So now it’s on to the general! In the Annapolis/Anne Arundel County environs, of course the big item of interest remains the razor-thin victory, at least until absentee votes are counted, that puts challenger Chris Trumbauer ahead of incumbent Chuck Ferrar in the county council’s Sixth District. This might be described by some as an upset. Ferrar had the power of incumbency, beaucoup endorsements, decades worth of goodwill from his business customers and others and the strong support of African American voters and leaders. Trumbauer also had many endorsements and the strong backing of Annapolis Mayor Josh Cohen but conventional “wisdom” at least as was made known to ACP by many prognosticators, was wrong. The official count as of Wednesday morning had Trumbauer with 3143 or 50.52% and Ferrar with 3078 or 49.48%. The winner will go against Republican Doug Burkhardt, and I am just speculating, but he might be relieved if his opponent will be the more liberal Trumbauer rather than Ferrar, who has attracted Republican and more conservative supporters. From what I understand, there are probably not enough provisional or absentee ballots to change the outcome which should be known on Thursday, but please…I cannot say this for sure at this time.
County Executive John Leopold will of course be challenged by Democrat Joanna Conti, and they each received almost the exact same number of votes yesterday. Also in the race but not in the primary is Mike Shay of the Green Party. The big question looming is whether the allegations and charges of sexual harassment brought against Leopold will cost him the election. The state’s highest ranking Republican remains a fairly popular, though somewhat unusual figure.
