Anne Arundel County Executive Janet S. Owens apparently defeated Republican challenger Phillip D. Bissett yesterday amid a backdrop of GOP victories at state and county levels.

Unofficial results showed that Owens had about 52 percent of the vote to Bissett's 48 percent. Absentee ballots had not been counted as of late last night, and Bissett said he would not concede the race until all ballots had been tallied.

"The race is going to be decided by absentee ballots," Bissett said. At midnight, he was trailing by 6,576 votes, with some 6,900 ballots yet to be counted.

Owens was cautiously optimistic at a post-election fete at the Yellow Fin restaurant in Edgewater last night.

"It has been a long hard day and it has been a wonderful four years," said Owens, a Democrat. "At least as of right now, it looks like we are going to continue what we have to do."

But Owens' husband and chief adviser, Baltimore attorney David M. Sheehan cautioned: "No one can certify this election yet."

Owens attributed her narrow lead over Bissett to a high turnout by Republican voters eager to move former Rep. Robert L. Ehrlich Jr. into the governor's mansion.

Ehrlich easily carried Anne Arundel County, a swing area in the state.

"Everywhere I went today, people were talking about the governor's race," Owens said.

Owens suspected that the county could vote Republican and distanced herself from Democratic gubernatorial nominee Kathleen Kennedy Townsend during the fall campaign. Owens never formally endorsed Townsend.

Owens said she was disappointed that two council members -- A. Shirley Murphy and Daniel E. Klosterman Jr., both Democrats -- lost to Republican challengers.

Those defeats, plus the re-election of Republican council member Cathleen M. Vitale and the election of Republican Edward R. Reilly, switches control of the council to the GOP.

In backing Owens, 58, voters didn't appear to be bothered by perceived missteps, such as her decision to sign a development pact with the owner of the Parole Plaza near Annapolis before residents had signed off on design standards. Bissett had also charged that Sheehan meddles in local government decisions.

Bissett, 46, who works as a lobbyist in Annapolis for a company that manufactures devices that keep drunken drivers off the road, spent months doggedly attacking Owens' policies on education, law enforcement and land preservation.

In the months leading up to the election, Bissett portrayed himself as a time-tested leader whose eight-years in the General Assembly had prepared him to grapple with a looming state budget defect. Bissett was appointed to replace former Del. Aris T. Allen, after his death in 1991, and went on to win election in 1994.

Although analysts had predicted a heavy turnout by Republicans eager to support Ehrlich in his bid for governor, Bissett said that he wasn't riding the former congressman's coattails. Anne Arundel has a strong record of electing politically conservative candidates, even though Democrats outnumber Republicans.

Riva resident Steve Alexander, 42, said he supported Bissett because the candidate is a fiscal conservative. Alexander said he's upset with the way property owners have been treated under the Owens administration. "There's just a lot of bureaucracy that you have to get through to do any work on your house," he said.