Democrats Retain Majority On Anne Arundel Council, Win Sheriff's Office: Final Results

ANNE ARUNDEL COUNTY, MD — The Democrats retained their 4 to 3 majority on the Anne Arundel County Council and regained the sheriff's office. Residents also voted to extend the County Council's term limit from two terms of four years each to three terms of four years each.

Republican challengers Noel J. Smith (District 2) and Mike Pantelides (District 6) jumped out to preliminary leads after early voting and Election Day tallies. The mail-in ballots, which were counted later, eventually lifted Democratic incumbents Allison Pickard (District 2) and Lisa Brannigan Rodvien (District 6) to victory.

Democrat Pete Smith returned to office in District 1 after beating Republican newcomer Jeremy M. Shifflett. Smith is a 24-year veteran and a current major in the Marine Corps Reserves. He previously served District 1 from 2012 through 2018, but Sarah F. Lacey (D) has held the post for the past four years.

Lacey ran for state Senate in District 32. She lost in the primary to incumbent Pamela Beidle, who currently holds a 32-point lead over Republican challenger Kimberly Ann June. Lacey's senatorial bid opened the pathway for Smith to return to office.

Nathan Volke (R) won re-election in County Council District 3 over write-in candidate Michael Gendel (D).

Democrat Julie Hummer, a former county Board of Education member, snagged District 4. Hummer defeated Republican Cheryl Renshaw in an election without an incumbent.

Current District 4 County Council Member Andrew C. Pruski ran for state House of Delegates in District 33A. Pruski currently holds two-thirds of the vote in that race against Republican Kim Mills.

Incumbent Amanda Fiedler (R) earned another term in District 5. Fiedler defeated Carl James Neimeyer (D) by a final tally of 53% to 47%. This was the closest County Council contest.

District 7 was nearly as close. In this race between political newcomers, Republican Shannon Leadbetter topped Democrat Shawn Livingston by about 2,500 votes.

Republican Jessica Haire has represented District 7 for the past four years. Haire gave up her seat to run for county executive, but she lost to incumbent Steuart Pittman (D).

Democrat Everett Sesker overcame Republican incumbent Jim Fredericks in a tight battle for the sheriff's office. The two candidates were separated by 1.13 percentage points or 2,350 votes.

The unopposed Anne Colt Leitess (D) will serve another term as the county state's attorney.

About 50 bipartisan teams spent six days canvassing paper mail-in and provisional ballots, the Anne Arundel County Board of Elections said. The board started counting more than 65,000 paper ballots on Nov. 10 and certified its results on Friday.

"The Board of Elections would like to thank the Canvassers and staff who made accomplishing this task possible," the board said in a press release. "The success of every election depends on the hard work and dedication of the people who make it happen. We thank everyone for their commitment to the process and for helping conduct a successful election. It takes tremendous effort to hold a free and fair election and we are proud the citizens of Anne Arundel County have the election results within 10 days of Election Day."

Local boards of election were allowed to count mail-in ballots as they arrived or wait until Nov. 10 to start tallying them. Anne Arundel County chose to wait, citing personnel and space constraints.

Election officials had to accept mail-in ballots until Friday, as long as they were postmarked by the Nov. 8 Election Day.

To see the final vote tallies for every race in Maryland, click here.

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