Incumbent Frederick Mayor Randy McClement withstood two primary challenges from within his own party yesterday in a hotly contested race. McClement, who has been described as plain vanilla, fought off challenges from Jeff Holtzinger, the mayor he replaced four years ago, and Shelley Aloi, a first term alderwoman.
Cliff Cumber, the editorial page editor of the Frederick News Post, said that after a string of controversial mayors, the city’s voters welcomed the change brought by McClement. "In the stormy seas of politics you would say this has been pretty fair weather sailing over the last four years,” he said.
On the Democratic side, Alderwoman Karen Young, the wife of State Senator Ron Young, held onto 50 percent of the vote to defeat her husband’s old friend and political ally, Delegate Galen Clagett. Carol Hirsch, a deaf WalMart cashier, took ten percent of the vote. The results set up a three-way fight in November with the addition of former Mayor Jennifer Daugherty, who is running as an independent.