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John Delaney convincingly won a Democratic primary Tuesday night in Maryland’s 6th Congressional District race, setting up a fall showdown with 10-term incumbent Republican Rep. Roscoe G. Bartlett.
Delaney took the lead over state Sen.Robert J. Garagiola from the start — when early voting results were posted, shortly after the polls closed at 8 p.m. — and increased his margin throughout the night.
Delaney had 19,581 votes, or 54 percent of the total in the Democratic field, and Garagiola had 10,467 votes, or 29 percent, according to complete but unofficial results.
For several weeks, Delaney and Garagiola have battled almost daily through news releases, questioning and criticizing each other’s records.
Bartlett was well ahead of state Sen. David R. Brinkley in the Republican primary, receiving about 43 percent of the votes in the eight-candidate GOP pack.
Bartlett had 16,796 votes, followed by Brinkley with 7,632, or 20 percent, according to complete but unofficial returns.
In the first election since the Maryland General Assembly adopted new congressional boundaries last fall, the 6th District field was unusually packed.
The redistricting, driven by Democrats in Annapolis, turned the 6th District from majority Republican to majority Democrat.
Carroll County, half of Frederick County, and parts of Baltimore and Harford counties were cut out of the district. A larger swath of Montgomery County was added.
Subsequent attempts to change the map in the legislature or through the courts have failed.
Opponents now are trying to petition the redistricting map to a referendum in the fall. If voters overturn the plan in November, new boundaries would have to be drawn before the 2014 election.
A third state elected official in the race — Del. Kathryn L. Afzali — was third in the Republican race Tuesday night, ahead of Joseph T. Krysztoforski.
The rest of the GOP field was Brandon Orman Rippeon, Robin Ficker, Robert Coblentz — the only Washington County resident running for the seat — and Peter James.
Among the Democratic candidates, Dr. Milad L. Pooran was third, followed by Charles Bailey and Ron Little.
Absentee ballots are not likely to affect the race.
As of Tuesday afternoon, four counties — Washington, Garrett, Allegany and Montgomery — had received a total of about 1,100 Republican absentee ballots and 1,100 Democratic absentee ballots.
Frederick County did not provide an estimate of absentee ballots that were returned for the 6th District race.
6th Congressional District
(With early voting and 237 of 237 precincts reporting - first number is Washington County, second number is districtwide)
Democrats
John Delaney - 3,783; 19,581
Rob Garagiola - 1,329; 10,467
Milad Pooran - 777; 3,457
Charles Bailey - 437; 1,446
Ron Little - 244; 1,054
Republicans
David R. Brinkley - 2,084; 7,632
Kathy Afzali - 1,663; 3,969
Joseph T. Krysztoforski - 1,134; 3,001
Brandon Orman Rippeon - 532; 2,737
Robin Ficker - 263; 2,689
Robert Coblentz - 421; 922
Peter James - 198; 899