Red: The Blood of Angry Men; Republicans Romp in Allegany County

God bless the USA and chocolate-covered coffee beans. It happened. The election is almost over.

If you're seeing red, you're not alone. Unless you're seeing red because you're angry. Then I don't think we're talking about the same red. 

Anyway.

Before I start the local info, it would be remiss if I ignored the huge upset state-wide. Republican Lawrence Hogan Jr. (Or as I like to call him, Larry Jr. Or LJ. Depends on the day) beat Democrat Lt. Gov. Anthony Brown for the race for Governor. Just to put that into context, there has only been one other Republican governor in Maryland since 1969. Cray.

Here's Hogan's victory speech for you Larry Lovers out there:

And for my Anthony Enthusiasts, here's his concession speech:

That's enough of that. Back to our roots, people.

Here are the results for the Allegany County elections!

FYI: the names in red are the winners. 

City Council: 

Seth Bernard: 39.1%

Dave Kauffman: 32.4%

Dustin Freas: 25.3%

There was no clear front-runner during campaign season so this one was really up for grabs. The surprise to me is the clear distinction between the top two and the third. Even though there was a half-hearted effort of smear-tactics on Freas the week before elections, the early-voting was finished before that and the results showed Freas lost decidedly. 

County Commissioner:

Jake Shade (R): 26.4%

Creade Brodie Jr. (R).: 23.9%

Bill Valentine (R): 22.6%

Tom Striplin (D): 18.7%

If you recall, Shade, the overall vote winner, is the youngest candidate in  Maryland this cycle. Brodie and Valentine are the incumbents but the typical order-of-business is the overall vote-getter is the President of the Commissioners (which sounds so cool like where do I sign up for that). This will be fun to watch.  Keep in mind, however, that Shade is almost 1/3 the age of both of his co-commissioners so this will be a definite test of Brodie and Valentine's willingness to work with the new kid and a test of Shade's ability to lead and hold his own. There's about to be a what? GIRL FIGHT. Does anyone else remember that song? No? Just me? Awkward. Google it.

Back to business.

House of Delegates 1C:

Mike McKay (R): 56%

Nick Scarpelli (D): 43%

Holy moly. For most of the night, Scarpelli was winning. So much so that the Allegany County Election site (the one from which I've gotten all my data) stopped reporting on results when Scarpelli was still winning. McKay took it back with his help from Washington County friends and he ran away with it. I guess Scarpelli's constituents weren't as lively as he'd hoped. 

Too soon? Too soon. Sorry. Tough crowd.

House of Delegates 1B:

Jason Buckel (R): 59.4%

Kevin Kelly (D): 40.5%

Kelly has been in office for 24 years (which is literally longer than I've been alive) so Buckel had A LOT of ground to make up in his first run for public office. Plus, Kelly pulled out a smear-ad the weekend before election day. 

Side-note: I was listening to WCBC radio during the election results for like 5 hours and one of the men talking said that this is not Kelly's first rodeo with airing dirty laundry super soon before voting. The guy referred to it as Kelly's "October surprise" which sounds like a horrifying Halloween-themed porno. Just in case you were hoping for a visual, you're welcome.

Despite his success with the "October surprise," (I can't call it that. Seriously, ew.) Kelly's smear-ad seems to have backfired on him this time. But that's mere speculation at this point and I will refrain from continuing. 

The excitement is not over, however. 

The race for a seat in Congress for District 6 as of 12 pm, is still occurring. Dan Bongino (R) and John Delaney (D) are battling it out to the very last absentee and military ballot because the race is still too close to call. 

Ahhh I love democracy. 

Now I need to ride out this caffeine kick. It's gonna be a long day.

Happy November :)

Bonus Gem: Bill Valentine posted this picture of all the Republican winners (save Bongino) and they look so cute. Cue the last song from Grease: We'll always be together, (be together), we'll always be together.

#bestfriendsforlife #teamwhiteoxfordbuttonups5ever