Haire Declares Victory, McMillan Concedes In Anne Arundel County Executive GOP Primary

ANNE ARUNDEL COUNTY, MD — Jessica Haire recently declared victory in the tight Republican primary election for Anne Arundel County Executive. Her closest opponent, Herb McMillan, conceded soon after.

"This was a hard fought primary and I thank my opponents for their many years of public service and dedication to our county," Haire said Friday evening on Facebook. "Now is the time for all Anne Arundel County Republicans to unite and move forward into the General Election—the race that really counts."

Haire is the current county council member for District 7, which encompasses all of south county. She took office in 2018 and also works as an engineer. The Edgewater native is seen as the more moderate of the two top candidates.

"This campaign isn’t about Republicans, Democrats, or Independents—it’s about making county government work for all taxpayers," Haire said. "That’s my promise to all our citizens and exactly what we'll be talking about from today until Election Day and beyond."

McMillan has held several positions over the years. He was first elected as the Ward 5 alderman on the Annapolis City Council in 1997 and eventually as the Annapolis-area delegate in the Maryland General Assembly in 2003. McMillan graduated from the U.S. Naval Academy, served as a Navy pilot and now flies for American Airlines. The Annapolis resident pitches himself as a fiscally conservative candidate who aligns with Dan Cox, the projected GOP nominee for governor.

"We concede this Anne Arundel County Executive Republican Primary election," McMillan said Friday night on Facebook. "However, we do not concede defeat in our campaign to take back the Republican party, and give the people of Anne Arundel County a government anchored in integrity, based on the principle that government exists to serve them. We remain resolute in our purpose, and confident in our ultimate success."

Vote Tally

Haire had 44.35 percent of the unofficial vote as of Monday at noon. McMillan had 38.75 percent of the support. Haire had 16,358 votes to McMillan's 14,292.

Former District 2 County Council Member John Grasso was the next closest Republican. He had 4,361 votes, giving him 11.82 percent of the support.

Political newcomer Fernando Berra III was in fourth with 1,124 votes and 3.05 percent of the ballots. Fellow newcomer Chris Jahn rounded out the field with 752 votes and 2.04 percent.

If the results hold, Haire will face Democratic incumbent Steuart Pittman in the General Election on Nov. 8. Pittman collected 100 percent of the 43,130 votes cast in his uncontested race.

The latest vote tally is posted at elections.maryland.gov.

"Anne Arundel County knows that Local Leadership Matters," Haire said. "The only person who doesn’t is Steuart Pittman but that’s about to change."

Pittman said he congratulated Haire, but he immediately started drawing contrasts with his projected opponent.

"One might assume from the primary numbers that Haire can’t win, but Josh Kurtz at Maryland Matters calls the race a toss-up," Pittman said Sunday on Facebook. "You see, Haire is married to Dirk Haire, the chair of the state Republican Party, and they have Team Trump in Alexandria running the developer-funded dark money group called Anne Arundel Forward. It was condemned by local Republican clubs for lies about McMillan, but now it’s coming after us."

Anne Arundel County had 174,143 registered Democrats and 130,448 registered Republicans as of the most recent report in June. The county also had 98,405 unaffiliated voters and 6,149 who were registered with a third-party or "other" status.

Why Results Take Time

The primary election was on Tuesday, July 19, but officials warned voters that it would take some time to get the final results. Workers released the early voting and Election Day tallies on election night, but Marylanders had to wait for the full mail-in and provisional ballot counts.

Under state law, officials could not start tallying mail-in ballots until Thursday, July 21. Mail-in ballots are those returned through the U.S. Postal Service or placed in one of the state's dropboxes.

Maryland accepted mail-in ballots until Friday, July 29 as long as they were postmarked by Election Day. Dropbox voting closed on election night when the polls shut down at 8 p.m.

Some local election offices expected to finish their mail-in tally on Friday, July 29. Others thought they may continue into the first week of August.

Workers counted the provisional ballots on Wednesday, July 27.

The Maryland State Board of Elections expects to certify the official results during the week of Monday, Aug. 8.

Related:

• Dan Cox Wins GOP Nomination For Governor Over Kelly Schulz: AP
• Wes Moore Projected To Win Democratic Nomination For MD Governor