Cailey Locklair Runs For Anne Arundel County Council In District 7

ANNE ARUNDEL COUNTY, MD — It's primary election season in Maryland. Early voting runs from Thursday, July 7 through Thursday, July 14. Primary election day is Tuesday, July 19. Voters can also return their ballot by mail or place it in a dropbox.

Residents can learn when, where and how to can vote by clicking here. Voters can see which districts they live in by using this tool. Visit this link to see who is running in each district.

Patch asked County Council and county executive candidates to complete a questionnaire outlining their priorities. Anne Arundel County Council District 7 candidate Cailey Locklair participated in our survey. Locklair's unedited responses are posted below.

Name

Cailey Locklair

Campaign website

https://caileylocklair.com

City or town of residence

Edgewater, MD

Office sought

County Council, District 7

Party affiliation

Republican

Education

A.A., B.A., M.S., Certificate of Security Assessment and Management and CAE (2023).

Occupation

President of the Maryland Retailers Association

Family

Ron Neuenberger, Fiance

Does anyone in your family work in politics or government?

No

Age

37

Previous public office, appointive or elective

No

Why are you seeking this office?

As the President of the Maryland Retailer’s Association, I see first hand how destructive liberal policies and legislation is on families and on small and large businesses. Taxes and regulations go up, but services and the quality of public education go down. Going against science, public schools require masks for children, advocate for gender dysphoria, and endorse racism. We can and should do better. And, it is why I am running for County Council. I have the experience, the knowledge and the philosophy to be successful on day one.

Please complete this statement: The single most pressing issue facing my constituents is ___, and this is what I intend to do about it.

The single most pressing issue facing my constituents is crime and this is what I intend to do about it.

Crime has gone up dramatically in Anne Arundel County. From home invasions to car-jackings and violent crimes. The problem is that the current administration, following the national BLM movement, does not truly support our law enforcement.

For instance, the Pittman administration opposed the long-standing “law enforcement officers bill of rights” laws in Maryland. They now support having activists, with no law enforcement background, standing in to judge police officers. The net effect of this is that our police officers are retiring and no new officers are applying. Simply put, they are not supported by the current administration and, because of that, the number of police officers in the county is below the required amount.

I will sponsor legislation that restores the benefits of the law enforcement officers bill of rights and I will sponsor legislation that requires full staffing of our police department. I will also support in the FY24 budget additional funding for training and equipment for our officers.

What are the major differences between you and the other candidates seeking this post?

Stuart Pittman promised four years ago to restrict development in Anne Arundel County. He has done the opposite. There has never been more development, more cars, more stress on our infrastructure than under Stuart Pittman. Yet, the developers want even more. My two opponents have accepted thousands of dollars from developers. I have not!

Unlike my two opponents, I will not be an automatic yes vote to more development. I will only support development if it is of existing locations that have sufficient infrastructure (roads, water, sewer, law enforcement, and under-enrollment in our schools).

I will not support development of South County and I will oppose any attempts to further develop the Gambrills area outside of Crofton.

Both my opponents have eagerly taken developer money and have made promises that will undermine our ability to protect the remaining open space in District 7!

Additionally, my 16 years of legislative experience is ultimately the major difference as well. I have passed numerous pieces of legislation at the State and local levels, testify before committees numerous times a day during the State's legislative session and work to defeat new taxes, mandates and regulations on a daily basis.

If you are challenging an incumbent, in what way has the current officeholder failed the community?

N/A

What other issues do you intend to address during your campaign?

During my first year in office, I will address three areas of immediate concern: taxes, crime, and public schools.

While neighboring counties are reducing taxes, Stuart Pittman is raising taxes, … yet services continue to decline.
He has raised spending by over $500 million dollars and this is after receiving over $100 million dollars in Federal Covid money. I will only support a budget that returns us to the pre-Pittman days of spending.

As I discussed above, to address the crime problem in the County, I will support hiring more police officers, better protect our officers, and seek additional training.

Regarding public schools, I will introduce legislation that requires public schools to stay open. I respect any parent that wants to have their children stay at home or even to wear a mask. BUT IT IS THE PARENT’S CHOICE. The public school should not be able to ignore science and hold our children hostage to advance liberal and progressive politics by forcing their political agenda onto our children.

What accomplishments in your past would you cite as evidence you can handle this job?

I am the President of the Maryland Retailer’s Association. Part of my job is to represent them in Annapolis with the State Legislature, where I work to make laws better, have passed numerous pieces of legislation and to defeat an enormous amount of bad bills. To do this, I have to work with both sides of the political aisle and I have to also build consensus among my membership – two things that are very difficult that I do very well. It is this skill set that I will bring to the Anne Arundel County Council that is divided by partisan politics. I focus on where we can agree and build consensus from there.

What is the best advice anyone ever gave you?

My Dad taught me to never give up, be honest and be respectful. This advice has helped me to achieve great success and I am very thankful to my Dad for giving me these values and direction in life.

Is there anything else you would like voters to know about yourself and your positions?

There is a lot of negative mail going around right now and it is very disappointing. Both my opponents have at best been untruthful and at worse, lied. I believe that if voters do their homework they will see why 20 elected Republican Legislators endorsed me; they will see why Anne Arundel County Sheriff Jim Fredericks said “no one has a better Republican legislative record than Cailey Locklair” and why I will be the most honest and effective Council Person for District 7.