Municipal Elections in Frederick County

In conjunction with the Frederick News-Post, the League of Women Voters of Frederick County (LWVFC) created a 2025 Frederick City Primary Election Voters’ Guide in digital and print format. The Frederick News-Post sent copies to subscribers in the Aug. 16-17 edition of the Frederick News-Post. LWVFC has made printed Guides in English and Spanish available at the C. Burr Artz Library, Centro Hispano, the Asian American Center of Frederick, and various senior centers around the city. 

The Voters’ Guide provides nonpartisan candidate information with candidate responses to policy questions in the candidates’ own words, polling place and drop-box locations, and other election information for all Frederick City voters.  The Primary Election is Tuesday, September 9. Early voting is August 22 and 23.  

This election includes races for Mayor, City Council members in five newly created districts, plus two at-large City Council seats. There are only Democratic primaries. Republicans did not have multiple candidates for any seat, so there is no Republican primary. We will be producing new forums that include all candidates in contested elections, as well as a new Voters' Guide including all candidates on the ballot, for the General election.

2025 Frederick City Voters' Guide in English

2025 Frederick City Voters' Guide in Spanish

Forums:

• Monday, August 11, 6:00 pm - 7:00 pm, District 3 candidates: Peter Brehm, David Schmidt. We secured ASL interpreters for the event. The video for this event can be viewed at https://youtu.be/71dkSFpplws.
• Wednesday, August 13, 3:00 pm - 3:30 pm, District 1 candidate: Katie Nash. On YouTube at https://youtube.com/live/MUoCS9vwGHk.
• Wednesday, August 13, 4:00 pm - 4:30 pm, District 2 candidate: Cesar Diaz. On YouTube at https://youtube.com/live/5dOvhEiA3DE.
• Thursday, August 14, 6:00 p.m. - 7:00 pm, District 4 candidates: Fredy Ventura Garcia, S. Scott Lasher. On YouTube at https://www.youtube.com/live/NuGkvy-8ykk?si=krKKoBzuvsZtJevi. 
• Friday, August 15, 7:00 p.m. - 9:00 pm, At Large candidates: Jennifer Dougherty, Donna Kuzemchak, Kelly Russell, Libby Taylor, Derek Shackelford. We secured ASL interpreters for the event. Unfortunately, we had significant internet problems for this forum, so the beginning 5 minutes are lost, and the sound and video is pretty scratchy. But this is over 50 minutes of answers from the candidates. You can view the event on YouTube at https://www.youtube.com/live/k7C_q36fdzw?si=t0ayDLUdUhg_M13K.
• Tuesday, August 19, 6:00 p.m. - 7:00 pm, District 5 candidates: Sarah Hempel Irani, Ryan Trout. On You Tube at https://www.youtube.com/live/nZep4lMsvP8?si=xtslAsc1lqSCximn.
• Wednesday, August 27, 7:00 p.m. - 8:00 pm, Mayoral candidates: Ronald A. Beattie, Michael O'Connor. We secured ASL interpreters for the event. You can view the event live at https://www.youtube.com/live/5oJVt3hRu4Q?si=giuWoKqOx-wGwcKg.

In Primary Elections only Democrats vote for Democratic candidates, only Republicans vote 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.

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. All of the candidates have had good press, many have had opportunities with other organizations, and there have been conflicts in scheduling. 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.)