State Sen. Robert R. Neall was fighting a fiery challenge from Del. Janet Greenip, and Republican hopeful Tony McConkey appeared headed toward victory in House District 33A despite questions about his past conduct, according to early returns last night in Anne Arundel County.

Neall, a longtime lawmaker and towering figure in county politics, deserted the Republican Party in 1999. Greenip, a former teacher and conservative two-term Republican, was hoping that would backfire in Senate District 33, the only one in the county with a Republican majority among registered voters.

With one-third of the precincts reporting, Greenip was holding a narrow lead over Neall, a Democrat.

"He's never campaigned, and that's one of the advantages I knew early on," she said last night from Jillian's, an Annapolis bar where Republicans gathered.

In House District 33A, Republican Del. David G. Boschert appeared to be sailing to a second term. And with about half of the returns in, McConkey had a comfortable lead over two Democrats, Steven D. Rizzi and James H. Snider, for the district's second seat.

Elsewhere in the county, very early returns suggested that the incumbents, most of whom are Democrats, were traveling a generally smooth road to victory.

This election season is the first since districts were redrawn in response to population shifts recorded in the 2000 Census. And most of the nail-biting among the General Assembly races was in legislative districts spanning Severna Park to upper South County.

In the Republican primary in District 33A, McConkey won nearly as many votes as Boschert, a feat considering his losses in past elections and a history of personal missteps that have haunted him in earlier races for public office.

McConkey was disbarred from the practice of law and the state revoked his real estate license in the 1990s amid charges that he had mishandled money and misled partners in a failed land deal in Prince George's County. He also had several brushes with the police in the 1990s that McConkey said were the result of disputes with tenants he was trying to evict as a property manager in a rough neighborhood.

In one case, McConkey agreed to pay a fine and perform community service to settle a fourth-degree robbery charge.

Democrats reminded voters of that history in recent weeks, with public criticism in the press and in direct mail. But McConkey continued to insist that his mistakes were a "learning experience," and he got a boost over the weekend when Rep. Wayne T. Gilchrest praised McConkey in a mailing to Severna Park voters.

In his fourth bid for public office, McConkey appeared determined to win. He ran an aggressive campaign and spent more money - $62,667 - than the other candidate in what was largely a self-financed campaign.

Outside Crofton Middle School yesterday afternoon, several voters said that their loyalty to the party trumped any worries about McConkey's past.

Margaret Richter, 63, an office manager and diehard Republican from Crofton, said McConkey's past was worrisome but not so worrisome that she would vote for a Democrat. "Everybody has a past, and hopefully they learn from it," she said.

Her husband, however, felt differently. After watching a local report on television about McConkey, she said, "My husband immediately said, 'I'm not voting for him.'"

Staff writer Gabriel Baird contributed to this article.