The victorious Republican team gathered for a party Thursday at the local GOP headquarters.
“We stayed on the same message,” was how St. Mary’s County Republican Central Committee Chairperson Mary Burke-Russell explained the GOP sweep in St. Mary’s County. All Republican candidates on the ballot were victorious. The only two Democratic elected officials remaining in the county are the two who were unopposed on the ballot – Clerk of the Circuit Court Joanie Williams and Register of Wills Lois Duke.
The message Burke-Russell was referring to was Change. “The voters of St. Mary’s County decided they wanted to change Maryland,” she said in an interview with the Bay Net.
Burke-Russell called herself “the happiest Chair in the State of Maryland.” After leaving the local celebration on election night at the VFW Post 2632 in California, she traveled to Annapolis to attend Governor-Elect Larry Hogan’s victory speech and the festivities that followed, which she described as “a lot of crying, laughing and yelling.”
Burke-Russell credited the hard work of Hogan’s campaign team in Southern Maryland, including the head of that effort Jodi Stanalonis. That, and “the great leadership from the state party, she said, allowed her and the central committee and Republican Club to concentrate of the local races in which they were so successful.
Russell talked to the Bay Net hours before the Republicans gathered at their headquarters in Hollywood for a victory celebration.
At the celebration Russell said, “It’s absolutely incredible, the victories we’ve experienced. We just want to celebrate.”
Delegate Tony O’Donnell (R: 29-C) noted the two Southern Maryland counties (St. Mary’s and Calvert) “worked well together. Excellent preparation met opportunity.” He noted the teamwork produced “a new state senator and two new delegates” and “five county commissioners in both counties.”
O’Donnell added, “Tonight we’re going to celebrate. We need to keep our heads held high.”
Steve Waugh, who defeated long-tine State Senator Roy Dyson, said “We owe a lot to a lot of people, not just the voters but the volunteers.” He added, “Now, let’s do something with it. The challenge is we do not spend the next four years sniping at each other.”
Later Waugh told The Bay Net that while Hogan “played a big role” in energizing voters to vote Republican, “it was a combination of efforts.” Due to the failure of the O’Malley/Brown administration [“they hit the wall”] many of “the Democrats of Southern Maryland” crossed party lines to vote for Hogan and other local Republicans. He said Hogan presented “a believable vision” to the voters. The two—Waugh and Hogan—both saw taxes as the problem and jobs as the solution.
Waugh pledged “to remain available and engaged with everyone in the district. The people who disagree with me—I want to hear from them.”
Waugh also noted he has already had a conversation with Senate President Mike Miller and is confident he can get acclimated to Senate procedures.
Deb Rey, who defeated equally entrenched Delegate John Bohanan for the District 29-B seat, said she attended the counting of absentee ballots earlier in the day and although her lead over Bohanan is now slightly less than 100 votes with provisional and overseas ballots still to be counted, Bohanan has already conceded.
The Bay Net photos by Ron Bailey
