Frederick County goes to the polls

[Anonymous]

Probably the races of most interest to the rest of the state and DCUM are the county executive + state legislative elections. Stream of consciousness follows ...

Incumbent Jan "Call me the Chief" Gardner (D) is unopposed. A three-way primary on the R side involves:

Kathy "I texted the sheriff" Afzali, a former state House member who has the $$$ and with about 35% of the vote counted, a lead of about 10%. Probably the most dangerous candidate in the fall but did ruffle some R feathers when she sent some not very nice texts to Sheriff Chuck Jenkins (R).
Kirby "Don't say my name" Delauter, County Councilor for District 5 (Myersville, Emmitsburg-Thurmont, Walkersville-Woodsboro). Noted for threatening to sue to the Frederick News-Post if they used his name without permission.
Regina "I earned my promotion" Williams, former county Budget Director under former County Commissioner chair Blaine Young. She also served under Young in another capacity, as she had a 18 month relationship with Young. She's a fairly distant third.

In the fall, Gardner is helped by a probable blue tailwind but hurt by facing a less insane opponent than Blaine "I'm even crazier" Young, who's also known for screaming at a 17 year old youth sports referee, soliciting prostitutes on repeated occasions, and his abortive attempt to appoint himself to the county Planning Commission after losing the election for the first County Executive. (In further drama, Blaine is the son of Ronald Young, the stepson of Karen Lewis Young, and the brother -- I think -- of Brad Young, all of whom get mentioned later. He's the red sheep of the family as the others are all Democrats.)

Senate 3 (Frederick City + some liberal southern suburbs around I-70 + Linganore + Point of Rocks) has former Frederick Mayor and incumbent Ronald "Hizzoner" Young cruising to victory over primary challengers Jennifer "Heronner" Dougherty (former mayor) and Jennifer "E=MC third" Brannan (scientist running to the left). He'll face local Burger King franchise owner Craig "the King" Giangrande in the fall who is easily defeating County Council member Billy "I'd be the clown in any other county" Shreve, who as his nickname implies, would be just that (he notably refused to vote on budget matters because he thought he didn't have enough staff and missed several meetings.) The fall race will be tough but with a blue wind at his back, Young should win by low double digits. This is one of the races Hogan's hoping to capture so the Senate stops being a lean mean veto overriding machine. (Young won by 2% in 2014.)

Senate 4 (all the conservative parts of Frederick County) should see Michael "Tammany Hall" Hough (R) cruise to victory over either of Jessica Douglass or Sabrina Massett who are currently separated by eight votes of over 2,800. Hough's known for having himself and/or his wife Joeylynn dominate the GOP Central Committee. Hough won 70-30 in 2014, he should win by at least 60-40.

House 3A saw the two Democratic incumbents (Karen Lewis Young and Carol Krimm) beat back a challenger with great ease in the primary. They will square off against two Republicans -- in 2014 they won 54-46 over the Democrats. Given the environment and the fact that they have Frederick City and Ballenger (fill in the blank) subdivisions, they'll be tough to beat.

House 3B sees incumbent Bill Folden (R) facing off against school board member Ken Kerr (D). First-term incumbent Folden won with 56% of the vote in 2014 and is running against a better-known opponent this time around. He may be swept up if a blue wave hits Maryland.

House 4 ought to yield three Republicans. At least this year, the Dems were able to nominate three candidates (in 2014, only one ran.)

Those of you who don't care about gory details that are Frederick-only can just leave now and say something snarky. Other races in Frederick follow.

County Council:
1 (Brunswick-Middletown): Incumbent Jerry Donald (D) faces off against Kevin Grubb -- Donald defeated Ellen Bartlett, wife of former Congressman Roscoe Bartlett and probable resident of West Virginia by under 100 votes in 2014. He's got a tailwind with him but Republicans are helped by having a candidate live in the district.
2 (Urbana): Incumbent Tony Chmelik (R) looks like he's getting primaried by anti-development activist Steven McKay. McKay will face off against Lisa Jarosinski in the fall in a race that will likely be decided by who can make the development stop -- McKay seemed more moderate than Chmelik.
3 (west Frederick): Incumbent M.C. Keegan-Ayer (D) will likely cruise over Joe Parsley (R) in the fall.
4 (east Frederick): Incumbent Jessica Fitzwater (D) will likely win over Jimmy Trout (R) in the fall.
5 (Myersville-Thurmont-Walkersville): Relative moderate Michael Blue (R) is leading conservative William Valentine -- the winner will face off against Shannon Bohrer (D) in the fall. Blue is likely favored in the fall.
At large: On the D side, it looks like former Commissioner Kai Hagen and former candidate Susan Reeder Jessee will be facing former City Alderman Philip Dacey (R) and Soldierfit owner Danny Farrar -- and they'll be joined by incumbent Council Chair Bud Otis (I, former R). I suspect that Otis and Hagen will win in the fall.

Board of Education: local conservative anti-testing activist Cindy Rose is a fairly distant 5th, behind leader and BoE chair Brad Young. In 2016, Rose was first and the two lower-placing (of the 6 advancing to November) primary candidates dropped out leaving Rose + three other candidates on the final ballot - Rose was a fairly distant fourth. Incumbent Colleen Cusimano is NOT running for re-election.

Brad Young (i, Apple)
Karen Yoho (Apple)
Jay Mason (Apple)
Liz Barrett (i)
April Miller (i)
Camden Raynor (Apple)
Cindy Rose

then a wide gap (7th has 2x the votes of 8th) to a photo finish between Kim L. Williams and Marie Fischer-Wyrick.

Sheriff: incumbent Chuck Jenkins (R) faces Karl Bickel (D) in a repeat of 2014. I think Bickel will make it closer, possibly within double digits, but Jenkins will win out.
State's Attorney: incumbent Charlie Smith (R) will be unopposed.
Register of Wills: incumbent Sharon Keller (R) should win over Megan LeRoux
Clerk of the Circuit Court: incumbent Sandra Dalton (R) should win over Melissa Atherholt.