Meet the 5 candidates running for Anne Arundel County’s top office

Anne Arundel County Executive Steuart Pittman leaves office at the end of the year and five candidates are running to succeed the Democrat.

Four of the candidates are Democrats and one is a Republican.

Two of the Democrats, Allison Pickard and Pete Smith, are members of the Anne Arundel County Council while a third, James Kitchin, works for Pittman’s administration.

The remaining candidates, Democrat Kyle Nembhard and Republican Dave Crawford, are newcomers to politics. The filing deadline was Feb. 25.

With nobody else running as a Republican, Crawford is guaranteed to advance to November’s general election. The Democratic primary in June figures to be competitive and closely contested.

Here’s what to know about the candidates:

Allison Pickard

The daughter of an Army officer, Pickard, 52, was born on a military base in Kansas but spent most of her childhood in suburban Atlanta.

After earning a degree in political science and sociology from the College of Charleston, Pickard served two service terms in AmeriCorps in 1994. She worked on an immunization drive in Jackson, Mississippi, and an effort in rural south Georgia to reduce low-income seniors’ reliance on hospital emergency departments.

The latter inspired a decade-long career in senior services that saw her move to Maryland, originally in the Washington suburbs, where she met her husband and had their first child. His career as an international trade economist took the family to Portugal for four years, when their two other kids were born.

Upon return, the family settled in the Millersville area, where Pickard got involved in her children’s education. In 2013, she was recognized as Anne Arundel County Public Schools Volunteer of the Year. Two years later, Republican Gov. Larry Hogan appointed her to the county’s Board of Education.

She won a seat on the County Council in 2018 and quickly became a champion for Glen Burnie. She touts among her accomplishments the building of several new schools in the area she represents, with plans for others underway, and revitalizing the Baltimore-Annapolis Boulevard corridor.

“This area of the county had been left behind and underinvested in,” Pickard said in an interview.

Like her colleagues on the council, Pickard has helped shape the county’s future through its general development plan, Plan 2040, and individualized region plans.

“We’ve been legislating. It’s time now to start implementing and see results,” Pickard said. “I have the vision, leadership skills and track record to get things done.”

If elected, Pickard said she would focus on easing the county’s housing crisis, in part by building smaller homes, while protecting its natural resources. She also intends to prioritize the county’s economy and invest in its infrastructure.

There is “tremendous opportunity” to create jobs in the county and to revive “older commercial corridors,” she said.

Pickard said she is “battled-tested” from being a council member during the coronavirus pandemic, and is well-equipped to lead the county during economic uncertainty and federal government tumult.

“To me, it’s all about results,” Pickard said. “We can talk all day, but if we’re not seeing improvements in our communities, what are we doing it for?”

She boasts endorsements from U.S. Rep. Sarah Elfreth, Maryland senators Pamela Beidle and Dawn Gile, four state delegates, County Councilwoman Julie Hummer, and Board of Education member Joanna Bache Tobin.

James Kitchin

Kitchin, 40, was born in San Diego and moved around a lot through his father’s Navy service, but his mother’s family is from Annapolis, so they visited regularly. The family moved to Crofton when he was in third grade.

“Anne Arundel County is the only place I have consistent memories of from birth,” he told The Banner.

After graduating from Arundel High School, Kitchin studied business administration at Point Loma Nazarene University in San Diego. He then took a job teaching history and government at an American school in Mexico City, moving there with the woman he met at college and married shortly after graduation.

The fulfillment he felt from showing students how to look things up and cite their sources left him wanting to do more research. As a result, 12 years after leaving Anne Arundel, the couple and their two children settled “about a half a mile from where I grew up” as Kitchin worked on a PhD in public policy at the University of Maryland, Baltimore County.

In 2018, Kitchin ran unsuccessfully to represent Crofton and South County on the council. Pittman, who was elected county executive that year, offered Kitchin a job as a community engagement officer. Kitchin worked his way up to leading Pittman’s Office of Community Engagement and Constituent Services.

He said he reorganized to serve residents more effectively.

During his tenure in Pittman’s administration, Kitchin chaired an internal workgroup overseeing the rollout of police body cameras and became the point person in Pittman’s office working with the health department to distribute the COVID-19 vaccine.

“I grew up here,” Kitchin said. “It’s just been amazing in the last eight years, how much I’ve learned about the place I call home.”

Kitchin wants to be Anne Arundel’s top elected official to “elevate community voices in all levels of government decision-making and to focus on everyday quality of life issues,” he said. He said he would focus on bolstering the county’s “world-class education system,” while making the county more affordable and protecting the environment.

Unlike his opponents, Kitchin is seeking to fund his run through the county’s Public Campaign Financing System, which County Council members voted to cut funding for this week. He said that’s not the only thing that distinguishes him as a candidate.

“I would never say there’s not more to learn, but I have a very good understanding of county departments and how they work and interact with other departments and communities,” Kitchin said. “I have been a part of the team making things run, so I think that gives me some unique preparation to come in and do it.”

Pittman; Councilwoman Lisa Rodvien, a Democrat who represents the Annapolis area; and Board of Education member Dana Schallheim have endorsed him.

