A widely anticipated tally of absentee ballots yesterday left House Speaker Casper R. Taylor Jr. still trailing his challenger by 71 votes, but he may call for a recount.
Taylor met last night with his staff and legal team to weigh options. He said he would decide today whether he would ask for a recount of the 11,219 votes cast in the race.
"The difference is less than a half of a percent," Taylor said. "I want to make sure the vast majority of the voters in my county have the representative they want."
Taylor's challenger, Republican LeRoy E. Myers Jr., shocked Maryland's political establishment with an apparent victory over one of the state's top Democratic leaders in Tuesday's election. After absentee ballots were calculated, Myers held the lead with 5,645 votes to Taylor's 5,574.
Myers said he is "feeling obviously happy," but supports Taylor's move to call for a recount. "That's his right to do so," he said.
The District 1C race in Western Maryland ranked as one of the state's most dramatic Republican victories in Tuesday's election after Gov.-elect Robert L. Ehrlich Jr.'s defeat of Lt. Gov. Kathleen Kennedy Townsend.
If the vote totals stand, Republican victories will have dealt the Maryland Democratic Party two major blows.
The election also significantly changed the landscape at the State House. Across the front rows where the legislative leaders sit and down the aisles, Maryland's General Assembly will look different come January.
Besides the possibility of a new speaker in the House of Delegates, virtually all of the leadership positions in the Senate will have new faces except, it appears, the top post.
About a third of all the 188 legislators will be freshmen, several of them women, who gained nine seats in the legislature, and African-Americans, who netted three additional seats.
Republicans also will have a stronger voice, with an additional seat in the Senate and eight more in the House.
"It's going to be more diverse," said Senate President Thomas V. Mike Miller. "It's going to reflect more of the population of the state."
But while the assembly has changed, political observers say that it has a ways to go.
'Ready to step up'
Del. Adrienne A. Jones, president-elect of the Women Legislators of Maryland, said as the number of women continues to increase in the legislature, so should leadership positions for women.
"We have some women who have been here for awhile who are ready to step up," Jones said.
Although the number of African-Americans increased, the total number fell short of the goals that black legislators had going into the election.
Several potential African-American candidates, including Howard County Councilman C. Vernon Gray, lost their bids for legislative posts in part because of changes to the state's redistricting plan this year by the Maryland Court of Appeals.
'We are 42 strong'
"I was hoping that we would have an increase of seven to 12 African-Americans," said Del. Obie Patterson, chairman of the Legislative Black Caucus. "We had a gain of three. We were 39 strong. Now we are 42 strong."
Patterson praised Miller for his appointments yesterday to leadership positions vacated by retirements and election upsets.
Miller appointed African-Americans to two of the Senate's top posts. Sen. Ulysses Currie, a Prince George's County Democrat, will sit as chairman of the influential Budget and Taxation Committee. Sen. Nathaniel J. McFadden, a Baltimore Democrat, will serve as the Senate majority leader.
McFadden's appointment is a key one for Baltimore, which lost two top leadership positions in the Senate with the retirement of Sen. Clarence W. Blount, majority leader and chairman of the Economic Health and Environmental Affairs Committee. The city also lost Sen. Barbara A. Hoffman, the powerful chairwoman of the Budget and Taxation Committee, in a primary defeat.
Blount was the longest-serving African-American in the history of the legislature and was a highly respected statesman.
"There will never be another Clarence Blount," McFadden said. "It will be a tremendous challenge for me to develop the kind of respect he has. It's a challenge, but I think he's prepared me well."
City loses chairmanship
Baltimore no longer holds a chairmanship in the Senate, but Miller did appoint city Sens. Joan Carter Conway as vice chairwoman of the new Education Health and Environment Committee and Ralph M. Hughes as vice chairman of the Rules Committee.
Besides those appointments, Miller named Sen. Paula C. Hollinger, a Baltimore County Democrat, chairwoman of the Education Health and Environment Committee; Sen. Thomas M. Middleton, a Charles County Democrat, chairman of the Finance Committee; and Sen. Brian E. Frosh, a Montgomery County Democrat, chairman of the Judicial Proceedings Committee.
Patterson said he hopes the House will maintain a diverse leadership if Taylor does not return.
He said the Legislative Black Caucus is scheduled to meet during the weekend to prepare its agenda for the coming session and to decide whom to support as a possible replacement for Taylor.
Dels. Michael E. Busch and Howard P. Rawlings are vying for the post. Busch said he believes he has the votes to be elected, but Rawlings argues that he has more tenure in the legislature and stronger qualifications.
Patterson said he believes others should be considered, too.
"I think Rawlings and I think Busch are good candidates," he said. "I don't think you can consider yourself a sure bet until the votes are in."