By: Nicholas Sohr

There’s a long way to go before the November election, and even longer before returning lawmakers and their newly elected colleagues head back to Annapolis to get down to business.

There are, however, some certainties that came out of Tuesday night’s primary election. And, of course, there are plenty of questions left unanswered.

Tuesday night’s results set up the expected matchup of old rivals — Gov. Martin O’Malley and former Gov. Robert L. Ehrlich Jr., with both men seeking four more years in the governor’s mansion. And much of the attention in Baltimore will be on the state’s attorney race, where Gregg Bernstein holds a 1,400-vote lead over longtime incumbent Patricia Bessamy with 3,000 absentee ballots still to be counted.

The Senate Finance Committee lost two of its 11 members to the primary, and both of them were Democrats. Sen. George Della lost to 27-year-old Bill Ferguson. Della has been in office for as long as Ferguson has been alive. And in Prince George’s County, Joanne Benson, a sitting delegate, is leading Sen. Nathaniel Exum by nearly 800 votes with three precincts left to report.

On the House side, the Economic Matters Committee will be short at least eight members, but that is mostly due to retirements and delegates seeking higher office.

Del. Roger Manno appears to have knocked off the senator in his district, Mike Lenett, by a 56-44 margin. Manno has been involved in many business regulation efforts, including last year’s successful bid to make large retailers give their employees shift breaks.

Del. James King, an Anne Arundel County Republican and small business owner, lost his bid to unseat his senator, Edward R. Reilly. King has served on the committee that oversaw unemployment insurance regulations.

And Del. Herman Taylor, a Democrat who led the House committee on unemployment insurance, decided to leave the legislature to take a shot at Congress. With a handful of precincts to be counted, incumbent Rep. Donna Edwards had more than 75 percent of the vote.

Unofficial results in Montgomery County had Sen. Rona Kramer, a Democrat and staunch advocate for business, trailing challenger Karen Montgomery by 100 votes.

House Minority Whip Christopher Shank holds a healthy 57-43 margin over incumbent Sen. Donald Munson, and would be unopposed in the General Election.

Still, in most areas, the status quo held strong. The district that straddles Prince George’s and Calvert counties was perhaps the best example of this — embattled Judiciary Committee Chairman Del. Joseph F. Vallario Jr. faced a serious challenge from a former police officer wielding big-time endorsements, but Vallario enjoys a very comfortable margin in the unofficial results.

Vallario placed second in the two-member district behind his longtime colleague James E. Proctor Jr., a Democrat, but finished with 5,300 more votes than his closest challenger Percel Alston, who finished third with a tally of 1,506.