Published: February 14, 2008 11:56 am      

Bartlett wins; close race for Dems

CUMBERLAND - Republicans in Allegany County and the rest of the 6th Congressional District appear to like the representation they have. District 6 Democrats, meanwhile, were nearly split between Andrew Duck and Jennifer Dougherty in deciding who would challenge incumbent Rep. Roscoe Bartlett in November's general election.

District wide, former Frederick Mayor Jennifer Dougherty won the Democratic nomination by 7 percent over Duck with 24,361 votes to Duck's 20,291 votes.

The district includes all of Allegany, Garrett, Washington, Frederick and Carroll counties and portions of Montgomery, Harford and Baltimore counties.

Unofficial results showed local Republicans voted overwhelmingly to return Bartlett to a ninth two-year term. District 6 Democrats hope their backing of Dougherty, 46, of Frederick, can unseat Bartlett, 81, also of Frederick, and lead the district in a new direction.

On Wednesday, Dougherty credited her political experience and "the fact that I'm in a business and have to make choices in balancing budgets."

"I think it appeals to people. I think my life experience speaks to a lot of people in the middle," she said.

"People know government needs to exist," but they also want it to be fair, open and transparent, she said.

Bartlett was the overwhelming favorite in Garrett, Allegany and Washington counties. Across the district, he won 78 percent of the vote. He garnered 83.83 percent of the vote in Garrett with 2,790 ballots cast in his favor, followed by Tom Croft, 210 votes; John Kimble, 127; Joseph Krysztoforski, 113; and Frank Nethken, 88.

Bartlett also carried Allegany County, garnering 82.05 percent of the vote, or 4,714 out of 5,745 votes. Kimble was second with 315 votes, followed by Croft, 304; Krysztoforski, 210; and Nethken, 202.

In Washington County, Bartlett captured 80.02 percent of the vote. A total of 11,909 voters chose Bartlett, followed by Krysztoforski, 1,247; Croft, 637; Kimble, 413; and Nethken, 83.

Bartlett said Wednesday he was concerned about the country's "anti-incumbent" sentiment, evidenced Tuesday in District 1 when state Sen. Andy Harris won the GOP primary against Wayne Gilchrest, who has held the seat since 1991.

In the District 4 Democratic House race, incumbent Albert Wynn won only 36 percent of the vote compared to 60 percent for challenger Donna Edwards.

"This was a very important election because there's a very strong anti-incumbent mood out there across the country," Bartlett said. "We have four district offices (and) thousands of people have come through there. We've tried to fulfill the role that we think" we should have as a "servant to the people."

"I'm very gratified" with the results, Bartlett said. "We take nothing for granted."

Dougherty didn't enjoy the support of Western Maryland voters; she lost all three Western Maryland counties.

Duck, a U.S. Army veteran, carried Garrett County rather handily with 700 of 1,449 total votes (48.31 percent). Dougherty was second with 435 votes (30.02 percent), followed by Larry John Smith, 173 votes (11.94 percent), Robin Deibert, 103 votes (7.11 percent), and Rick Lank, 38 votes, 2.62 percent.

Duck won the trust of 47.6 percent of Allegany County's voting Democrats, or 2,255 votes out of 5,775 cast. Dougherty was a distant second with 1,465 votes (30.93 percent), followed by Smith, 517 votes (10.91 percent), Deibert, 430 (9.08 percent), and Lank, 70 (1.48 percent).

In Washington County, Duck eeked out a slim win over Dougherty, garnering 3,908 votes to Dougherty's 3,875 - or 39.17 percent to 38.84. Deibert was third with 1,409 votes (14.12 percent), followed by Smith, 643, (6.44 percent), and Lank, 142 (1.42 percent).

Dougherty admitted she has "work to do" to garner more support in Western Maryland, but her pre-election day prediction calculations were often on the mark and, at times, exceeded.

"I thought I would need 1,000 votes (to win Allegany County)," Dougherty said. "Those numbers all change when the presidential primary started mattering."

With no local hot-button issues to bring out the voters in abundance in outlying areas, only 29 percent, or 12,053 of Allegany County's 40,835 registered voters cast a ballot Tuesday, fighting inclement weather and dangerous roads.

Turnout was slightly higher in Garrett County, with 5,245 voters casting ballots, or 33.4 percent of the county's 15,705 registered voters. A total of 25,918 Washington County voters showed up to the polls, or 32.55 percent of the county's 79,633 registered voters.

Contact Kevin Spradlin at kspradlin@times-news.com.