Municipal Elections in Frederick County

Next week begins our week of forums with all of the Frederick City Candidates who have agreed to participate. Some are live in-person, some are only virtual via Zoom, all will be recorded and streamed live on our YouTube channel at https://www.youtube.com/@frederickcountylwv313/streams.

Forum Schedule:

• Monday, August 11, 6:00 pm - 7:00 pm, District 3 candidates: Peter Brehm, David Schmidt. C. Burr Artz Library Community Room, 110 East Patrick Street, Frederick, MD.
• Wednesday, August 13, 3:00 pm - 3:30 pm, District 1 candidate: Katie Nash. On Zoom at https://us02web.zoom.us/j/86519356161.
• Wednesday, August 13, 4:00 pm - 4:30 pm, District 2 candidate: Cesar Diaz. On Zoom at https://us02web.zoom.us/j/86519356161. Yes, that's the same Zoom link as for District 1.
• Thursday, August 14, 6:00 p.m. - 7:00 pm, District 4 candidates: Fredy Ventura Garcia. On Zoom at https://us02web.zoom.us/j/83299024741. S. Scott Lasher has not confirmed attendance.
• Friday, August 15, 7:00 p.m. - 9:00 pm, At Large candidates: Jennifer Dougherty, Donna Kuzemchak, Kelly Russell, Libby Taylor. Evangelical Reformed Church of Christ Community Room, 15 West Church Street, Frederick, MD. Derek Shackelford has not confirmed.
• Tuesday, August 19, 6:00 p.m. - 7:00 pm, District 5 candidates: Sarah Hempel Irani, Ryan Trout. Fredy Ventura Garcia. On Zoom at https://us02web.zoom.us/j/87321976608.
• Friday, August 27, 7:00 p.m. - 8:00 pm, Mayoral candidates: Ronald A. Beattie, Michael O'Connor. Evangelical Reformed Church of Christ Community Room, 15 West Church Street, Frederick, MD.

You may note what's missing: forums for Republicans, and forums where there is only one Democratic candidate running. This is a Primary Election. Only Democrats will be voting for Democratic candidates, only Republicans will be voting for Republican candidates. We do not usually run a forum for a single candidate running in a primary - they are going to win that election, and will then run in the general election where everyone votes for one of the candidates running for that particular set.

But because this is the first City Council elections involving Districts, we wanted to run "meet the candidate" events in those primary races where there was only one person running from each party. The candidates did not respond. They have all had good press, many have had opportunities with other organizations, and there have been conflicts in scheduling. Don't fault any candidate for not accepting our offer. But if you are interested in a candidate not participating in a forum, be sure to reach out to them and ask questions directly.  

There are other elections to come as well. The town links will take you to the city websites where you can find information about how to register, how to run as a candidate, how and where to vote, etc. We will be breaking this up by city on new webpages under Election Processes, but that will take a little more time to create. 

Look for Frederick City Election Districts at https://www.cityoffrederickmd.gov/1805/District-Maps. Use the scroll bars at the bottom and right of the window to move around the document. It is unwieldy!

Outcomes of city elections of 2025 that have been completed:

Brunswick – August 2026 results https://www.fredericknewspost.com/news/politics_and_government/elections/one-incumbent-two-first-timers-win-brunswick-city-council-seats/article_fcf01ce6-4026-548f-8538-f4159d6faa4b.html

Burkittsville – June 2025 results https://www.fredericknewspost.com/news/politics_and_government/elections/burkittsville-elects-two-newcomers-to-town-council-new-mayor-wins-unopposed/article_7ce4c427-c70e-5188-ac9c-038d8f45db6c.html.

Mount Airy: https://www.fredericknewspost.com/news/continuing_coverage/election_coverage/hushour-reelected-mayor-of-mount-airy-domotor-kelly-win-town-council-seats/article_d92a7284-632c-5025-b404-c007b4b93e97.html.

New Market – Primary April 28, 2025, General May 13, 2025. Results https://www.townofnewmarket.org/home/news/2025-election-results.  

Rosemont – Saturday May 3, 2025. Results https://sites.google.com/site/rosemontmd/home.

Woodsboro – May 10, 2025, 8:00 am – 2:00 pm. Results https://www.yahoo.com/news/woodsboro-counts-votes-invalidated-recent-035900313.html.

Remaining elections:

(Note: Dates are subject to change. Information is current as of 7/14/2025.)