Editor’s Note: This story has been updated multiple times to reflect the latest results in this race from the Maryland State Board of Elections.
The race in Maryland’s 6th Congressional District remained too close to call as the Montgomery County Board of Elections began its canvass of mail-in ballots at Montgomery College’s Germantown campus on Thursday morning.
Just over 0.1% of the vote separated Democratic nominee April McClain Delaney of Potomac and Republican nominee Neil Parrott of Hagerstown as of Thursday morning when the post-election canvass began.
As of Friday morning, McClain Delaney is leading Parrott by 8,764 votes, according to results reported by the Maryland State Board of Elections.
On election night and the following two days, the candidates flip-flopped in holding a lead in the race, each being ahead by about 300 votes at different points.
The outcome of the closely watched race could help determine which political party controls the House of Representatives. The district’s geographic makeup has made the race more competitive than others across the state as it includes majority-Democratic Montgomery County as well as more conservative-leaning counties.
The district represents the northwestern portion of Montgomery County and all of Allegany, Frederick, Garrett and Washington counties in western Maryland. The district is currently represented by Potomac’s Rep. David Trone (D), who vacated the seat for an unsuccessful run for U.S. Senate.
According to state board of elections data, the Montgomery County elections board had received a total of 134,771 mail-in ballots by Tuesday evening and still had to process more than 55,000 ballots as of Thursday morning. Those ballots may represent voters from anywhere in the county and some therefore may not affect the result of the 6th District race.
McClain Delaney, a former U.S. Commerce Department official and communications lawyer, issued a statement about the pending results on social media Wednesday.
“As we continue to monitor the results, at least 35,000 mail-in ballots remain to be counted, representing the overwhelming majority of outstanding votes,” McClain Delaney wrote. “I am confident that once the counting begins again on Thursday, our current lead will grow, we will win, and we can then begin the hard work of delivering for our incredible district.”
The district represents the northwestern portion of Montgomery County and all of Allegany, Frederick, Garrett and Washington counties in western Maryland. The district is currently represented by Potomac’s Rep. David Trone (D), who vacated the seat for an unsuccessful run for U.S. Senate.
Parrott, a former state delegate making his third attempt to win the seat, has not made a public statement since polls closed. He hosted an election watch party at Hagerstown’s Havana restaurant on Tuesday evening.
This is a developing story.
