Charles Sydnor and Pat Young to represent District 44B

By Lauren Loricchio, [email protected]

Catonsville Democrats Charles Sydnor and Pat Young became the first delegates to represent the newly drawn District 44B with 41.59 and 41.02 percent of the vote, respectively.

"I'm excited. Pat and I have been working for some time," Sydnor said late Tuesday night. "I think we're going to work well together to serve constituents in this district."

The new district created during 2012 redistricting stretches from Catonsville to Woodlawn to Lochearn and includes portions of former Districts 10 and 12a.

It is a heavily Democratic district with 84 percent of voters registered as Democrats, which gave both an edge over Republican opponent Michael Russell, 24, a student at University of Maryland, Baltimore County.

"The Democrat got about 40 percent of the vote — our numbers weren't very good," Russell said. "It's not the end of my political career — I will continue to strive to reach political heights."

Longtime Del. Shirley Nathan-Pulliam, deputy whip of the House of Delegates, was elected to the state senate where she will represent District 44, newly drawn in 2012 to include portions of Baltimore County, including areas in Catonsville and Woodlawn, and West Baltimore.

She defeated Republican opponent Bernard Reiter, a Baltimore resident who ran in 2010. The Democrat received more than 80 percent of the votes in the district.

"I'm excited about winning," Nathan-Pulliam said at a watch party at the Holiday Inn Express on Baltimore National Pike in Catonsville. "With Pat Young, Charles Sydnor and Tom Quirk, we'll work good as a team."