that this was untrue; or, as Vignarajah told WMAR, that he had never even tried a murder case.

No Republican candidates are competing for the Baltimore City State’s Attorney position, essentially ensuring the Democratic candidate will win the general election in November.

Clerk of the Court

Marilyn Bentley won a bizarrely interesting race for clerk of the court, with only 11,347 votes or 19.2 percent of the vote.

The seat became open after the passing of longtime former clerk Frank Conaway, Sr. in 2015. Former deputy clerk Marilyn Bentley has filled the role since, making this the first real contest for the clerk of the court seat in decades. Conaway had held the seat since the late 1990’s. The race for the court boss job – which oversees a $22 million budget and leads a staff of 280 courthouse employees, according to The Baltimore Sun  – had 11 candidates, including MACo Board Member, Baltimore City Council Member Sharon Middleton’s stepdaughter, Anika Middleton.

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.