O'Connor maintains lead in city mayoral vote

Sep. 17—With more than half the votes counted, Frederick Mayor Michael O'Connor remained in the lead of the city's mayoral Democratic primary, while former mayor Jennifer Dougherty moved into second place in the balloting, according to numbers updated Thursday evening.

Alderman Roger Wilson was in third place, ahead of challenger John Funderburk.

With 2,740 ballots counted of the 4,882 Democratic ballots that have been cast, O'Connor led the Democratic field with 1,169 votes. Dougherty was in second with 807 votes, followed by Wilson with 606 and Funderburk with 141.

Republican mayoral candidate Steven Hammrick had tallied 197 votes in his party's primary, ahead of Steve Garrahy's 151, with 355 of the 694 ballots counted.

In the Democratic alderman's race, Katie Nash remained the top vote-getter — a spot she'd held after early voting and day-of voting — with 1,986.

The city's four incumbent aldermen — minus Wilson — were next. Derek Shackelford had 1,820 votes, Kelly Russell had 1,745, Donna Kuzemchak had 1,730, and Ben MacShane had 1,546. Challenger Chris Sparks and Robert Van Rens followed with 949 votes and 817, respectively.

Republican aldermen candidates Robert Fischer and Michelle Shay will move automatically into the Nov. 2 general election since there are fewer than five GOP candidates.

This year's primary has seen an increase in turnout from the 2017 contest.

In 2017, there were 4,356 votes cast, with 2,967 Democratic ballots and 1,389 Republicans.

In 2021, 5,576 votes were cast, with 4,882 Democratic ballots and 694 Republicans.

This year's votes came from mail-in ballots and ballots deposited in seven drop boxes around the city, as well as four days of early voting and Tuesday's Election Day voting at the city's voting center on New Design Road.

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