Baltimore Councilman Eric Costello concedes in upset victory for challenger Zac Blanchard

Eric Costello, a 10-year incumbent member of the Baltimore City Council, conceded his reelection bid Thursday to challenger Zac Blanchard after more than week of ballot counting gave Blanchard a 43-vote lead in the race.

In a statement posted Thursday evening on social media, Costello said he called Blanchard to concede after the latest returns were tabulated by the Baltimore City Board of Elections. About 100 to 200 ballots remain to be counted Friday.

“The 11th District may be one of the most challenging districts in the state of Maryland, and I have poured everything I have into the role,” Costello said. “I respect the outcome of the election and while disappointed, remain fully committed to finishing out my term by working hard for my constituents like I have for the last decade.”

The turn was a stunning one for Costello, who has amassed power on the council since his 2014 appointment to replace outgoing Councilman William H. Cole IV. Blanchard, a former Marine who serves as a vice president for the Midtown Community Benefits District, said earlier Thursday he had planned to wait until votes were certified to make a statement.

Reached by The Baltimore Sun on Thursday evening, Blanchard, whose campaign was assisted by $125,000 in public financing, said he was “pumped” about the outcome.

“I think the Fair Election Fund did exactly what it needed to do,” he said. “We got several hundred of your friends, neighbors to give money to get the word out. I hope that inspires other candidates — even if their opponents have a big war chest or they think they aren’t connected to enough monied interests to be competitive.”

The District 11 contest was one of two races that took shape Thursday following the city Board of Elections’ fifth day of ballot counting since the May 14 primary. Paris Gray, a candidate for the Baltimore City Council’s District 8, declared victory in his race.

Gray, currently a liaison for District 8 Councilman Kristerfer Burnett, received 41% of the vote with nearly all of the city’s ballots tallied. Bilal Ali, a former state delegate and Gray’s closest competitor, received just under 38% of votes cast. Gray was Burnett’s preferred successor, as Burnett opted not to run for reelection this year after two terms in office.

Trailing in the race were Christian B. Allen, Joyous Jones and Jeffrey David Allen all of whom received 8% or less of votes cast. All are Democrats. No Republicans ran in District 8.

“It’s a relief,” Gray said. “I’m very thankful for the people of the 8th District who voted for me and decided to let me carry on the legacy of the great councilman who is leaving. I’m ready to move forward with anyone who wants to see the best for the 8th.”

Ali, however, said he would not concede, calling it “disrespectful” to make any definitive statements before vote certification.

“Mr. Paris can say what he wants to say,” said Ali, a former delegate. “I know some people want this to be over, but I don’t want to disrespect or disregard any voters. I wish (Gray) well. I don’t think he thought it’d be this difficult.”

The two races were among three City Council contests that dragged on for several days as the counting of the city’s more than 37,000 mail-in ballots has inched forward. By election night, Baltimore election officials had just 12,475 mail-in ballots counted in advance, about one-third of all mail-in ballots received. An additional 6,300 provisional ballots also had to be considered. Counting of those ballots could not begin until Wednesday under state law.

Elections officials estimated they had 1,000 to 1,500 ballots remaining to be counted Thursday, most of which were completed. The counting of some mail-in ballots has been slowed by ballots that were delivered to voters by email. Those ballots must be hand duplicated.

Baltimore and other local boards of elections are not scheduled to certify their local election results until Friday. Abigail Goldman, Baltimore’s deputy election administrator, said officials are on track to certify by then.

With the results tabulated Thursday, an upset in Baltimore’s District 12 race appeared all but certain. Jermaine Jones, a labor leader who received significant financial support from unions during the race, led two-term Councilman Robert Stokes by 365 votes. Both are Democrats.

Jones said he would wait until certification on Friday, however, to claim victory.

“What’s one more day? I want to be respectful of my opponent and the process,” Jones said.

Stokes, who narrowly won the District 12 seat representing central and East Baltimore in 2016, has been a target for challengers in the past, but until now, those campaigns haven’t come from Democrats. In 2020, he comfortably fended off Green Party challenger Franca Muller Paz, even after some on the council endorsed her.

Stokes did not respond to a request for comment Thursday evening.

The long ballot counting process made the race for South Baltimore’s 11th District a nail-biter for both Costello and Blanchard. Early returns on election night showed Costello holding a narrow lead with a 25-vote margin. On Tuesday, the race flipped in Blanchard’s favor. Returns that evening showed him up by 28 votes, a lead that expanded Wednesday to 36 votes. On Thursday, that inched upward to 43 votes.

Costello, who had not commented publicly on the race since a post on social media the day after Election Day, said in his post Thursday that it was “clear” he would not have enough votes to win.

Known as a prolific fundraiser, Costello entered the race with a financial advantage. He had $509,000 in his campaign coffers as of January when campaign season started to heat up.

Ahead of Costello’s concession, speculation had swirled around whether he would request a recount in the race. In Maryland, races within a 5% margin are recount-eligible. The multi-term councilman would have likely had to foot the cost of a recount, however. Recounts are not free unless the margin of difference between the two candidates is 0.25% or less. Costs are also waived if the outcome of the election changes as a result of the recount.