How do the parties do in Baltimore County, Harford and the upper shore?
Baltimore County
14.2% of Registered Voters (3rd)
Leans Democrat
Republicans win seats in the districts Baltimore County shares with Carroll County (Legislative District 5) and Harford County (Legislative District 7). Otherwise, Democrats win most of the time, especially in districts that border the city. The fact that Governor Martin O’Malley almost defeated former Baltimore County Congressman Bob Ehrlich here this year says something about this jurisdiction. Here’s another fact: in the 54 years that the County Executive office has been in existence, the GOP has occupied it in just eight years. And one of those occupants was Spiro Agnew.
Harford County
4.3% of Registered Voters (7th)
Solid Republican
Harford has largely completed a transition to GOP control that took about twenty-five years. The Democrats did not bother to run candidates for County Executive or a majority of County Council seats this year. All three Senators and seven of eight Delegates are Republicans.
Cecil County
1.7% of Registered Voters (12th)
Solid Republican
Cecil is a rare GOP success story in Maryland. Eight years ago, most of its elected officials were Democrats. This year, voters supported just three Democrats: Delegate David Rudolph, the county’s Register of Wills and one Judge of the Orphans’ Court. (Unopposed Attorney General Doug Gansler is the fourth Democratic “win.”) Can the GOP learn anything from Harford and Cecil Counties that could help it build strength in the rest of the state?
Kent County
0.4% of Registered Voters (24th)
Split
Kent County, the smallest jurisdiction in Maryland, goes both ways. Its District 36 statehouse delegation is totally Republican. Its county government is dominated by Democrats. Kent voted for Ehrlich but also voted for Mikulski and Kratovil this year – an unusual combination.
Queen Anne’s County
0.9% of Registered Voters (18th)
Solid Republican
The only Democrats who won this year in Queen Anne’s were the Register of Wills, the State’s Attorney and Gansler. The latter two ran unopposed. The GOP had just one seat on the County Commission in 2006. This year they swept all five.
We’ll look at the Central and Lower Eastern Shore tomorrow.