Allison Pickard wins Democratic primary for Anne Arundel County executive

Anne Arundel County Council member Allison Pickard won the Democratic primary for county executive.

The Associated Press called the race for Pickard just before 12:20 a.m. Wednesday. She said it was “a big sigh of relief” seeing the result.

“We have work to do, pulling together the entire Democratic ticket for the general,” she said after the race was called.

Earlier in the night, speaking to a roomful of volunteers, friends and fellow candidates, Pickard called governing a team sport.

“And we built a coalition of people who really are going to do the work,” she said.

Pickard, of Glen Burnie, won a hotly contested three-way race against James Kitchin, a senior member of County Executive Steuart Pittman’s administration, and fellow County Council member Pete Smith.

It was the first competitive Democratic primary in Anne Arundel County in about 40 years. The three Democratic candidates were largely aligned on the issues and sought to distinguish themselves in other ways.

Smith conceded around 11 p.m.

“Tonight appears not to be going the way we wanted,” he said in a statement. “My whole life has been about obstacles. This was another obstacle.”

In a social media post, Smith congratulated Pickard and said he accepted the defeat.

He asked Pickard to “protect what makes this place special

Kitchin could not immediately be reached early Wednesday. His campaign manager said they would send a statement in the morning.

The winner of the Democratic primary will face Republican Dave Crawford in November’s general election. Crawford, who works as a sales manager and is the chief of the Earleigh Heights Volunteer Fire Company, was unopposed in the Republican primary.

Out of about 422,000 registered voters in Anne Arundel County, about 173,000 are Democrats and 129,000 are Republicans, with another 112,000 unaffiliated, according to the latest available data from the State Board of Elections.

At her primary-night party, Pickard thanked her husband, Joe, and their children.

“I know it’s been the Allison show for a while, and you make me a better human being every day,” she said. “I love you so much, and I want to build an Anne Arundel County for y’all and for everyone in this room.”

During the campaign, Pickard highlighted her time on the county Board of Education, her work on the council and a deep slate of endorsements from all levels of government. She was appointed to the school board in 2015, shortly after being recognized as Anne Arundel County Public Schools’ volunteer of the year. In 2018, she flipped her Glen Burnie-area County Council seat from Republican to Democratic control.

Pittman endorsed Kitchin, the only candidate to use the county’s public campaign finance system. He’s been on Pittman’s management team since 2018, the same year Kitchin unsuccessfully ran for a seat on the County Council. He grew up in Anne Arundel County and said he and his wife moved back to the area to raise their family.

Smith often discussed his experience in the armed forces. He enlisted in the U.S. Marine Corps after he graduated from high school and has worked for nearly 30 years as an intelligence specialist. He’s served two nonconsecutive terms on the council and worked in the Pittman administration, helping veterans.

A fourth Democratic candidate, Kyle Nembhard, dropped out in early June and endorsed Kitchin, but his name remained on the ballot.

Wind and rain slowed the pace of voters going out to vote on Tuesday. The weather drove sign wavers and pamphleteers away, too. Some of the first voters a reporter was able to speak with at a Brooklyn Park polling location said they voted for Pickard.

Linthicum resident Shawn Petersen was one of the few early-morning voters at the community’s elementary school.

Petersen, who has lived in Anne Arundel County for about 17 years, said he was excited to vote for the local candidates in this year’s primary.

“The larger state races are pretty well defined with incumbents, and it was nice to have the opportunity to pick who I want for local delegates,” he said.

Petersen voted for Smith for county executive and said he was supporting candidates who “have progressive leanings.”

Chris Gowen, an attorney who lives in Crofton, voted early. He supported Kitchin, whose résumé and background impressed him.

Gowen was especially motivated to vote for Kitchin because of the candidate’s use of public campaign financing and refusal to take money from big developers.

The amount of money influencing politics “is a real big problem,” Gowen said.

Banner reporter Ellie Wolfe contributed to this story.