Leopold Keeps County Executive Seat

Republican incumbent John R. Leopold was elected into his second term as Anne Arundel County Executive after opposing candidate Joanna Conti conceded with 98 percent of the precincts reported.

Leopold led opposing candidates with 51 percent of the vote, with Democrat Joanna Conti receiving 44 percent and Green Party Candidate Mike Shay earning 5 percent.

Running largely off of his accomplishments over the past four years, Leopold's campaign of "Promises Made. Promises Kept" resonated with voters despite a $10 million lawsuit against him for an alleged sexual harassment charge. Results slowly trickled in, ultimately leading to Conti's concession.

After being 10,000 votes behind Leopold with only 21 precincts to go, Conti conceded.

"I feel we ran a really strong campaign," she said. "There's always some things you wish you would have done differently, but we were out there connecting with voters every day."

Gathered at Kaufmann's Tavern in Gambrills, hosted by the Republican State Central Committee of Anne Arundel County, Leopold's staff hovered over a laptop with their cell phones glued to their ears as voting results found their way into the restaurant.

"The early results are very encouraging," said Campaign Spokesman, David Abrams. "Leopold ran a positive campaign based on keeping taxes low, excellent community service and cutting government spending."

Knowing his chances were all but gone, Green Party Candidate Mike Shay and his volunteers didn't let the results spoil their fun while celebrating with a live jazz band at 49 West in Annapolis.

"It was really the end of a very successful campaign to move our issues down the road and to make officials accountable for not doing much in the past four years," Shay said.