In the fierce contest for the 1st Congressional District, Democrat Frank Kratovil, the Queen Anne’s County state’s attorney, was maintaining his lead over conservative Republican state Sen. Andy Harris by only 916 votes, down from an estimated 4,000 votes late Tuesday.
The race was 48.9 percent for Kratovil and 48.6 percent for Harris with 93 percent of the precincts reporting.
Libertarian Richard Davis had 2.4 percent of the votes.
The outcome could be decided by the 32,000 absentee ballots that had been requested and that will be counted on Friday.
The crowd at Kratovil’s victory party was elated by the election of Sen. Barack Obama as the next president, and the hope that Kratovil too would prevail. They applauded Sen. John McCain’s concession speech and cheered Obama’s appearance in Chicago.
But there was no concession speech from Harris, who did not speak to his supporters or to reporters, and Kratovil did not claim victory.
“We don’t know where we are yet,” Kratovil said around 1 a.m. Wednesday as he thanked his campaign workers. “We may not know for quite some time.”
Harris manager Chris Meekins said the campaign was going to make sure that “every vote is counted” over the next 10 days.
“There was a big national trend to the Democrats,” Meekins said. “We are very excited about how well Andy performed.
“The campaign has been 17 months long,” Meekins said. “What’s another week and a half?”
The conservative Harris had beat nine-term incumbent Wayne Gilchrest in the GOP primary with the charge he was too liberal for the district and he did the same to Kratovil, whom Gilchrest endorsed.
Harris tried to tie Kratovil to Democratic Gov. Martin O’Malley, who endorsed the Democrat early, helped him raise funds, but has been largely invisible on the campaign trail. Kratovil said some of his own highway signs had “Endorsed by O’Malley” posters put on by the opposition.
Kratovil said that was typical of some of the underhanded tactics used in the race, including a TV ad that a recording showed had misquoted Kratovil about the recent economic bailout. Late last week, Harris also began impugning Kratovil’s integrity as a prosecutor for taking contributions from defense attorneys.
“Some of the stuff that he’s done is pretty remarkable,” Kratovil said.
Baltimore County State’s Attorney Scott Shellenberger campaigned for him at Chapel Hill Elementary School in Perry Hall Tuesday, repeatedly telling voters, “Don’t forget Frank Kratovil. He’s a tough prosecutor.”
Both candidates worked the polls Tuesday largely on the Western Shore of the Chesapeake where Republicans dominate in the parts of Anne Arundel, Baltimore and Harford counties that contain a little less than half the voters.
This is home turf for Harris, a Baltimore County senator who already represents thousands of voters there. The Eastern Shore, where Kratovil lives, makes up the other half of the district.
Working the polling precinct at Kingsville Elementary School Tuesday morning, Harris said the high turnout there “is exceedingly good news for us.”
A steady stream of voters said they were offering prayers for Harris and the nation as well. “I’m praying on the Bible,” said Francis Dill.
“We’re getting out the voters who are worried about the direction of the country right now,” Harris told the Examiner. “People are scared about this national election.”
Besides raising $2.7 million on his own and getting more than $1 million in aid from conservative interest groups, Harris also relied on the help of former Gov. Robert Ehrlich, who has put his prestige on the line in the race. Ehrlich campaigned for Harris in Pasadena, Harford County, Perry Hall and Towson for Harris on Tuesday. Many Harris highway sign had “Endorsed by Ehrlich” posters attached.
“It’s one of the hottest races in the country,” Ehrlich said on WBAL radio Tuesday, where Harris has been a frequent guest on the ex-governor’s Saturday show. “A ton of money is being pumped into the race, and you can’t turn on your TV on without seeing some ads, including a few from me.”
Bob Ehrlich “is still very popular in the district,” said Harris, and the ex-governor helped him counter more than $1 million in ads funded by the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee.
“Once you get these conflicting ads, and people don’t really know what to believe and what to trust, they’ve got a familiar face telling them that he knows me, knows my record,” Harris said. “I think that’s a powerful message.”
