Baltimore City Del. Chanel Branch, daughter of retiring House Majority Whip Talmadge Branch, will not return to Annapolis to represent District 45 in January.
According to results certified Tuesday by the Baltimore City Board of Elections, Branch, who represents Hamilton, Gardenville, Armistead Gardens and other neighborhoods, lost by an extremely narrow margin. Winners Caylin Young, the deputy director for the Baltimore City Office of Equity and Civil Rights, and Branch’s fellow incumbent, Stephanie Smith, bested her by 116 and 187 votes, respectively.
Smith, who received 22.85% of the vote, and Young, with 22.66%, will appear on the ballot alongside fellow Democrat and community liaison for the Mayor’s Office of Neighborhoods, Jackie Addison. All three will face Republican Antonio Barboza in November.
The top three candidates in November’s election will earn seats. Representatives in the Maryland House of Delegates serve four-year terms. State legislators in the House and Senate typically are paid about $50,000 a year.
Smith declared herself a winner last week via Twitter.
“FINALLY, I’m pleased to announce that I’ve won my primary to return to the Maryland House of Delegates,” Smith wrote in a tweet thread on Friday. “Thank you to all my family, friends, colleagues, volunteers & neighbors who sacrificed their time and treasure in support of our campaign.”
Branch did not respond Monday to a request for comment.
Todd Huff came out on top in the race for the Republican nomination in Baltimore County’s District 42B, defeating Jay Walton by a mere 70 votes. Huff will go head-to-head against incumbent Democrat Michele Guyton in November.
District 42B, which covers the Warren area, has only one representative in the House of Delegates.
Walton conceded via Facebook video Saturday afternoon, introducing himself as “your former Republican candidate for House of Delegates.”
“I don’t want to say I lost the election, but I certainly came up short on election night,” he continued. “I was ahead, and then the mail-in ballots did it for me.”
Attorney N. Scott Phillips declared victory Saturday in District 10, which runs through Randallstown and Reisterstown. He will appear with his fellow Democratic nominees Jennifer White and House Speaker Adrienne A. Jones on the ballot in November.
“We won,” Phillips wrote. “After 10 days of mail in and provisional ballot counts we can finally claim victory in the Democratic Primary for the Maryland House of Delegates, 10th District.”
The primary was July 19.
The three will face off against Republican candidates Patricia R. Fallon and Jordan Porompyae during November’s general election. The top three vote-getters earn seats.
Democrat Aletheia McCaskill won the race to appear on the ballot alongside incumbent Sheila Ruth, who is also a Democrat in District 44B. With no Republican opposition, both are expected to represent the Catonsville and Woodlawn area in the House of Delegates in January.
