Longtime education advocates Lynne Harris and Sunil Dasgupta have won the primary election for an at-large seat on the Montgomery County Board of Education, according to unofficial results released late Thursday night.
They will move on to a head-to-head race in the Nov. 3 general election.
In a six-way race for four Montgomery County circuit judges seats, a challenger has earned a spot on the general election ballot, along with four sitting judges.
Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, this year’s primary election was held mostly through mail-in voting, with some in-person voting sites open on Election Day. More than 260,000 ballots were returned, slowing the canvassing process, according to Board of Elections officials.
The county Board of Elections canvassed ballots through Thursday and released nearly daily updates.
Harris, who had 63,467 votes, and Dasgupta, with 44,736 votes, had been the front-runners in the race since the first round of results was released June 2. As new results were released over the past two weeks, Harris and Dasgupta made incremental gains over the other 11 candidates.
Stephen Austin finished in third place with 28,203 votes.
Election results will be certified June 29.
In the race for four circuit court judge seats, challenger Marylin Pierre came in third place in the Democratic primary, ahead of two sitting judges — Michael Joseph McAuliffe and Christopher Fogleman.
The top four vote-getters advance in the Democratic and Republican primaries.
Because Pierre was one of the winners in the Democratic primary, there will be five candidates on the general election ballot in November competing for four judicial seats.
The Democratic winners, in order of finish, were Bibi M. Berry, David A. Boynton, Pierre and McAuliffe.
The Republican winners, also in order, were Boynton, McAuliffe, Fogleman and Berry.
All three Democrats representing Montgomery County in Congress easily won their party’s nomination.
At-large school board candidates and their vote totals:
*Lynne Harris: 63,467
*Sunil Dasgupta: 44,736
Stephen Austin: 28,203
Paul Geller: 13,357
Mitra Ahadpour: 13,143
Jay Guan: 11,727
Dalbin Osorio: 10,771
Anil Chaudhry: 7,124
Darwin Romero: 6,925
Pavel Sukhobok: 5,996
Collins Odongo: 4,657
Cameron Rhode: 4,233
Lumpoange Thomas: 3,156
In the District 4 race, incumbent Shebra Evans won with 137,393 votes. Steve Solomon came in second with 59,843 votes and will also advance to the general election with Evans. Ehren Park Reynolds was also on the ballot, but withdrew from the race. Park Reynolds received 14,226 votes.
There was no primary election for the District 2 seat. Both candidates — Rebecca Smondrowski and Michael Fryar — advance to the general election.
Congress
District 3
Democrat (one winner)
*John Sarbanes: 110,451
Joseph C. Ardito: 17,870
John M Rea: 5,569
Republican (one winner)
*Charles Anthony: 12,040
Reba A. Hawkins: 6,535
Thomas E. “Pinkston” Harris: 4,623
Rob Seyfferth: 3,210
Joshua M. Morales: 2,487
District 6
Democrat (one winner)
* David J. Trone: 65,506
Maxwell A. Bero: 24,997
Republican (one winner)
* Neil C. Parrott: 28,804
Kevin T. Caldwell: 11,257
Chris P. Meyyur: 4,112
District 8
Democrat (one winner)
* Jamie Raskin: 111,798
Marcia H. Morgan: 10,213
Lih Young: 4,867
Utam Paul: 1,880
Republican (one winner)
* Gregory Thomas Coll: 13,070
Bridgette L. Cooper: 4,831
Nicholas Gladden: 4,018
Patricia Rogers: 3,868
Shelly Skolnick: 2,979
Michael Yadeta: 2,526
***
Circuit court judge
Democrat (top four advance)
* Bibi M. Berry: 126,400
* David A. Boynton: 96,226
* Marylin Pierre: 95,529
* Michael Joseph McAuliffe: 94,422
Christopher C. Fogleman: 90,885
Thomas P. Johnson III: 44,710
Republican (top four advance)
* David A. Boynton: 18,700
* Michael Joseph McAuliffe: 18,646
* Christopher C. Fogleman: 17,794
* Bibi M. Berry: 14,799
Marylin Pierre: 8,694
Thomas P. Johnson III: 8,167
* = winner
Managing Editor Andrew Schotz contributed to this story.