Anne Arundel County Councilman Pete Smith, a Democrat who is running for county executive, said a campaign volunteer was subjected to racist abuse as he canvassed in Crofton over the weekend.

Smith, who is Black, posted a video on Facebook that he said shows the encounter. The video includes a statement from Smith denouncing the hatred.

“It was shocking. When you listen to how he says it, it’s not just what he said, it’s how he said it. You can hear the vitriol and anger in the man’s voice,” Smith said in a brief phone interview Tuesday. “He does not like you. He does not want you to exist. That type of behavior, that type of mentality needs to be erased from this country.”

Smith said his campaign reported the incident to Anne Arundel County Police.

Police spokesperson Justin Mulcahy said the department was aware of the video Smith posted “regarding an incident where one of his campaign volunteers appears to be subjected to racist and threatening comments while canvassing in a Crofton neighborhood this weekend.”

Mulcahy added that police reached out to Smith and that a detective assigned to the Western District station was investigating.

Smith is seeking the Democratic nomination to succeed County Executive Steuart Pittman, who is term-limited. A descendant of slaveholders, Pittman last fall issued a formal apology for the 375-year-old county’s historical role in enforcing and supporting slavery.

Pittman said in a statement posted to social media Tuesday that his administration’s Office of Equity and Human Rights “has engaged” in response to the incident.

“Hate has no home here in Anne Arundel County,” the Democrat said. “I hope that this horrific act reminds our residents that regardless of your political affiliation, we are all human beings who can and must support one another when our common values and welfare are under attack.”

There were 144 reports of hate bias in Anne Arundel in 2025, up from 20 the year before and 52 in 2023, according to the county.

In the video, a person films as they walk down a sidewalk in broad daylight. A man can be heard yelling racial epithets and death threats.

“I’ll throw your ass dead on the road,” the man yells.

The man stops yelling as the person filming continues walking away. The filmer never responds to the man in the video.

“OK, wow,” the filmer says after the yelling stops.

Smith praised the volunteer for having “kept his cool,” calling him a “stand-up guy.”

“He didn’t respond or add fuel to the fire,” Smith said.

The councilman said that his campaign didn’t knock on the door of the man who shouted. The volunteer was filming to protect himself after being subjected to similar abuse the first time he walked past the man, Smith said.

Smith’s team labored over whether to post footage of the encounter because it was so disturbing, he said.

“There’s a part of me that wanted to show folks in our community and our county that this is real. These folks live next door to us,” Smith said.

He added that he decided to post the video to unify people and to show that those who choose hate “don’t represent us.”

The Jewish Federation of Annapolis and the Chesapeakedenounced the apparent hatred in a statement Tuesday.

“Such vile behavior has no place in our community or anywhere else,” the federation said.

Carl Snowden, convener of the Caucus of African American Leaders of Anne Arundel County, said people might feel emboldened to make racist comments because of President Donald Trump, who recently posted a fake image of former President Barack Obama and first lady Michelle Obama depicted as apes. The post was later deleted, but Trump has repeatedly declined to apologize.

“Quite frankly, the silence of Black and white elected officials has been deafening,” Snowden said.

He called on elected officials to denounce racism at a rally at Government House on March 7, the anniversary of Bloody Sunday, the day in 1965 that Black civil rights activists were attacked by law enforcement officers in Alabama.

The rally, Snowden said, is “to underscore that racism, whether it’s coming from the White House, the courthouse or Crofton, Maryland, will not be tolerated.”

This story may be updated.