Updated: Brennan, Black, 'apple ballot' candidates lead school board race

Jaime Kiersten Brennan, Colt Morningstar Black and three candidates on the "apple ballot" led the race for the Frederick County Board of Education by a significant margin, according to unofficial results as of Tuesday night.

The top six candidates will advance to the Nov. 5 general election.

Brennan led with 10,192 votes, and Black was second with 9,380 votes.

Josh Bokee, Chad King Wilson Sr. and Janie Monier, who were all endorsed by the unions representing Frederick County Public Schools employees, were in third, fourth and fifth place, respectively. Bokee had 7,932 votes, Wilson had 7,771 votes and Monier had 7,762 votes.

Tabitha McLoughlin was in a distant sixth place with 5,246 votes, followed by Veronica D. Lowe with 4,044 votes.

Those results were based on 66 of 66 election day precincts in Frederick County, plus early voting and some mail-in ballots.

One person, Allison Medrano, withdrew from the race but still appeared on the primary ballot.

Three seats — currently held by David Bass, Jason Johnson and Sue Johnson — are up for election this year, and none of the incumbents is seeking reelection. Jason Johnson is running for Congress instead.

Frederick County sent out 30,207 mail-in ballots for the primary, according to data from the Maryland State Board of Elections.

Out of those ballots, 17,889 were sent to registered Democrats, 7,052 were sent to registered Republicans and 5,266 were sent to other voters.

In order to be counted, mail-in ballots had to be delivered to a ballot box, polling place or local board office by 8 p.m. on Tuesday or received by local boards by mail by 10 a.m. on May 24, the day local boards must verify primary election vote counts.

Additionally, 5,605 people voted early in person between May 2 and 9. Of those, 2,548 were registered Democrats, 2,709 were registered Republicans and 336 were unaffiliated.

School board candidates came from a wide range of careers and backgrounds, including former teachers, research scientists, students at higher education institutions, business professionals, a funeral home director and a former alderman for the city of Frederick.

Brennan, a certified public accountant and former chair for the Frederick County chapter of Moms for Liberty, wants to improve services for students with disabilities, expand career and technology education and promote curricula that "all parents are comfortable with," according to her campaign website.

Her website also said she wanted FCPS to emphasize reading, writing and math over "divisive politics and social issues."

Her campaign raised more than $14,900 between Jan. 11 and April 26, the most of any school board candidate.

While Brennan said in an interview on Tuesday night there was "a lot of time to go" before all votes are counted and the results are verified, she said she was "cautiously optimistic."

"I felt really good at the time I worked at the polls, and I got good feedback from my other volunteers who were at polls, so I feel good about it," she said. "There's a lot of mail-ins and stuff like that, and so, we'll just have to wait and see."

Black, a funeral director and former volunteer firefighter, had previously run for a U.S. representative seat for Maryland's 6th District and is a member of Frederick County's Republican Central Committee.

Black has said he wants to focus on boosting fiscal responsibility, improving school facilities and prioritizing transparency between teachers, parents and students.

Wilson, who is currently a teacher and coach at Watkins Mill High School in Gaithersburg, wants to prioritize recruiting and retaining educators and developing a diverse workforce that mirrors the FCPS student population.

His campaign also focused on improving teachers' compensations and improving the district's special education offerings. This is his first time running for public office.

Bokee and Monier, the other candidates on this year's "apple ballot," want to improve communication between the board and the public.

Bokee, a former alderman for Frederick from 2013 to 2017, also wanted to improve FCPS' redistricting process and address the county's rapid residential growth and the subsequent impact on schools' capacities.

Monier, a nurse and PTA president at New Market Elementary School, decided to run because she wants to see FCPS improve and saw getting involved through the school board as the best way to start implementing those improvements.

On Tuesday night, Bokee said in an interview that he's grateful for the opportunity to run for the board and for the support from FCPS employees.

Black said in an interview that mail-in ballots and early voting tend to "skew towards the liberal favoritism," and the fact that he and Brennan are in the lead with those votes is "a sign of disgust with the leadership at FCPS."

"I think the proof is in the pudding. Parents and community members are tired of the way Frederick County Public Schools is being run, and they want to change," he said on Tuesday night. "They want to shake up the board, and I think we're going to see that change happen here tonight."