FREDERICK, Md. — Just 4,500 votes separate the leading candidates for Western Maryland’s Congressional house seat, but the final result of the race could become more clear Thursday night.
Republican Delegate Neil Parrott, a Maryland Delegate, currently leads incumbent Democratic Rep. David Trone by two percentage points.
Trone previously defeated Parrott by 20 points in 2020. However, this year’s race has been heavily influenced by the redrawing of Maryland’s Sixth District.
The district now includes the entirety of Frederick County and less of heavily Democratic Montgomery County. Prior to the election, Parrott had filed and won a lawsuit arguing Maryland’s past congressional map had been illegally gerrymandered.
Both candidates are paying close attention to the mail-in ballots that still must be counted in Montgomery and Frederick counties.
“Frederick County is going to have a huge say as to who the next congressman is,” Parrott said.
Currently, Parrott holds the lead in Allegany, Frederick, Garrett, and Washington counties. While Trone has a wide lead in Montgomery County.
Both Montgomery and Frederick counties plan to canvass mail-in ballots Thursday.
Montgomery County election officials told WUSA9 the Maryland State Board of Elections should update race results by 10:30 p.m. on their website.
The exact number of mail-in ballots that remain to be counted is unclear.
On Tuesday, Trone said there were “tens of thousands” of ballots that still had to be counted in the race. On Wednesday, Parrott said it was 30,000.
WUSA9 reached out to both Montgomery and Frederick election officials for clarity on the matter.
Either way, Trone and his team said they remain optimistic they will win the race.
“I am confident, we’re heading back to Congress.”
Meanwhile, Parrott said he expects the race to be tight until the very end. He said his team believes they will ultimately win the race by 100 votes.
“We've looked at the actual numbers and the actual percentages from each county, vote by mail and applied that moving forward,” he said.