John Leopold?s victory in the Anne Arundel county executive?s race made him a unique figure as a one-man campaign.
“John Leopold … has spent more time knocking on doors than anyone else in county history,” said Dan Nataf, director of the Center for the Study of Local Issues at Anne Arundel Community College.
Leopold, a Republican, beat Democrat George Johnson to become the county?s seventh executive.
Leopold was in meetings Monday and did not return phone calls seeking comment.
But he worked over the weekend recruiting his transition team. Dennis Callahan, former Democratic candidate for county executive, was hired to coordinate the transition with outgoing County Executive Janet Owens and was considered in line to become Leopold?s chief of staff.
Leopold will be sworn in Dec. 4.
Leopold used door-knocking and rush hour sign-waving to triumph over his opponent?s large volunteer network and bank account in excess of $1 million.
Johnson and Leopold had spent much of the last three years campaigning for the county?s top job. Johnson was elected to three consecutive terms as county sheriff before seeking the county executive seat. Nataf said Leopold?s strategy of reaching out to voters and relying mostly on his own personal money rather than campaign donations might have given him the edge with voters who were more concerned with character and the ideals of public service.
“His autonomy comes from not having to be a normal person,” Nataf said. “And voters kind of like that, but it points to a systemic flaw ? people really want public financing [of campaigns] through private means, but the only way you can get that is having really rich people like Ross Perot run for office.”
In the waning days of the campaign, Leopold began attacking Johnson?s record as sheriff, and called him a “good ol? boy,” accusing Johnson of being too cozy with developers.
Nataf said the Johnson campaign fumbled its response to those attacks, and “did not produce a compelling reason to vote for him.”
