On November 8, millions of Americans went to local election offices to vote on multiple government offices and ballot measures. Here is an examination of which of these recent elections will affect Linganore High School (LHS).

US Senate

Incumbent Democrat Chris Van Hollen was successful in reelection against Republican Chris Chafee in over a 600,000 vote margin. Hollen has been a senator since 2017. His reelection helped to affirm the Democrats’ retention of the Senate. The Georgia runoff between Herschal Walker and Raphael Warnock will decide whether or not Kamala Harris’ tie-breaking vote will be needed.

US Congress

In the first election with the redrawn congressional districts, incumbent David Trone was able to trickle back against Neil Parrott into a 8,000 vote lead in the 6th district. Trone will be serving his third term in the district, which he’s held since 2018.

Many expected Parrott to win the seat in the expected “Red Wave” of Republican victories across local and national races. While Parrott took the lead for a short while, the massive number of mail-in ballots spelled his doom. Trone ultimately received 11,000 more mail-in Ballots than Parrott.

Maryland Governor and Lieutenant Governor

In what should not be a shock to anyone, Republicans Dan Cox and Gordana Schifanelli lost to Democrats Wes Moore and Aruna Miller by over 500,000 votes. Dan Cox is a Make America Great Again (MAGA) conservative, who was endorsed by former President Donald J. Trump. He still currently represents Frederick County’s 4th district in the House of Delegates.

Wes Moore is a liberal-leaning Democrat known for both his business adventures and the multitude of books he authored. The election of Moore was notable in that it marked the first time Maryland has elected a black governor in its history.  

Although neither Cox or Moore were able to be reached for interview, Libertarian candidate for Governor David Lashar was. Lashar ran on a third-party ticket with Christiana Logansmith, receiving roughly 30,000 votes.

Lashar was reportedly encouraged to run against a heavily favored two-party system.

“The Democratic and Republican parties are neither representing who we really are nor taking us where we actually want to go. I resolved to stand as the kind of candidate that I believe substantial numbers of Americans are seeking: principled, accomplished and civil,” said Lashar.

The Libertarian party is based on the beliefs of libertarianism. The majority of the party’s focus is on protecting the constitutional rights of the people and ensuring the government has less control or oversight over people and businesses.

Since the Libertarian party is on the fringe of the United States’ two-party system, some end up leaving the party for more political success. This includes candidates such as US senator Rand Paul, US representative Thomas Massie and Knox County Tennessee mayor Glenn Jacobs.

Lashar expressed the importance of embracing a ranked-choice voting system–in which voters rank all candidates in order of preference–that would enable voting for a third party outside the existing two-party system and ensure media provides coverage for all candidates.

“You need, above all, to reject the narrative that your vote counts for something only if you vote for a Democrat or a Republican candidate. You need, longer term, to commit yourself to radical electoral reform in America, including ranked choice voting , term limits, ballot access [for parties as well as individuals], and campaign finance limits [to limit wealty individuals and corporations from influencing elections outside their community],” said Lashar.

Maryland Comptroller

In a race that was somewhat closer than the governorship, Democrat candidate Brooke Lierman beat Republican Barry Glassman by just under 500,000 votes. Lierman becomes the first woman to be elected to one of the three statewide constitutional offices. The Comptroller is responsible for managing the finances of the state.

Maryland Attorney General

Democrat Anthony Brown won against Republican Michael Peroutka by just around 500,000 votes. Like Moore, Brown will become the first Black man elected to the position. As Attorney General, Brown will be responsible for the legal business of Maryland.

Maryland State Senate

District 4 saw Republican William “Bill” Folden defeat Democrat Carleah Summers by over 9,000 votes. Folden was formerly a state delegate in District 3B from 2015-2019 until he lost to Democrat Ken Kerr in 2018 and filed to run for office in District 4. Before taking state office, Folden was a deputy sheriff from 1994-2011.

Maryland House of Delegates

In District 4, all three delegates elected were Republicans. Jesse Pippy, Barrie S. Ciliberti and April Miller were above the next closest candidate, Democrat Andrew Duck, by around 6,000 votes. Pippy led the group in votes with 30,670 votes.

“I was pleased that I was the top vote getter,” Pippy told the Lance. “We worked very hard during the entire campaign and the previous four years in office to earn those votes.”

Both Pippy and Ciliberti were already delegates in the district. Miller is set to replace Dan Cox, who ran for governor, as previously mentioned.

Frederick County Board of Education

The Board of Education saw a heavy skirmish between the teacher-backed Students First Slate (SFS) and the conservative Education Not Indoctrination (ENI) slate.

The SFS have been heavily backed by teacher unions in the county. Their four candidates were Dean Rose, Rae Gallagher, Ysela Bravo and Karen Yoho. On their website, the slate states that they “embrace creativity in problem-solving, collaboration, teamwork, and productive dialogue to reach the best solutions for FCPS.”

The ENI includes only one candidate that is–or has been–a parent of an FCPS student. The slate was inspired by similar movements by Conservatives in states like Florida. The three candidates on this slate, Cindy Rose, Nancy Allen and Olivia Angolia, were running against what they claim is a “’woke’ agenda based on strange postmodern values.”

Bravo, Gallagher, Yoho and Allen were the candidates elected in the end.

“As seven elected members, we’ll need to work together and hopefully have respectful, engaged [and] productive dialogue. I plan to work with Nancy and all the other elected members in a productive and collaborative way,” said Gallagher.

Frederick County Sheriff

Frederick County has been home to Republican Sheriff Chuck Jenkins since 2006–which is older than the sophomores and freshman who attend Linganore. His opponent was Karl Bickel. As expected by many, Jenkins was easily reelected. 

Frederick County Council

The County Executive position was won by  Democrat Jessica Fitzwater by just under a 1,000 votes against Republican Michael Hough. Fitzwater has served on the Frederick County Council since it was formed in 2014.

Brad W. Young and Renee Knapp,both Democrats, won County Council At Large positions. Both received 4,000 more votes than their Republican counterparts.

The Frederick County Council had three Democrats elected in District 4, District 3 and District 1 and two Republicans elected in District 2 and District 5. Notably, Frederick’s District 5 elected 18-year-old Republican Mason Carter, making him one of the youngest ever elected for county council in the state of Maryland.

Maryland Ballot Measures

Maryland voted yes to every single ballot measure this election. This included changing the name of the higher Maryland courts, strengthening the importance of officials living in represented districts, raising requirements for a jury trial in a civil case from $15,000 to $25,000, legalizing recreational marijuana and requiring circuit judges to sit on Howard County’s Orphan Court.