Eastern Baltimore County’s District 8 is genuinely competitive turf — but neither party’s Senate nominee faced a primary fight to get to November.
By MDBayNews Staff
Legislative District 8, covering Rosedale, Overlea, Parkville, Perry Hall, Carney and White Marsh in eastern Baltimore County, is one of the closer calls on Maryland’s legislative map. Registration favors Democrats 53-27, wide enough to be safe on paper but not so wide that Republicans have given up on it — and unlike most of the truly competitive seats in this state, District 8 has actually flipped in living memory.
“District 8 has actually flipped in living memory.”
State Senate: an appointed incumbent versus a self-described “royal” challenger
Democratic Sen. Carl Jackson is seeking his first full term after Gov. Wes Moore appointed him to the seat in February 2025 to replace Katherine Klausmeier. Jackson previously spent more than five years in the House of Delegates, having himself been appointed there in 2019 by then-Gov. Larry Hogan. He faced no primary opponent.
His Republican opponent, Yahu Blackwell, is a professional boxer and entrepreneur who describes himself as having been enstooled as a traditional chief, or “Osu Lumor,” within a Ghanaian royal lineage — a title separate from and not conferred by U.S. or Maryland public office. Blackwell also ran unopposed for his party’s nomination. He has campaigned publicly on voter ID requirements, a position MDBayNews covered in February, along with pro-family policy and expanded support for local law enforcement.
“A boxer-entrepreneur with a documented traditional chieftaincy title is an unusual Senate candidate profile even by Maryland standards.”
His campaign has stated that no Republican has held this Senate seat in over a century. If elected, Blackwell would certainly be the district’s first Republican senator in recent memory.
House of Delegates: all three Democratic incumbents survive, GOP field reshuffles
District 8 elects three delegates at large. All three sitting Democrats defended their seats in a primary against two challengers, while a five-candidate Republican field sorted itself into a top three that didn’t entirely match the ticket some campaigns had assembled going in.
Certified Democratic primary results:
- Kim Ross (incumbent) — 5,764 votes, 25.8%
- Harry Bhandari (incumbent) — 5,754 votes, 25.7%
- Nick Allen (incumbent) — 5,340 votes, 23.9%
Marsha Briley-Savage— 3,486 votes, 15.6%Kumasi J. Barnett— 2,028 votes, 9.1%
Ross, appointed in March 2025 to fill the seat Jackson vacated, is the first Black woman to represent District 8 and previously worked as a senior communications manager before entering politics. Bhandari, a Nepal-born educator first elected in 2018, briefly explored a run for Maryland’s 2nd Congressional District in 2024 before returning to seek reelection here. Allen, a West Point graduate and Army veteran who served in Afghanistan, was first elected in 2022 and serves as deputy majority whip this term.
Certified Republican primary results:
- Brian A. Campbell — 2,056 votes, 26.9%
- Steven J. Riemer — 1,937 votes, 25.4%
- Glen Geelhaar — 1,764 votes, 23.1%
Jacqueline Stevenson— 1,502 votes, 19.7%Zulieka A. Baysmore— 379 votes, 5.0%
“It was Campbell — not on that ticket — who edged out Stevenson for the third and final nomination.”
The result scrambled an informal slate that had formed around Blackwell’s Senate campaign: Geelhaar, a lifelong Baltimore County resident and Stevenson University graduate, previously campaigned as a running mate alongside Stevenson and Riemer, but it was Campbell — not on that ticket, and previously a 2022 candidate for Baltimore County Clerk of the Court — who edged out Stevenson for the third and final nomination.
“A genuinely close race in an off-year legislative contest would be a notable data point for both parties heading into 2028.”
What to watch
- Whether Blackwell’s unconventional profile helps or hurts turnout. A boxer-entrepreneur with a documented traditional chieftaincy title is an unusual Senate candidate profile even by Maryland standards, and how his campaign message lands with the district’s suburban electorate is a genuine open question.
- Down-ballot effects of the reshuffled GOP House slate. Campbell’s edge over a candidate who ran as part of an organized slate suggests some degree of independent name recognition mattered more than coordinated campaigning this cycle.
- Whether District 8 lives up to its swing-district reputation in a non-presidential year. The seat’s history of competitiveness has usually shown up more in federal or gubernatorial years; a genuinely close race in an off-year legislative contest would be a notable data point for both parties heading into 2028.
Sources: Candidate listings, filing statuses, and certified primary vote totals are drawn from the Maryland State Board of Elections’ certified 2026 primary and general election candidate lists, cross-checked against The Baltimore Banner’s 2026 primary results tracker. Candidate biographical details are drawn from Wikipedia’s sourced pages for Maryland Legislative District 8, Carl W. Jackson, Kim Ross, Harry Bhandari, Nick Allen and Yahu Blackwell; Ballotpedia’s candidate profiles for Carl Jackson and Yahu Blackwell; The Baltimore Banner’s 2026 primary voter guide for District 8 Republicans and Democrats; East County Times’ primary preview coverage of the District 8 Republican field; Avenue News’ reporting on Kim Ross’s 2025 appointment; and Ghana News Agency’s August 2025 coverage of Yahu Blackwell’s campaign announcement, which is the origin of Blackwell’s own claim about the district’s Republican history.
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