Maryland’s Midterms Results, and Allegany County’s Break From State Voting Trends

The United States’ midterm elections took place last Tuesday, November 8th. People across the country watched the results pour in with bated breath, as a number of representatives and propositions were up for election. The Presidential elections often overshadow midterms, but their importance cannot be understated. Their results indicate attitudes among populations across the country and pave the way for the next couple of years of legislation.

Midterms in Maryland are no exception, and citizens had the ability to vote for Governor, Senator, Congressperson, Delegate, Attorney General, Comptroller, new Propositions, a number of judges, and all local matters. All of this may seem overwhelming, and some of these positions are more valuable to some voters than others. Looking at voting statistics can help us better understand trends in our population, both here in Allegany County and all of Maryland.

Maryland’s governor-elect is Democrat Wes Moore, whose lieutenant governor is Aruna Miller. Their campaign garnered 61% of the vote in Maryland, according to elections.maryland.gov, a public website that breaks down all votes in the state by their counties. The Republican ticket of Dan Cox and Gordana Schiffanelli garnered 35.5% of the total votes. Governor-elect Moore is the first Black person ever elected to the position in the state of Maryland, making history. The lieutenant governor made history in a similar way, as the first immigrant in the state to win the position.

The state saw similar Democratic sweeps in many voting categories. Our U.S. Senator-elect is Democrat Chris Van Hollen, who earned 62.2% of the vote, as opposed to Republican Chris Chaffee, who earned 37.5% of the vote. The new Attorney General is Democrat Anthony Brown, who won 61.4% of the vote. Comptroller-elect is Democrat Brooke Elizabeth Lierman with 58.3% of the vote. The trend continues across the positions that were voted on at the state level.

Voters also decided on a few amendments to the State Constitution. The most notable of these amendments regards the legalization of recreational marijuana in the state, which was voted “Yes” with a 65.8% majority. Another question up for a vote was whether or not candidates running for office have to have lived in their district for at least six months before being eligible to run, the result of which was Yes with 86.6%.

These results get a little more interesting upon consideration of Allegany County’s results. While Maryland is generally more Democratically-aligned than Republican, the same cannot be said for Allegany County. In fact, according to elections.maryland.gov, in every position where an affiliated political party is listed, a Republican nominee won the popular vote. The number of Republicans on the ballot in Allegany county outnumbered the number of Democrats, indicative of the political views of the people most interested in running for office in the area. For instance, we had four options on the ballot for County Commissioner. Three of the four were Republicans, each of whom beat the single Democrat in the running by at least a 10% margin.

Another point of interest is the distribution of votes for third-party candidates. In our dichotomous system, third-party candidates are often known for, at best, splitting the vote in favor of your personal preferred political party, and at worst, splitting it in favor of the other party. Usually, they have a stronger impact on the results of an election when the margins between the two main political parties are slimmer. This can be seen in Georgia, where a run-off election has been declared between Raphael Warnock and Herschel Walker. Run-offs are declared in Georgia if neither candidate earns at least 50% of the vote. Both Walker and Warnock earned more than 48% of the vote, but neither managed 50%. 2% of the total votes were given instead to Libertarian-party candidate Chase Oliver, preventing both Walker and Warnock from reaching 50%.

Despite not being as pertinent as in a swing state like Georgia, Allegany County’s third-party votes can be rather informative. For instance, in the election for Governor and Lt. Governor, there were three third-party tickets listed. The one that amassed the most votes was the Libertarian party’s candidates with 1.33% of the county vote. The second-most-voted-for third-party Governor/Lt. Governor ticket was the Working Class Party, with 1.28%. The final third-party ticket included candidates from the Green Party, who earned .68% of the vote.

What do all these results mean for the county?

Ultimately, this means that the population of Allegany County is significantly more politically conservative than other Maryland counties. This is likely common knowledge if you’ve lived here for any amount of time, but it does indicate a disparity between Western Maryland and the majority of the state. This is due to a number of reasons that cause a similar nationwide divide between rural and urban communities. There’s a lot of socioeconomic theory that plays into those voting patterns, but much of it has to do with diversity that increases progressive ideals in urban areas and low economic consideration given to rural areas that often lead to resentment of a government they feel doesn’t care about them. There are a lot of factors at play with regard to the political divide we see between Allegany County and the rest of Maryland, much of which is urban and suburban.

Also telling are the third-party votes for Governor. Libertarian and Green Party nominees garnering a percentage point or two is nothing too surprising. What is surprising, particularly for this area, is the fact that the nominees from the Working Class Party amassed nearly as many votes as those from the Libertarian Party, and even more than those from the Green Party. The Working Class Party is an ostensibly self-described left-wing party. Many of their main tenants revolve around the idea that the working class is oppressed by capital owners from both the Democratic and Republican Parties. The fact that candidates from this party garnered more than 1% of the Allegany County vote is indicative of a small portion of the population who identifies as so much farther left than the Democrats that they did not even vote for one. It indicates a growing interest in progressive ideas in even the most rural parts of the state.

The midterms, as always, have brought in a litany of changes to the representatives serving constituents nationwide. Maryland saw a number of Democratic nominees winning the election, and a similar pattern can be seen across the country. This election is so close in enough places that it’s still not clear which party will gain control of the House or the Senate. The balance of Democrats to Republicans will impact all legislation that gets passed until the next elections in 2024.