Calvert County Sheriff Mike Evans and his wife, Susan, view results of the 2018 Primary Election race. 

Prince Frederick. MD – Despite the pending exit of three incumbents, Calvert County Republicans appear poised to retain all five seats on the Board of County Commissioners come November. Three surprise Democrat challengers, however, have emerged from the June 26 Primary to join with two election district candidates who faced no preliminary round opposition.

In the race for Calvert County Commissioner, on the GOP side the primary winners are First Election District incumbent Mike Hart, Second Election District race winner Tim Hutchins and Third Election District candidate Kelly McConkey, a current Board of Education member who faced no opposition. In the at large race, Earl “Buddy” Hance was the top vote-getter followed by two-term incumbent Steve Weems. Hance and McConkey are former Democrats. Finishing third in the at-large race was one-term incumbent Tom Hejl, who found himself the frequent lightning rod for criticism leveled at the board for some of its more unpopular actions during the current four-year term.

“I couldn’t have done it without the people in this room,” said Hance to the Republicans gathered at the local headquarters in Prince Frederick after the results were posted. When Hance, a cabinet secretary during the O’Malley Administration and a former Democratic Central Committee member was asked why he changed parties, he told TheBayNet.com “the Democratic Party has moved too far to the left. I’m more moderate.” Hance stated that he does believe growth control could be the top campaign issue in the General Election.

Weems stated that despite some of the potential acrimony Hance’s presence on the GOP slate might create among a few of the outgoing commissioners, he was “cautiously optimistic” the board could accomplish its remaining goals over the next five-and-a-half months. “At the end of the day we have a job to do.”

As predicted, the Republican Primary sheriff’s race was relatively close with incumbent Mike Evans garnering nearly 52 percent of the vote and defeating challenger Craig Kontra by over 600 votes. After receiving a call of congratulations from Kontra, Evans told TheBayNet.com that he believes some of the Democrats who crossed party lines and registered as Republicans to vote for Hance cast their votes in the sheriff’s race for him. Evans also cited as a factor in his win the campaign’s positive message. “I stayed above the negative campaigning,” said Evans, who also attributed the victory to the fact that “Calvert is the safest county in Maryland and crime is down.” A third candidate in the GOP Primary, Kinsey Weems, tallied slightly less than 4 percent of the vote.

On the legislative side, Calvert resident Michael Thomas won the District 27B Republican Primary over Prince George’s resident Philip Parenti Thomas declared that Calvert Republicans have “the best central committee in the state.” Thomas will now face incumbent Democrat Michael A. Jackson in the November General Election. “The seat is important,” said Thomas, adding that the state GOP has District 27B as a winnable race. “This is about Governor Hogan and about changing Maryland,” Thomas said.

The Democrat slate for county commissioner will include Third Election District candidate Holly Heintz Budd, Second Election District candidate Susie Hance Wells and First Election District Primary winner Tricia V. Powell, who notched a solid win over challenger Ted Haynie, gaining almost 57 percent of the vote.

In the race for two at large seats, the top vote getter was former Calvert County Democratic Central Committee Chairman Greg Brown followed by one of the youngest commissioner candidates in the county’s history—Matt Bennett. “I’m grateful that I’m still in the game,” said Brown. “I know I’m an underdog. I’m going to give it my best shot.”

Primary Election night did reveal who—barring a successful challenge from a designated Democrat or write-in candidate—will be Calvert’s next state’s attorney. Andrew Rappaport, the local prosecuting office’s senior assistant state’s attorney; won decisively over Deputy State’s Attorney Kathryn Marsh in the GOP Primary.

Contact Marty Madden at marty.madden@thebaynet.com