Recounts in Anne Arundel

(Cross-posted to Maryland Politics Watch.)

It looks like the races in which Republicans eked out narrow victories in Anne Arundel will go to a recount:

. . . Republican Donald H. Dwyer Jr. and Democrat Joan Cadden, a state delegate, were separated by just 28 votes in the District 31 House of Delegates contest, a result that is likely to prompt a recount and a political recalibration in a county where Democrats hold a lead in registered voters.

Dwyer was one of three Anne Arundel County Republicans to make election comebacks after the absentee ballots were counted, claiming legislative seats that were tentatively in Democratic hands the morning after Election Day.

Republicans say the results are a sign that the county is tilting to the right, but others say that it's just Anne Arundel politics: Republicans vote Democratic, Democrats vote Republican, and candidates who don't court crossover voters are endangered.

. . .

In Senate District 31, where Jimeno is retiring, Republican Bryan W. Simonaire defeated Democrat Walter J. Shandrowsky, who had a 198-vote lead before absentee and provisional ballots were counted.

Voters elect three delegates in District 31, and at the close of election night, Cadden was the third-highest vote-getter. Even so, Dwyer said he was "thrilled" at the prospect of unseating her.

Cadden's lead dwindled to 30 votes after the bulk of the absentee ballots had been counted and then changed to an 11-vote deficit after the provisional ballots were tallied. The final absentee ballots gave Dwyer his 28-vote lead.

Cadden, who has not conceded, accused Dwyer of distorting her record. "I think Delegate Dwyer put out some information that totally distorted some votes," she said. "I ran on my record."

Dwyer said he viewed the election as affirmation of his conservative values and proof that Cadden "does not represent the voters."

"I think this shows clearly that, especially as close as it is -- whether they were Republican, Democrat or independent -- the issues that I hold represent the people of District 31 and the people of Anne Arundel as a whole," he said.

Del. Dwyer obviously went to the Newt Gingrich school of politics. Even though voters nearly turned out the incumbent in favor of two newcomers from his own party, this extreme conservative still thinks his tentative 28-vote victory is a reason to crow that his "ideas" are widely popular in not just his district but all of Anne Arundel.

It's too bad that Del. Dwyer looks likely to return to the House. However, the silver lining for the Democrats, if not Marylanders who like tough electoral competition, is that Dwyer may be the future of the Republican Party. Republican moderates went down to defeat and hard right conservatives like Del. Dwyer and Sen. Mooney (R-Frederick) who are wholly unacceptable to the larger Maryland electorate--and barely hung on even in their own districts--will now be the face of the not-so-grand Republican Party.