Poll hints at tight 3-way Democratic race for Anne Arundel County executive

If you’re wondering who is ahead in the Democratic primary race for Anne Arundel county executive, you’re not alone.

Less than two months before the June 16 primary, no obvious front-runner appears to have emerged in the contest to succeed County Executive Steuart Pittman, a Democrat who is term-limited.

But a new poll by the Center for the Study of Local Issues at Anne Arundel Community College offers some clues as to how the race is going, even if the sample size for the local contest is fairly small.

The survey asked 1,902 Anne Arundel County residents between April 6-16 about their top issues, but found just 10% said they were paying “close attention” to the race for the county’s top job. So survey takers asked respondents in that subgroup about their preference in the county executive’s race.

Here’s what they found.

Among Democratic respondents paying close attention, 38% said they favored Pittman adviser James Kitchin, 33% said they favored County Councilwoman Allison Pickard, and 30% said they favored County Councilman Pete Smith. Only 2% favored Glen Burnie resident Kyle Nembhard.

“There’s not one person who seems to be clearly ahead and out-distancing everyone else,” said political science professor Dan Nataf, who oversaw the poll. “It will depend on turnout.”

Among the “close attention” subgroup were 47 Republicans, who either said they were voting for Dave Crawford (who is running unopposed in the GOP primary) or “No Democrat!” Nataf said.

The race should be considered open-ended at this point, Nataf said, because so many respondents said they were not paying close attention. The overall survey had a margin of error of about 2.6%, Nataf said, and the smaller survey of “close attention” respondents would have a larger margin.

Kitchin is a special assistant in Pittman’s administration and has Pittman’s endorsement.

Pickard was elected to the County Council in 2018, after being appointed to the Board of Education in 2015.

Smith was elected to the County Council in 2012, and did not run in 2018. He was reelected to the council in 2022.

Nembhard has not held elected office before but was involved in his community’s push to block additional development in Glen Burnie.

In an increasingly blue county, the Democratic primary winner will be favored in the general election against Crawford, the fire chief at the Earleigh Heights Volunteer Fire Company.

The center’s spring survey also found that residents’ top concerns were the economy, housing costs, growth, taxes, transportation and government waste.