Cecil County

The 5th District Cecil County Commission race between Republican Robert Hodge and Democrat Sharon Weygand is too close to call.
 
Hodge currently leads Weygand 49.5 percent to 48.6 percent, according to unofficial election results. 
  
But Weygand hasn't conceded, according to Hodge.
 
"Quite Frankly, I don't blame her," Hodge told PolitickerMD.com. "We're counting absentee ballots today."
 
Weygand could not be immediately reached for comment.
 
Meanwhile, the 1st District seat currently held by a Democrat, was picked up by a Republican, according to unofficial election results.

Maryland's 1st Congressional District race could be decided by the roughly 60,000 voters in Cecil County.

While Republican Andy Harris can claim the Western Shore as his stronghold and Democrat Frank Kratovil the Eastern Shore, Cecil County remains a toss-up with just about 2,000 more registered Democrats than Republicans.

That's not to say both candidates don't have their vulnerabilities. Observers point to Queen Anne's County and Anne Arundel County as competitive, but none as unpredictable as Cecil.

Republican Andy Harris's campaign is still criticizing Democrat Frank Kratovil for a quote that appeared in The Daily Times in which Kratovil said the nation's financial crisis was solved, but Kratovil is now saying that the quote itself was reported incorrectly.

"We solved the crisis, but we don't always do something to solve the issue," Kratovil was quoted as saying in the original version of an Oct. 7 The Daily Times story.

The controversy began when Harris attacked that statement.

"Mr. Kratovil. Just pick up The Daily Times," Harris said during a debate at Cecil College. "It's in quotes. It says quote 'wesolved the crisis.' Now which is it? What you said yesterday in Salisbury or what you're saying today in Cecil College? I don't get it."

The Kratovil campaign argued that the story was wrong and that it had already been corrected.

NORTH EAST -- Democrat Frank Kratovil said Republican Andy Harris is a partisan and a fake. Harris claimed Kratovil is a liberal and inconsistent on his positions. These were the messages voters heard at Tuesday night's 1st Congressional District debate sponsored by Cecil College and the Cecil Whig.

Kratovil, the Queen Anne's County state's Attorney and Harris, a state Senator from Cockeysville, often found common ground, but rarely acknowledged it.

NORTH EAST -- Candidates for the Cecil County Commission sat shoulder to shoulder Tuesday evening to debate the issues facing their county.

With the Commission's 1st and 5th District seats open, the candidates focused primarily on where they think the county needs go.

Just because Democrat Sharon Weygand's county commission campaign may be her first, doesn't mean she isn't touting her experience in government.

The commissioner hopeful in Cecil County's 5th district says she has more than 20 years of experience in government including working as a district manager and town administrator.

Weygand says she's "running a grassroots campaign" to get out her message of experience and balanced growth. She's sticking to the basics: Going door to door, waving and attending as many events as she can.