Now that the Baltimore County Council Districts have expanded into nine districts, let’s look at the numbers in the eastern Baltimore County districts
Council District 7
County Councilman David Marks is seeking reelection and is heavily favored in this newly drawn district. If you look at all the voting precincts in 2022, the Republican County Council candidate (either Marks, Tony Campbell) defeated the Democratic Council candidate nearly 2 to 1, but Democratic challenger Cari Santiago is trying to put up a fight.
She is attacking Marks on voting for the County Council pay increase legislation, even though Marks said he was against the increase.
When she posted this on social media, many of the respondents said that Marks deserves the increase for his hard work.
Santiago also pointed out that her and Marks had nearly the same amount of votes in their uncontested primary races and she is hopeful those numbers transfer over to the General Election.
First of all, voter turnout in the primary is a small fraction of voter turnout for the general. And can Santiago keep many of those Democratic voters from switching over to Marks in November?
Council District 8
This has been a quiet race on the surface (although I am not able to keep track of the mailers in this district). Josh Sines and Shronda Dillard-Huffman are scheduled to meet in a forum on Oct. 20 at Rocky Point Golf Course clubhouse.
If you take all the voting precincts in the new District 8 and how they voted Democrat vs. Republican in the 2022 County Councilraces (It waa a combination of Crystal Francis, Mike Ertel and Justin Holiday vs. David Marks, Tony Campbell and Todd Crandell) the Republican only won 58 to 41.
Anytime a race gets under 60 to 40 percent, anything can happen
Council District 9
This is a new District which consists of Dundalk, Edgemere and Rosedale. It is a small and appears more competitive than the Old District 7.
Republican Councilman Todd Crandell won defeated his Democratic opponent Justin Holiday 2022 by a margin of 60 to 36
Looking at new voting precincts in District 9 and how they voted in 2022 with Democratic candidate (Ertel and Holliday) vs. the Republican candidate (Campell and Crandell), the Republican candidate only wins 59 to 40 in this race.
Gerrymandering has killed competitive races in the state legislative races, but Council Districts 8 & 9 should be close.
All candidates are invited to send news and articles to eastcountytimes@gmail.com