This is the second in a series of stories called “Under New Management,” looking at the five highly populated Maryland counties with new executives.
*These two public meetings speak volumes about the changes underway in Anne Arundel County – one of the fastest growing and most politically diverse and volatile jurisdictions in the state. Political change took place across Maryland in 2018, and Democrats made gains in all the major jurisdictions.
But nowhere was the change more profound than it was in Anne Arundel County – a conservative county with a few liberal enclaves that had been trending Republican for several election cycles. That trend screeched to a dramatic halt in 2018 – meaning Anne Arundel, which will soon replace Baltimore City as the fourth most populous jurisdiction in Maryland, is shaping up to be the most competitive county in the state.
“The reputation that Baltimore County has as the great purple battleground of Maryland politics is actually more descriptive of Anne Arundel County,” said Len N. Foxwell, chief of staff to state Comptroller Peter V.R. Franchot (D), and a political strategist for a quarter century. . .
Last November, Pittman became the first Democrat to be elected county executive since 2002. Democrats flipped control of the county council and picked up two seats in the legislative delegation.
All eight of the county’s freshman Democratic state lawmakers are more liberal than their predecessors. The Democrats ousted the county’s veteran prosecutor, too. At the same time, three of the most conservative Republican incumbent officeholders in the county lost their reelection campaigns or bids for other offices.
But there are real questions about whether these victories are sustainable – or whether Democratic gains were more the product of a bad election cycle for the GOP nationally, a Republican county executive Steve Schuh, who had butted heads with key constituencies and seemed too cozy with developers, and unprecedented energy among women activists, teachers and voters spurred to action by the election of President Trump.'>>>
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