Dana Beyer Unsuccessful in Maryland Statehouse Bid
Dana Beyer, who spoke with Metro Weekly this past week about her candidacy to become a member of the Maryland House of Delegates, was less than 800 votes away from becoming one of the three nominees for the Democratic nomination to the 18th District.
Coming in fourth in a six-way race, Beyer — who was endorsed by the Victory Fund and would have been the first transgender member of the Maryland legislature — fell to the three incumbents.
Speaking with Metro Weekly late Tuesday night, Beyer was at a loss.
“The people who said they were going to vote for me didn’t vote for me, so I’m clueless as to what happened,” she said. “But I had data, which I trusted, that told me I was going to win.
“Something went wrong.”
Asked what went wrong, Beyer said she’d have to go through the results precinct by precinct to get a better picture of what had happened, but added, “I’m just gonna let it go for now. I’m gonna move on. But, it would be nice to know why.”
That three incumbents won is not all that unusual in a system where incumbents do generally win, and Beyer was the highest vote-getter among the non-incumbents. When asked if she takes solace in being the next to get the nomination, Beyer said no.
“I set high standards,” she said. “I don’t take solace in coming fourth.”
Beyer did, however, say that she took some solace in the fact that three other out, non-incumbent LGBT candidates running were running for Maryland legislative seats — and some of them were likely to end this election night with a win.
The preliminary results from the 18th District:
- Atterbeary, Vanessa 2372 13.13%
- Beyer, Dana 2990 16.56%
- Carr, Al 3783 20.95%
- Gutierrez, Ana Sol 4390 24.31%
- Heney, Michael K. 552 3.06%
- Waldstreicher, Jeff 3974 22.00%
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