Other races: Olszewski wins big, Scott and Cohen take Baltimore primaries, Hornberger trails

The race to replace retiring U.S. Rep. Dutch Ruppersberger (D-2nd) has been overshadowed by the races for an open Senate seat and open House seats in the 3rd and 6th congressional districts. But Baltimore County Executive Johnny Olszewski Jr. (D) seems well-equipped to head to Capitol Hill at the beginning of 2025.

Olszewski easily prevailed in the 2nd District Democratic primary Tuesday, taking 78% of the vote compared to just under 9% for his nearest competitor, state Del. Harry Bhandari (D-Baltimore County).

Olszewski appears to be headed to a fall showdown with Kimberly Klacik, the local conservative radio host and MAGA personality, who won 64% of the vote in the GOP primary. Klacik was the noisy runner-up in the 7th District general election in 2020, raising an eye-popping $9 million after then-President Donald Trump and members of his family promoted her candidacy.

But Klacik’s fundraising has been considerably more modest so far, and Olszewski is expected to easily keep the 2nd District seat in the Democratic column in November.

Beyond the open congressional and Senate seats, Maryland’s five incumbent U.S. House members seeking reelection — Reps. Andy Harris (R-1st), Glenn Ivey (D-4th), Steny Hoyer (D-5th), Kweisi Mfume (D-7th) and Jamie Raskin (D-8th) — all won their primaries easily on Tuesday and are heavily favored to win another term in November.

Here’s a look at some other key results from Tuesday’s primaries:

Baltimore City

In the Democratic primary for mayor of Baltimore, first-term incumbent Brandon Scott was renominated over former Mayor Sheila Dixon, taking 51% to Dixon’s 41%, which is considered tantamount to election in the heavily Democratic city. Businessman Bob Wallace and attorney Thiru Vignarajah, who dropped out of the race earlier this month and endorsed Dixon but remained on the ballot, each took 3%.

In the Democratic primary for city council president, Councilmember Zeke Cohen won a three-way race, bringing an ignoble end, for now, to the once-potent Mosby political dynasty in Baltimore City. Cohen, pushing a reform platform, took just shy of half the vote, compared to 26% for former Councilmember Shannon Sneed, who previously lost races for council president and lieutenant governor, and 24% for the incumbent Nick Mosby.

Mosby and his ex-wife, former Baltimore City State’s Attorney Marilyn Mosby (D), have faced ethical scrapes in recent years. Marilyn Mosby was convicted of two counts of perjury in November for falsely claiming she suffered COVID-related losses so that she could secure funding from the city; and was convicted again in February of filing a false mortgage application to get a lower rate on a house in Florida. She lost her reelection bid in the 2022 Democratic primary.

Both Scott and Cohen will be overwhelming favorites in November. Their Republican opponents are Shannon Wright and Emmanuel Digman, respectively.

The third citywide official, Comptroller Bill Henry (D), is all but guaranteed a second term. He was unopposed in the Democratic primary and is currently unopposed in November.

Cecil County

County Executive Danielle Hornberger, seeking a second term, was trailing her Republican primary challenger, Adam Streight, a sergeant in the Cecil County Sheriff’s Office, early Wednesday. With early votes and primary day ballots counted, Streight had 5,905 votes, or 52.2%, compared to 5,394 votes, or 47.8%, for Hornberger. Mail-in ballots had not been tallied, and it was not immediately clear how many ballots are outstanding and if there are enough to reverse the results.

The Republican will be the overwhelming favorite in November against Democrat Bill Kilby, who ran unopposed in the Democratic primary.

Presidential election

Both presumptive nominees for president, President Joe Biden on the Democratic side, and former President Donald Trump on the Republican side, easily won their respective primaries Tuesday. But the level of intraparty dissonance was noteworthy, especially in the GOP.

In the Democratic primary, Biden took more than 86% of the vote, while over 10% of Democrats voted “uncommitted,” in an apparent protest over U.S. support for Israel in the current conflict over Gaza. Marianne Williamson, the New Age writer, took 2%, while U.S. Rep. Dean Phillips (D-Minn.), who suspended his campaign months ago, took 1.3%.

In the Republican primary, Trump took 80% of the vote, while former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley, who dropped out of the presidential race two months ago, won 20%, keeping up a trend that’s been seen in other state Republican primaries recently.

Across the border: Alex Mooney’s last stand?

A former Marylander had a bad night in a high-profile Republican primary Tuesday.

U.S. Rep. Alex Mooney (R-W.Va.) — a former state senator in Maryland and a former state GOP chief — was clobbered in the Republican primary for U.S. Senate. Mooney lost to West Virginia Gov. Jim Justice, 62% to 27%, in a race that changed considerably after Trump endorsed Justice, an endorsement Mooney was hoping to snag.

Justice is now the heavy favorite to replace retiring Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.), a critical swing vote in the Senate over the past several years. If Republicans flip the West Virginia seat as expected, they’ll need to pick up just one more to win control of the Senate outright. And if Trump is reelected, they will automatically take control even if the Senate is divided 50-50, because Trump’s vice president would break ties in the chamber.

Mooney’s congressional term will run through next January, then he’ll be out of a job. He was first elected to Congress in 2014, four years after losing reelection to his Maryland Senate seat.

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