Littmann, Huntley Early Leaders In Annapolis Mayor, Council Races

Last updated Tuesday at 11:07 p.m.

ANNAPOLIS, MD — Businessman Jared Littmann leads current Alderwoman Rhonda Pindell Charles in the Annapolis Democratic primary election for mayor, according to preliminary totals.

Election officials released the unofficial tally of the ballots cast in person during Tuesday's Democratic primary. Mail-in, drop box and provisional ballots will be counted next week. The winners won't be finalized until at least Sept. 23.

Littmann holds 64% of the vote, compared to Pindell Charles' 36%. A total of 1,610 mail-in and drop box ballots were received by 5 p.m. Tuesday, three hours before polls closed, so the count is far from over.

Harry Huntley, the only current alderman facing a challenger, holds an early lead in Ward 1. In the race for the seat representing downtown, Huntley has 51% of the vote. His closest opponent, Katie McDermott, carries 32%. Three other Democratic challengers split the rest of the vote. The winner will face independent Tom Krieck in the general election.

The election in Ward 4 is particularly tight. Coren Makell leads Janice Elaine Allsup-Johnson by two votes.

The city is guaranteed a new mayor and at least four new aldermen. Four aldermen are running for another term.

Republican and independent voters did not need to vote in the primary, as there were no races with multiple GOP or unaffiliated candidates. With no competition in these races, all Republican and independent candidates automatically "won" their uncontested primaries and advanced to the general election.

In other Election Day news, a short-lived gas leak briefly disrupted voting at one polling place. Nobody was hurt, and everybody was still able to vote.

Early Vote Tallies

Only in-person voting totals were released Tuesday night, meaning residents didn't know the official winners on Election Day.

Mail-in and drop box ballots will be counted during a Sept. 23 canvass. Election officials expect that to take one to two days. Once complete, the city will release the certified winners in late September. More details are posted at annapolis.gov/2127/Primary-Election-Information.

Click any candidate's name to learn more about them. We linked to their candidate questionnaire if they completed Patch's survey. If not, we linked to their website.

Voters can check which ward they live in by using this map. Redistricting has changed ward boundaries.

These are the unofficial vote totals from in-person voting on Election Day.

Mayor

Democrat

• Rhonda Pindell Charles: 771
• Jared Littmann: 1,371

Republican

• Robert Alan O’Shea: Automatically Advances

Ward 1

Democrat

• Ben Bramsen: 9
• Ron Gunzburger: 67
• Harry Huntley (Incumbent): 256
• Kathleen McDermott: 162
• Genevieve Torri: 10

Unaffiliated

• Thomas Krieck: Automatically Advances

Ward 2

Democrat

• Karma O'Neill (Incumbent): Automatically Advances

Republican

• Kenneth G Vincent: Automatically Advances

Ward 3

Democrat

• Deborah J Odum: 44
• Keanuú Smith-Brown: 219

Unaffiliated

• Michael Dye: Automatically Advances

Ward 4

Democrat

• Janice Elaine Allsup-Johnson: 84
• Coren Makell: 86

Ward 5

Democrat

• Brooks Schandelmeier (Incumbent): Automatically Advances

Republican

• Jack P. Papaleonti: Automatically Advances

Ward 6

Democrat

• Diesha Contee: 69
• Craig Cussimanio: 112

Republican

• George Gallagher: Automatically Advances

Ward 7

Democrat

• Robert Savidge (Incumbent): Automatically Advances

Ward 8

Democrat

• Frank Thorp: Automatically Advances

Unaffiliated

• Will Cunha: Automatically Advances

Voters Share Priorities

Patch interviewed voters braving the rain downtown at City Hall in Ward 1 on Election Day. Their main concerns were protecting the waterfront, preserving the city's historic appeal and capping rapidly rising property taxes.

"They want to put a hotel down there and ruin the view, along with a 90-slip marina," voter Paul Clar said, pointing to a restaurateur aspiring to build an inn downtown and a quickly nixed marina proposal at City Dock. "I don't have a whole lot of faith in the city council that's been here because I've lived here 15 years and City Dock's still flooding."

Candidates have debated how they would handle the planned City Dock Park, intended to protect downtown businesses from floodwaters. The project has come under fire for its cost and the scale of its proposed Maritime Welcome Center. Preserving the height ordinances downtown is another concern.

Mayoral and aldermanic hopefuls have also outlined plans to address vacation rental properties, affordable housing and public safety.

"The mayor vote [is] important because it seems like we need to go in a different direction," Bruce Bukowski said without saying who he supported. "The tax rate where I live has really gone up dramatically. It just seems pretty high in a short period of time."

Clar's wife, Felicia Barlow Clar, was frustrated that the city council "rushed in" controversial legislation right before the election. She highlighted the proposals to limit short-term rentals, loosen regulations on accessory dwelling units and extend the Market House lease eight years before the current contract expires.

"I feel like I have a history here," Barlow Clar said, noting that her grandfather used to be the police chief. "I see a lot of that community history being destroyed. And I get that tourism is important, but I do think the tourists come here because of that community feeling we had, and we are losing it very quickly."

