Sarah David beats Scott Shellenberger for Baltimore County state’s attorney

Baltimore County is set to have a new state’s attorney for the first time in two decades.

Sarah David defeated incumbent Scott Shellenberger in the Democratic primary Tuesday night. As of about 9 a.m. Wednesday with all 258 precincts reporting and just over 4,000 mail-in ballots counted, David had 52% of the vote, compared to Shellenberger’s 27%, according to the Maryland State Board of Elections’ unofficial returns.

Lauren Lipscomb, who leads the conviction integrity unit of the Baltimore City State’s Attorney’s Office, was in third with about 21% of the votes.

There were no Republicans or independents in the race, meaning David’s name will be on the ballot in November.

Four years after an outspoken progressive lost to the moderate Shellenberger by a hair, David, the No. 2 at the Maryland Office of the State Prosecutor, took a different tack — though she received significant help from a progressive group.

She told The Daily Record earlier this year that under her leadership, the office would be “very different from the way it has been,” but she declined to put herself in an ideological camp. She said she would reform an office that suffered from a “lack of leadership” under Shellenberger. She campaigned on modernizing its use of technology and data, taking sexual assault cases “seriously” and communicating more effectively with the public.

David won over many of Shellenberger’s former supporters. They said that he had run the office less effectively in recent years, with high staff turnover and accused mishandling of sexual assault victims.

David also dominated the fundraising battle, with her success driven in large part by her deep connections to the local legal community. She raised the second-most of any candidate for state’s attorney in a contested primary, raising and spending more than three times as much as the incumbent. Lipscomb raised and spent far less than both.

In addition to her own fundraising, David received independent support from a political action committee. The Working Families Party, a progressive group, spent more than $200,000 on her behalf in the final weeks of the campaign.

Delvone Michael, senior political strategist for the Working Families Party, said in a statement: “Sarah David’s overwhelming victory clearly shows that Baltimore County is ready for a different kind of State’s Attorney who will take public safety seriously while modernizing the office and how it serves the community.

“Working Families Party is proud of the work we did to support David’s candidacy and looks forward to her work in improving accountability and victim services, while rebuilding public trust.”

David thanked supporters in a speech Tuesday night and provided its text to The Daily Record. 

“This campaign has been exceptional because of the people involved in it,” she said. “Everyone here tonight, every volunteer, endorser, donor, supporter, has made this the campaign to watch in Baltimore County for the past year and a half.”

This story has been updated