Cecil County Elections: Rollins Wins State’s Attorney Race, Judge Sexton Wins Bipartisan Support for Circuit Court

June 25, 2014
By

Cecil County State’s Attorney E.D. (Ellis) Rollins III won re-election Tuesday in the Republican primary while sitting judge Brenda Sexton won overwhelming support to remain on the Circuit Court bench in a non-partisan contest. As a result, both Rollins and Judge Sexton will retain their positions since they will be unopposed on the November election ballot.

Rollins, a veteran lawyer in the county who won the State’s Attorney prosecutor post four years ago, won 3,952 votes, or 64.7 percent of the vote, in Tuesday’s Republican primary. His opponent, lawyer Michael Halter, received 2,154 votes, or 35.2 percent of the total votes cast.

The State’s Attorney race had become heated in recent weeks, with Halter questioning Rollins’ hiring of his son for a job in his office as an investigator assigned to District Court cases. Rollins defended his hiring decision, saying it was permitted under an appellate court ruling, and counter-charging that he fired Halter as a prosecutor after warnings about his personal postings on social media.

Democrats did not field a candidate for State’s Attorney in their party’s primary so Rollins will have no opposition in the November general election.

Judge Sexton was facing her first election to the bench, after she was appointed by Gov. Martin O’Malley last year to fill a newly-created fourth Circuit Court seat in Cecil County. She had been recommended by a judicial nominating panel that vetted candidates on the basis of their legal experience and qualifications for the court. After an initial appointment by the governor, judges run for election on a non-partisan basis, meaning they run in both the Democratic and Republican party primaries.

She was opposed in the elections by Kevin Urick, a veteran prosecutor with the local State’s Attorney’s office and a former prosecutor in Baltimore. Urick ran a feisty campaign, with brightly-colored yard signs all over the county and music-filled campaign rallies, and largely self-financed his highly visible campaign.

But Sexton won commanding victories in both party primaries on Tuesday. She won 3,281 votes, or 79.2 percent, in the Democratic primary while Urick received 860 votes or 26.7 percent. In the Republican primary, Sexton won 3,905 votes, or 61.9 percent, while Urick received 2,403 votes, or 38 percent.

Since Sexton won a majority in both primaries, she will appear on the November ballot unopposed, thus ensuring her continued seat on the Circuit Court bench.

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One Response to Cecil County Elections: Rollins Wins State’s Attorney Race, Judge Sexton Wins Bipartisan Support for Circuit Court

  1. Michael R on June 25, 2014 at 8:40 pm

    It’s unfortunate that the State’s Attorney position now goes unopposed. Halter unfortunately could have used an experienced campaign manager and additional fundraising efforts as well as political backing and the outcome could have been different. I need to ask why the Dems didn’t have a candidate?

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