Wicomico County Council, District 7

Evans won the Republican nomination unopposed, with 642 votes.

He was born and raised in Wicomico County, is a business owner and commercial insurance broker, and coaches youth sports. He returned home to the county to raise his children, and says that is what prompted him to run.

His stated governing philosophy is that county government — a roughly $235 million a year operation — should be run like a well-managed business, and that stability and planning are what attract employers and families. He argues public infighting between officials only hurts residents, and names "collaboration over conflict" as his approach. He says he measures each issue against one test: whether it leaves Wicomico County stronger ten years from now.

His campaign site names five priorities. Education is the first: he says schools should be the county's top funding priority, with the aim of earning National Blue Ribbon recognition again. On infrastructure he calls for water and wastewater expansion to support housing and growth, planned for the Eastern Shore's particular geography. He wants a comprehensive long-term plan that is deliberate about where businesses and housing belong, so that conflicts are settled before they arise. He promises to be an accessible councilman, offering several ways to reach him and committing to listen first. And he names energy affordability as a fifth priority, citing his attendance at County Executive Julie Giordano's energy summit.

He is endorsed by County Executive Julie Giordano, who announced it on April 26 at a meet-and-greet and framed the election as "results over rhetoric". It is the only endorsement his site lists.

He did not complete the Baltimore Sun and Capital Gazette's pre-primary questionnaire. The paper says all candidates are being sent the same questionnaire again before the general election.

Outten won the Democratic nomination unopposed with 766 votes. She is a lifelong Eastern Shore resident, a Salisbury University communications graduate, and served on the Salisbury City Council for District 3.

Her stated diagnosis is that the county reacts to crises instead of planning: she points to water and sewer and a landfill nearing capacity as problems years in the making. Her first-100-days proposal is an inventory of county infrastructure — what exists, what condition it is in, and how long it has left — as the basis for longer-term planning.

She would restructure the fire service agreement between the county and the City of Salisbury, arguing the county should pay its share for Salisbury Fire Department calls outside the city limits under a stable long-term agreement rather than year-to-year. She also wants to revive the Salisbury tax differential, which she worked on as a city council member and which she says other Maryland counties have addressed through tax set-offs.

Her one-year commitment is childcare: she cites a roughly 15 per cent decline in available care in Wicomico and proposes property tax relief for providers alongside work on the childcare workforce. She also proposes regular town halls and a council newsletter.

Her campaign site adds priorities the questionnaire did not cover. On the environment she calls climate change the greatest threat to the county's natural resources, from watermen's livelihoods to its rural character, and proposes a county-wide environmental task force to write a sustainability plan, alongside clean energy projects and development rules that preserve natural resources. On workforce development she would work with Salisbury-Wicomico Economic Development on well-paying jobs, back renewable energy work, and build on tourism draws like Shorebirds Stadium, the National Folk Festival and the Seagull Century. On education she highlights career and technical programmes and retaining local talent through better wages. She also names public safety, wanting to work with public safety staff to rebuild community trust.

She has been endorsed by Run for Something, which recruits first-time progressive candidates, and by the Maryland Forward Party.

Venosa is running unaffiliated, so he did not appear in either primary and goes straight to the November ballot. He is a teacher in Salisbury with a PhD in contemporary history, and has served as a Salisbury University faculty senator, on the City of Salisbury's TRUTH Commission, and on the Wicomico County Salary Study Commission.

His first-100-days priority is transparency over waste-to-energy and biorefinery projects, which he argues carry environmental and health risks and have not been explained to the public. He also says the county has fallen behind on building Cell 7 at the landfill, compromising its storage capacity, and would investigate the public works department and tighten enforcement of zoning codes.

He would end the tax waiver programme for upscale housing developers, which he says has drained county revenue for little public benefit, and would expand investment in public education — particularly for special-needs students and career and technical education.

His central issue is District 7's "double tax". He says Wicomico is one of only three of Maryland's 23 county-level jurisdictions that give municipal residents no property tax relief, and that Salisbury is the only Maryland municipality over 25,000 residents whose county provides none — while District 7 hosts the courthouse and county office building. He points to a 2010 study the county commissioned jointly with Salisbury, Fruitland and Delmar, which recommended cutting the county property tax about 10 per cent in Salisbury, and which the county never acted on. He says he would introduce tax differential legislation in the first month of the new session. To raise revenue he proposes a transfer tax on major property sales, noting Wicomico is one of the few counties without one.

He names opposition to liquor store expansion as the position least popular with people in his own area, citing effects on public safety and property values. He also proposes quarterly district town halls.