I don’t know Steuart Pittman. I’m not familiar with his background. I’m not sure who he is politically connected to, other than those who gave the 16 donations totaling $2,925 listed in Maryland’s campaign finance database.
Sure, I learned a little bit about him from last week’s article in The Capital, like his ownership of a horse farm, his involvement in local environmental charities and how he was considering a race for County Council before changing his mind. He seems like nice enough guy.
But Steuart Pittman may also be the latest sign of Democratic collapse in Anne Arundel County.
Mr. Pittman’s op-ed (The Sunday Capital, Nov. 19), the first real public statement about his candidacy for county executive, is a little more than a milquetoast collection of ideas recycled from previous countywide Democratic campaigns. The themes of growth and development are consistent throughout, but there is little in the way of a concrete plan should he win. This has been a theme in recent Democratic campaigns for countywide office.
Those themes and lack of concrete plans may explain the lack of countywide victories by Democrats over the last decade. Democrats have failed to carry Anne Arundel County in a gubernatorial election since 1986. In this century, Democrats in Anne Arundel County have won only seven of a possible 24 countywide elections.
Of those six victories, two were by former State’s Attorney Frank Weathersbee, whose retirement led to the election of the county’s first Republican state’s attorney. Another two were by Sheriff Ron Bateman, who subsequently left the Democratic Party after his last election.
In the last election, presumptive Democratic nominee Pittman supported his Republican opponent, incumbent Steve Schuh.
Recently, Democrats haven’t put much effort into competing in Anne Arundel County. In 2014, Democrats failed to recruit a candidate to run for clerk of the court or to complete their ticket for judge of the Orphans Court. Even so, that was an improvement over 2010, when Democrats didn’t find a candidate to run for register of wills, either.
Mr. Pittman follows a recent line of candidates for county executive in this decade who were not the Democrats’ first choice. Joanna Conti, then a recent arrival from Colorado, was the Democratic standard-bearer in 2010. Former nominee George Johnson, who lost to John Leopold in 2006, was persuaded to make a second run in 2014. Neither was particularly competitive in the general election.
Pittman’s status as the new front-runner is the latest in a string of Democratic disappointments. While Annapolis Mayor-elect Gavin Buckley may have won in an overwhelmingly Democratic city, 2017 has not been a good year for Democratic recruitment.
The impending retirement of two state senators, John Astle and Ed DeGrange, leaves a gaping void on the Democratic side of the ledger in districts winnable for Republicans. Combine that with the fact that Democrats cannot field competitive Senate candidates in District 31, House candidates in District 31B or legislative candidates of any sort in District 33, and you see a county party firmly in retreat.
The radical left-wing shift of the statewide Democratic Party is doing Anne Arundel Democrats no favors, either.
It is well known and well documented that Anne Arundel County is a tax-averse county. Our voters do not want to see their income or property taxes rise. As statewide Democrats make more radical policies and a rapid expansion of nanny state government the cornerstone of their platform, they will continue to demand higher taxes to pay for it all. That message is not going to resonate here, a county that enthusiastically supports Gov. Larry Hogan’s efforts to lower taxes, reduce the size of government and eliminate hurdles for job growth and economic development.
It’s a toxic mix for Democrats. Because when a political newcomer like Steuart Pittman represents the best they can do, it shows that Democratic prospects in Anne Arundel County have collapsed.
