Despite spirited challenges from Democrats in some races, Carroll County returned an all-Republican General Assembly delegation to Annapolis yesterday, led by State Sen. Larry E. Haines, who handily won a fourth term.

In central Carroll District 5A, incumbent Dels. Carmen Amedori and Nancy R. Stocksdale turned back a challenge from Robert P. Wack.

In District 4, which straddles Carroll and Frederick counties, Del. Donald B. Elliott, a four-term incumbent from Union Bridge, won in a landslide over Thomas Morrison by a near 4-1 margin. David Brinkley, who ousted two-term Sen. Timothy Ferguson in the Republican primary, took the District 4 Senate seat by a similar margin.

In the new single-member district representing South Carroll, voters chose Republican Susan W. Krebs, president of the county school board, over Democrat Kenneth Holniker, an attorney and longtime community activist. Krebs, who defeated five other candidates in the Republican primary in the new subdistrict 9B, bested Holniker by more than 3,000 votes.

"Krebs has been active in the county, starting as a parent petitioning so we could get more schools down here," said Beth Kaste, a stay-at-home mother, after voting in Eldersburg. "She has been a fair representative for every area on the school board and she will represent the interests of the whole county in Annapolis."

Holniker spent twice as much as Krebs in his quest to represent Carroll's fastest-growing area, which includes Eldersburg and Sykesville. "You need people to win an election, not money," said Krebs. "You just can't buy the energies of the people I have working for me in this grass-roots campaign."

As for her victory, Krebs said, "The people in Carroll County clearly have spoken of the need for a change in Westminster and Annapolis."