The Results Are In . . .

Democrats have taken an early lead in state legislative elections. They've already captured 14 seats in the Senate compared to 4 for the Republicans. The Democratic lead in races for the House of Delegates is even larger with 40 Democrats but only 6 Republicans already elected.

No, you didn't miss the election: the filing deadline for state legislative candidates has passed. Individual candidates had to file by July 3rd though party central committees could nominate candidates for another 15 days. We now know how many seats each party has conceded through failure to recruit enough candidates. Most unopposed candidates are Democrats from Montgomery, Prince George's and Baltimore City.

Republicans would be even further behind before the election even started if Republican Central Committees has not used their power to nominate candidates in races where too few candidates filed to fill all of the party's nominations. The Republican Central Committee parachuted 2 candidates into Senate races and 7 into Delegate contests. Democrats nominated only 1 Senate and 1 Delegate by Central Committee.

District 18 (Chevy Chase, Kensington, Wheaton) Democrats should feel the most glum about the last-minute GOP efforts to find candidates. No Republican filed for the House or the Senate by the individual candidate deadline but the GOP now has a full slate. I doubt they are sweating the general election too much though. Back in 1994, the last time that Republicans ran a full slate in this district, Democrats defeated them by a margin of 2 to 1.

Disclosure: I am volunteering for Democratic candidates in District 18.