A New Mayor in Annapolis?
Mike Pantelides — whose campaign slogan is Sweep Annapolis Clean — is sweeping Josh Cohen out of office, according to early election returns. With all but absentee ballots and one precinct counted in the Annapolis mayoral race, challenger Pantelides leads incumbent Cohen by 84 votes, 3,728 to 3,644.
At one point in counting, Pantelides’ lead was only 20 votes.
“It’s another manifestation of the anti-incumbent sentiment voters are feeling — and expressing — across the country,” according to national political analyst Bill Lambrecht, Bay Weekly’s editorial advisor and co-founder. “At this point you can’t chalk it up to a Republican victory. It’s sweep all the bums out.”
In Annapolis, you can likely chalk up Pantelides’ surge to Market House, City Dock and Crystal Spring. Those issues energized voters across party lines. Apparently, 84 more voters opposed than approved of the trend in development during Cohen’s term.
City Council races were a different story. There, scanty voting reaffirmed the status quo. All eight aldermen and alderwomen were reelected. Only four of the eight races had competition. In those, vote margins between apparent winner and loser ranged from 51 in Ward 2 (Fred Paone 760, Kurt Riegel 709) to 201 in Ward 1 (Joe Budge 780, Alan Furth 579: Returns are still unofficial.
In Ward 6, Ken Kirby 317, Steven Conn: 260. And in Ward 7, Ian Pfieffer 433, James Clenny 269.
Elected in unopposed races were Ward 3’s Rhonda Pindell Charles, 574; Ward 4’s Sheila Finlayson, 277; Ward 5’s Jared Littmann, 544; Ward 8’s Ross Arnett, 993.
In the City Council, the sole Republican remains Fred Paone.