Pete Smith

Smith, 45, grew up in a “very poor environment” in Chicago and enlisted in the U.S. Marine Corps after high school.

“The Marine Corps has pretty much been my career consistently for the last 27 years,” Smith said in an interview.

An intelligence specialist, Smith attended night school wherever he was stationed. He eventually earned a degree from the University of Phoenix and to this day, is an intelligence officer in the Marine Reserves.

Military service brought him to Fort Meade in 2003 and he has lived in western Anne Arundel County since then. It’s where he has raised his children.

In 2012, Smith was appointed to serve District 1 on the County Council after members voted to remove a council member convicted of failing to pay taxes. He resigned a year later when the courts said the council didn’t have the power to remove his predecessor, Daryl Jones.

Smith won the seat in 2014, lost to a challenger in 2018 and won it back in 2022. Between his latest terms, he joined Pittman’s administration to help veterans.

Serving as a council member, Smith said, “was just an extension of what I was already doing with my life.”

He said he was proud to have supported county public schools, fighting for education dollars as the country emerged from a recession early in his tenure, and for bringing a community center featuring separate facilities for seniors and youths to Severn.

“As I thought about the legacy of my life and what I’m for, I’m running because I want to create this culture of excellence that speaks to every person in Anne Arundel County,” Smith said of his decision to enter the county executive race.

Smith said his more than a dozen years of service to the county have prepared him for the challenges he expects the next county executive to face: uncertainty at the federal level and a potentially shaky economy.

He said he wants to boost the county’s affordable housing stock and further invest in its “thriving” schools. At the same time, Smith said, “you’re going to see me laser-focused on young people.”

Having overcome a difficult upbringing thanks to strong mentors, Smith said he wants young people to “feel like the county government is working for them, that it’s on their side. That’s the county government we’re going to bring.”

“I’ve never felt like I was entitled to anything,” Smith added. “I want to work for the citizens of Anne Arundel County, and they will see that every single day.”

Smith said he expects the support of George F. Johnson IV, who served as sheriff in Anne Arundel from 1994–2006, and state Sen. Shaneka Henson.

Kyle Nembhard

As a child in New York City, Kyle Nembhard rode along as his father drove through all five boroughs and was awestruck by all the bridges, tunnels and roads.

Little did he know then that his childhood fascination with infrastructure would spawn a career years later.

After studying commerce and engineering at Drexel University, he earned a master’s in city and regional planning at Morgan State. That’s what brought him to Maryland in 2006.

He has worked in several roles as a certified planner and is currently employed by Amtrak, where he says he led the company’s expansion of Union Station in Washington.

Nembhard and his wife rented in Odenton before buying their first home in Glen Burnie, where they live now with their two children.

Nembhard led his community’s push against additional development in their neighborhood. He and a few other neighbors regularly showed up to County Council meetings, arguing that a townhouse community planned for a former bus depot shouldn’t be allowed to have more homes than the zoning allowed.

Their effort ultimately failed because the Democrat-controlled council, which has prioritized affordable housing, shot down a measure aimed at curtailing development on the Glen Burnie bus depot. But he credits his crash course in local government with sparking an interest in running for for office.

He didn’t want to challenge his councilman, Republican Nathan Volke, who took up his community’s cause and decided to run for the county’s top office. He officially entered the race the day before the statewide filing deadline.

“I am running because I feel like I know what it’s like as a citizen to sometimes feel unheard and I feel like citizens of Anne Arundel County should be made to feel their concerns are heard, that their elected officials are listening to them,” Nembhard said. “I’m also running because I think my planning background can influence sustainable planning policy in the county.”

Nembhard used the word “sustainable” several times in an interview discussing his candidacy and vision for the county. He’s not anti-growth; he just wants it to be responsible.

In the case of density bonuses, for example, Nembhard believes they should only be allowed in places where the county’s infrastructure can handle more residents.

“My vision for Anne Arundel County is having us on a track for sustainable growth,” Nembhard said. “I want us to bring down the cost of housing. I want us also to address our growing traffic concerns, because our population isn’t getting any smaller.”

Dave Crawford

The lone Republican in the race for county executive, Dave Crawford is the chief of the Earleigh Heights Volunteer Fire Company.

He did not respond to requests for an interview.

According to his campaign website, Crawford has worked in food service sales for four decades, helping businesses solve problems and grow.

“That experience taught him the importance of listening, collaboration, and the vital role that local businesses play in our communities, as well as a deeper understanding of the challenges businesses face,” his website said, touting a pro-small business platform.

Outside of his day job, Crawford has served as a volunteer firefighter for more than 35 years, his website says. He rose through the ranks to become chief at the volunteer fire station in Severna Park.

His website said his tenure as a firefighter reflects his passion for community and public service.

Crawford is married to a retired Anne Arundel County special education teacher, which his campaign website says instilled in him “the importance of strong education.”

“Of all his titles, Dave’s favorite is ‘Grandad,’” his website says. “He is proud to be raising his family and serving his neighbors right here in Anne Arundel County.”

This article has been updated.