Clar and Barlow Clar both declined to say who they voted for because it's a small town where everybody knows everybody.

Inside The Mayoral Race

Democrats chose between Littmann and Pindell Charles in the mayoral primary.

Littmann is a lawyer and an engineer who owns K&B Ace Hardware with his wife. He was also the Ward 5 alderman from 2013 to 2017. Littmann, the first candidate to enter the race, bills himself as a savvy businessman with a passion for environmentalism.

Pindell Charles, an attorney and the current Ward 3 alderwoman, says her 12 years on the city council display her experience. With multigenerational roots in Annapolis, she thinks she would offer a seamless transition after term-bound Mayor Gavin Buckley (D) leaves office this winter. Pindell Charles' mayoral bid also created a wide-open race for her city council seat.

The winner will face Republican Bobby O'Shea, a business consultant in the defense and medical industries, in November. O'Shea paints himself as an outspoken critic of the status quo. He aspires to protect historic charm and cut wasteful spending.

Martha Chalmers is "quite influenced by Littmann's running of his hardware store."

"I practically live there," Chalmers said, adding that she voted for Littmann for mayor. "It's rational there. He put a lot of thought in it. Things happen smoothly, so that encourages me ... I'm assuming he would carry some of that forward into how he looks at other larger issues."

Chalmers voted for Huntley for Ward 1 alderman.

"He's come by my house twice. I belong to a coffee group, and they're all very much behind him," Chalmers said.

Democratic candidates in Wards 1, 3, 4 and 6 had contested aldermanic primaries.

Democratic aldermanic candidates in Wards 2, 5, 7 and 8 advanced directly to the general election because they did not have an intraparty challenger. Residents in these wards were still encouraged to vote because of the contested race for mayor.

Related:

• Annapolis Mayoral Debate Reveals Different Plans For City Dock, Downtown Construction
• Ward 1 Candidates Outline Plans To Slow Short-Term Rentals In Annapolis

Race For Ward 1

Huntley hopes to retain his Ward 1 seat. He was appointed to the office when former Alderwoman Elly Tierney (D) retired in September 2024. This is the first time he is running for election, and he faces a crowded field of five other candidates.

When Patch visited the polls in Ward 1, Huntley and Democratic challenger Ron Gunzburger were the only candidates greeting voters in the drear. Huntley, in a trenchcoat, and Gunzburger, in a rain jacket, weathered the storm and waved to passing drivers.

Huntley, an agriculture policy analyst, takes pride in making Annapolis safer. He's most proud of increasing sidewalk funding and sponsoring legislation to allow speed cameras in the city.

"I think we've made a lot happen over the past year, and we're going to make a lot more happen over the next four years," he said.

Huntley said he spent Tuesday morning placing reminders to vote on the porches of all his projected supporters.

"It's all about building personal relationships," Huntley said. "You've got to get in front of people and show them why they should believe in you, why they should trust you. You're not going to win a race like this based on how perfect your mailers are, or how scientific your targeting was or the ads you run. You're going to win it by individually earning hearts and minds."

Annapolitans braved the rain to vote in the primary elections. Here are some of Patch's top photos from the polls. pic.twitter.com/NtOyMF3n4P
— Jacob Baumgart (@jacobbaumgart) September 17, 2025

Gunzburger's main goal is to cap property tax assessments at 2% because "we are overtaxed."

"Our taxes went up 44% in eight years, double the rate of inflation," Gunzburger said. "Two percent is what the rest of the county pays. It's only fair for us."

The lawyer wants to "cancel a lot of the vanity projects," like the Maritime Welcome Center and the electric ferry between downtown and Eastport.

"Nothing against electric ferry boats. We don't need one because we're not Stockholm," Gunzburger said, explaining that the Swedish capital is a city of islands.

Public safety is another priority for Gunzburger, who served as general counsel and civilian commander in the Broward County Sheriff's Office in Florida for six years. He responded to the Parkland high school and Fort Lauderdale Airport shootings.

Gunzburger wants to staff the fifth rescue unit at the Annapolis Fire Department because "lives are at stake."

The Democrat also served as a senior advisor to former Republican Gov. Larry Hogan.

"I had a background that I thought gave me a breadth of experience that was a lot broader than almost anyone else had," Gunzburger said. "Being both an attorney, a former law enforcement commander, a former top person in state government here in Maryland, I thought it gave me a lot of experience."

The Annapolis primary election is today. Here’s what voters care about in the races for mayor and city council aldermen. pic.twitter.com/19bG7rDe8R
— Jacob Baumgart (@jacobbaumgart) September 16, 2025

Gas Leak At Polls

The gas leak happened around 8:30 a.m. inside the Ward 3 polling location at the Mt. Olive Community Life Center. It stemmed from a pilot light going out on a stove.

Three voters were sent to City Hall to cast their ballots, which they did successfully. No other voters were impacted, officials said.

The Annapolis Fire Department evaluated three election judges, who declined treatment and transportation to the hospital. The judges all opted to stay and finish their shifts.

The polling site reopened after it was ventilated, which took about 10 to 15 minutes. Firefighters stayed on site until voting resumed.