Howard County voters embrace diversity in Tuesday’s primary

Howard County voters were on track Tuesday to elect its first female county executive in four decades and its first majority-minority council in its history.

Former Del. Vanessa Atterbeary easily defeated three other candidates in the Democratic primary for county executive and was declared the victor by the Associated Press. If elected in November, she will be Howard’s first Black female county executive.

According to unofficial results Tuesday, voters also were poised to choose three candidates of color for the five-member County Council. The current council is predominantly white, and only one member ran for reelection.

The county is diverse, with Black people and Asian Americans comprising about 20% each of the population.

Here’s how Howard County’s races shook out on primary election day:

County Executive

The race to succeed County Executive Calvin Ball, a term-limited Democrat, drew four Democrats and no Republicans.

As of late Tuesday, Atterbeary was leading her closest competitor, County Councilwoman Deb Jung, by more than a 2-1 margin. They were followed by Councilwoman Liz Walsh and restaurateur Bob Cockey.

The winner of Tuesday’s primary is expected to succeed Ball later this year.

County Council

The Howard County Council will look a lot different come early December.

Of the five current members, only Councilwoman Christiana Rigby, who has served District 3 since 2018, ran again.

Jung and Walsh did not seek reelection in order to run for county executive, while council members Opel Jones and David Yungmann opted to leave after their current terms end.

District 1

Three Democrats vied to succeed Walsh in representing Ellicott City, Dorsey’s Search, Elkridge and Hanover.

They were Kevin Chin, a doctor at MedStar Good Samaritan Hospital in Baltimore; James Handley, a former Army officer and assistant attorney general; and Jean Xu, founder of the county’s influential Chinese American Parent Association.

Chin’s lead over Handley grew steadily Tuesday night, with Xu in third place.

No Republicans ran for the position.

District 2

Two political newcomers ran for the open District 2 seat: Arinze Ifekauche, who works in Maryland’s Office of Crime Prevention and Policy, and Jessica Nichols, who was recently named Howard County’s Teacher of the Year.

Nichols held a wide lead over Ifekauche.

No Republicans ran for the council seat, which covers portions of Columbia and Ellicott City.

District 3

Rigby faced a Democratic primary challenge from Amir Naviwala, an accountant and business owner. Naviwala said he was motivated to run in part by the council’s failure to pass a resolution calling for a ceasefire in Gaza.

The incumbent had a more than 3-1 lead. Rigby was first elected to the council in 2018.

No Republicans filed to run for the position, which represents portions of Columbia and communities in North Laurel, Savage, Jessup, Guilford, and Elkridge.

District 4

Four Democrats sought to fill the seat being vacated by Jung in District 4, which covers portions of Columbia and parts of Clarksville, Highland, Fulton, Scaggsville, and North Laurel.

They were: Linfeng Chen, an engineer and at-large member of Howard County’s school board; Regina Clay, a longtime consultant for public, private and nonprofit organizations; Janssen Evelyn, an administrator for the Anne Arundel County government; and Shamieka Preston, an organizer for residents who opposed construction of a plastics recycling plant at the W.R. Grace & Co. headquarters in Columbia.

Evelyn had a roughly 2-1 lead over his closest competitor, Chen.

No Republicans ran for the position.

District 5

The county’s most western district is the only one in which voters will have a contested council election in November.

Ryan O’Connor, a newcomer who faced no opposition in the Republican primary, is looking to keep the seat in the red column. O’Connor has a background in finance and works on Farmer Mac’s rural infrastructure team.

Two Democrats sought the Democratic nomination: Cat Carter, a former public schools teacher, and Felita Phillips, a member of Howard County’s Board of Appeals.

Carter had a 3-1 lead over Phillips.

Register of Wills

Democrat Byron E. Macfarlane, who has been the county’s register of wills since 2011, easily staved off a primary challenge from Ajile Brown.

Brown was appointed to fill a vacancy on the county’s Orphans’ Court nearly four years ago, only to see voters decide in a referendum months later to abolish the court.

State Senate

Howard County is represented by three Democratic state senators: Katie Fry Hester in District 9, Clarence Lam in District 12 and Guy Guzzone in District 13. None faced primary opponents.

Lam and Guzzone are running opposed in the fall, while Hester faces a challenge from Republican Ben Hightower, who touts his experience as a Navy Hospital corpsman and Pentagon official.

House of Delegates

Political newcomers were looking to unseat incumbents in two Democratic House of Delegates primaries.

Del. Courtney Watson, a Democrat, has represented Howard County residents in District 9B since January 2019. Watson easily defeated political newcomer Abdun Matin.

Attorney Joshua Heard sought to unseat one of two District 12A incumbents: Dels. Jessica Feldmark and Terri Hill.

Hill and Feldmark each garnered twice as many votes as Heard. The Democrats will square off against Frank Glover, a Republican who lists himself on social media as a small-business owner, in November.

In District 9A, Democratic Dels. Chao Wu and Natalie Ziegler faced no primary opposition. They will face two Republican candidates in the fall: Fitzgerald Mofor and Spencer Rhoda.

State’s Attorney

No Democrats filed to challenge State’s Attorney Rich Gibson, who has held the post since 2019. No Republican candidates filed for the position.

Sheriff

No candidates filed to run against incumbent Marcus Harris, a Democrat who has served as the county sheriff since 2018. No Republicans are running, either.

School Board

While two at-large seats are up for grabs on the Howard County Board of Education, there’s no primary this year. A nonpartisan primary would have occurred if the candidate pool were larger. Instead, all three candidates — Mark Covington, a retired principal; Linda Frascarella, a retired General Electric employee; and Lanlan Xu, a health policy executive — will appear on the fall ballot.