Campaign 2022
Ivan Bates has decisive lead over Marilyn Mosby in Baltimore state’s attorney race
In other local results, Sam Cogen is neck-and-neck with incumbent sheriff John Anderson, and Xavier Conaway leads as Clerk of the Circuit Court
Above: Marilyn Mosby, with her daughters and husband Nick Mosby, at Melba’s Place. At left, J. Wyndal Gordon and Warren Brown. At far right, Antonio Glover and Devon Brown. (Fern Shen)
As the hours wore on at the watch party for Marilyn Mosby, guests and the media started asking her team when the state’s attorney would come out and speak.
“I’ll check,” attorney Warren Brown told one reporter.
“We’re just waiting for more returns to come in,” her campaign stalwart, Devon Brown, told the television crews worried they’d miss their deadline.
But if the Mosby camp was looking for the numbers to improve for their candidate, it wasn’t happening.
Defense attorney Ivan Bates had a solid lead early in the evening and held it steadily as more precinct results rolled in.
Finally, at about 11:40 p.m., Mosby came out to applause and Andra Day’s “Rise Up.” Defiant as always (“the race is not over”), she acknowledged that the gap with Bates was significant.
“We know that we still have 20,000 votes to count,” she said, referring to the mail-in ballots remaining to be tallied later this week.
“I want you all to know that I can’t just be the friend, the mother, the wife. I’m going to always be the best that I can be until every vote is counted,” she said, as her daughters and husband City Council President Nick Mosby stood at her side.
Where the counting stood after the guests began to leave Melba’s Place was a bleak place for Mosby:
With 96% of precincts reporting, Bates led with 19,487 votes (41%), Mosby was second with 15,389 (32%).
Former federal and state prosecutor Thiru Vignarajah was in third place with 12,662 votes (27%).
Ivan Bates yesterday after casting his vote at Francis Scott Key Elementary/Middle in Locust Point. (Fern Shen)
A Tight Sheriff’s Race
Among the other citywide races, some were extremely tight as of Wednesday morning:
Sam Cogen, the challenger who took on eight-term incumbent Sheriff John W. Anderson, was leading by a slim margin.
Cogen, a retired assistant sheriff, had 21,559 votes (50.2%) over Anderson’s 21,378 (49.79%)
• A clash of political generations undergirds this year’s sheriff’s race (7/6/22)
A position that usually flies under the radar, the sheriff’s race drew attention this year when Anderson was berated by City Council members and advocates for his office’s handling of evictions and for skipping his agency’s budget hearing.
In an usual show of force, a brace of nine Council members held a press conference to endorse Cogen.
Nate Rackett campaigning for Cogen outside a Hampden polling place. (Fern Shen)
Clerk of the Court
Holding a stronger but still tentative lead for Clerk of the Circuit Court was 25-year-old Xavier A. Conaway, scion of a venerable political family.
Conaway stands this morning with 25.7% of the vote over 23% for Lenora Dawson, an administrator at the sheriff’s office.
Some observers were stunned by the possible outcome of this race, given Conaway’s age and apparent glide path to victory via family connections.
His grandfather, former circuit court clerk Frank M. Conaway Sr.,was a fixture in city politics thanks in part to tutelage from the late Westside boss, William L. “Little Willie” Adams.
His mother, Belinda Conaway, is the incumbent Register of Wills and was unopposed in yesterday’s Democratic primary. The same position was held by Frank Conaway Sr.’s second wife, Mary Conaway.
His uncle, Frank M. Conaway Jr., who had attracted attention with his bizarre videos, appears poised to keep his 40th District seat in the Maryland House of Delegates.
• Lively line-up competing in open Baltimore Circuit Court Clerk’s race (7/13/22)
Two others in the race were veterans of the office, Denise McCready and Kimberly Parks-Banks. Also running was Shanai Dunmore.
Candidate Xavier Conaway. (Campaign photo)
District Races
In the District races, incumbents generally appeared secure, though some newcomers were leading in the preliminary results last night.
In District 43A, where incorrect ballots caused consternation in the weeks leading up to the primary, voters could choose up to two candidates. Delegate Regina Boyce and attorney Elizabeth Embry, who ran on a ticket together, were the top two vote getters, with 32% and 28% of the vote, respectively.
Candidate Logan Endow, who received the backing of Senator Mary Washington and former City Councilwoman Mary Pat Clarke, was trailing.
In Northwest Baltimore’s 41st District, the three incumbents were leading – including Delegate Dalya Attar, whose voting record on reproductive rights legislation came under scrutiny late in the race.
• Fireworks in the 41st over a delegate’s abortion votes and a councilman’s political slate (7/4/22)
As The Brew reported, tensions flared between the district’s Black and Jewish communities as a result of competing 41st District Democratic Central Committee slates – one an all-white Orthodox Jewish slate led by Councilman Yitzy Schleifer and the other a more diverse slate, led by Senator Jill Carter.
The committees have a lot of power because they are able to recommend names to the governor to fill vacancies.
Last night’s totals in the 41st District Democratic Central Committee race, with 57 of 58 precincts reporting. (SBE)
Shown above are last night’s results, with 57 of 58 precincts reporting.
Below are signs for the two slates:
The 41st District Baltimore Democratic Central Committee slate formed by Senator Jill Carter. (@Serps)