Democrats pick up more legislative seats as mail-in ballots are counted

The blue wave had maybe slowed to a trickle by Friday, but the tide was still moving toward Democrats, who appeared to have ousted a GOP senator and picked up two more seats in the House of Delegates as mail-in ballots were counted in Frederick County.

In the latest returns, posted Friday night, Democratic challenger Lara Westdorp had overtaken Sen. Bill Folden (R-Frederick), with 28,803 for Westdorp to Folden’s 27,906 in the race for the District 4 Senate seat.

Democrats also appear to have taken two Republican delegates’ seats in District 4, capturing the seat left open by longtime Del. Barrie Ciliberti, who did not run for reelection, and unseating Del. April Miller. Counting could continue through Friday, but if the current results hold, Del. Jesse Pippy, the House Minority Leader, could be the only Republican left in what had been an all-GOP district.

In the latest returns, Democratic challenger Jerry Donald led in District 4 with 27,936 votes, followed by Pippy with 27,344 and Democrat Andrew Duck, with 27,181.

The new results add to Democratic election night wins, when challengers unseated Del. Stuart Schmidt (R-Anne Arundel) and Del. Barry Beauchamp (R-Wicomico). There were still 269,342 mail-in ballots left to count statewide as of Thursday night, the most recent numbers provided by the Maryland State Board of Elections.

The Frederick County results came as election officials continued to count mail-in ballots, which lean heavily toward Democrats. In an interview earlier in the day Friday, Folded was not conceding the race, but he did acknowledge that mail-in ballots would favor the Democrats.

“I’m still holding out hope, but I’m also a realist and understand the significance of the message that was sent across the country as far as the repudiation of [Republican President Donald] Trump and his policies,” Folden said Friday morning.

“If the results don’t turn out favorable, it has been nothing but an honor to represent my district, my constituents in Frederick County. It’s the honor of a lifetime to be able to represent them and advocate for more affordability, lower energy costs, trying to freeze property taxes,” he said.

Senate Minority Leader Steve Hershey (R-Upper Shore) said District 4 “was the seat we were most concerned about protecting. [But] Results for Republicans across the state were much worse than anyone projected.”

“We saw significant money show up in the last week focused on the Democrats’ mail-in ballot chase,” said Hershey, who added in a text that Republicans were not able to match the late spending in the district.

“We feel the District 4 team did everything needed to win,” Hershey said. “In any other year, this race is already over.”

In addition to the blue wave that swamped many GOP candidates, Hershey said he thinks Frederick County incumbents, regardless of party, were running against data centers.

“I think all  elected officials there [in Frederick County] got tagged with the pro-data center moniker, whether correctly or not,” he said.

Folden was elected to the House in 2014 and was in his first term in the Senate. A retired police officer who serves on the Judicial Proceedings Committee, he has been an outspoken critic on criminal justice reform policies passed by Democrats.

Westdorp, who said she spent more than five hours watching ballots being canvassed Thursday at the county’s Board of Elections office, said “it comes down to math,” with more mail-in ballots likely to favor her. She acknowledged that challenging an incumbent “was a Hail Mary pass,” but said a change was needed for the community.

“Everybody has a voice. We may not agree. I might not do exactly what you want, but I’ll be happy to explain you why we went in a certain direction,” said Westdorp, owner of Frederick Reflexology. “Our current senator does not provide that kind of space for any of his constituents. He’s very exclusive in who he listens to.”

‘People came out’

County election officials have until next Friday, Nov. 13, to certify election results. If more time is needed to count ballots, local officials must inform the state Board of Elections first.

Then state officials will have until Dec. 3 to certify results, in an election that could be in the record books for at least a gubernatorial election.

Unofficial results posted by the state Thursday night show that 1.9 million ballots had been counted, representing about 45% of the state’s 4.3 million, of eligible voters.

The last day of early voting this year broke a turnout record for a gubernatorial election, but State Board of Elections Administrator Jared DeMarinis said Friday afternoon we will not know if any other records were broken until later this month, when all votes have been tabulated.

“We had nearly a million people [for early voting]. The turnout was really high,” DeMarinis said. “This is what our democracy was based upon … the idea of voter participation, voters making their voices heard. They voted in a safe, secure environment and that’s fantastic.”

He said two post-election audits will be done — risk limiting audit and an independent audit — prior to the State Board of Canvassers certifying the results Dec. 3.

“We’re making sure that from start to finish, Marylanders know that their voices were heard, [votes] were counted and that the winners were govern from the consent of the people,” DeMarinis said.

Democrats will hold most legislative trifectas since 1984

But voting at least one polling location didn’t run smoothly: Several hours after polls closed Tuesday, a Prince George’s County circuit judge rejected an emergency request to extend voting at the Robert J. DiPietro Community Center in Laurel after several hours of delays in voting earlier in the day.

Prince George’s Election Administrator Wendy Honesty-Bey said Thursday that election judges are asked to call the Board of Elections the day before Election Day if additional ballots, scanners or other equipment are needed before the polls open the next day. At the Laurel precinct, she said, a call was made “the day of” asking for more ballots and an additional scanner.

When waits at the community center stretched to hours, county and state officials posted online that voters who didn’t want to wait for hours there could cast a mail-in ballot at the Board of Elections office in Largo, or cast a provisional ballot at one of four other locations in the Laurel area.

Honesty-Bey said the county could exceed the 24,000 provisional ballots counted during the 2024 presidential election, but not just because of the Laurel precinct.

“We had a high turnout at Robert DiPietro, which was good. People came out to vote” at the location and throughout the county, she said.

As for the Laurel location, she said, “We need to go back and debrief on what happened. This cannot happen again.”

DeMarinis said his office will assess how the state can do more to help out local jurisdictions.

“You can always refine the process. You can always make it a little bit better,” he said.

Whatever happens in the Frederick County count, Westdorp said she and her husband are leaving the day after ballots are certified to head on a vacation that was planned this summer by her husband, who also chaired her campaign.

“I am going to Puerto Rico,” she said. “I think right after the primary, he said, ‘We are going to go celebrate, but not here. You are going to get on a plane.’ This is what you do what you do to keep a marriage strong and intact.”

— Maryland Matters reporter Bryan P. Sears contributed to this report.