Bickel Led Jenkins in First Frederick County Sheriff Returns

Karl Bickel led Frederick County Sheriff Chuck Jenkins by 9,886 votes in the first unofficial tally Tuesday night, The Frederick News-Post reported. The count gave Bickel, a Democrat, 22,516 votes and Jenkins, the Republican incumbent, 12,630. It included early voting and some mail ballots.

The two candidates know this race well. Jenkins, who has served five terms since 2006, defeated Bickel in 2014, 2018 and 2022. This time the challenger entered election night after campaigning on how the Sheriff’s Office should earn residents’ trust and explain its decisions.

Bickel previously served as the office’s chief of operations. He also worked as a detective in Washington, D.C., and as a senior policy analyst at the U.S. Department of Justice. In discussing cooperation with federal immigration officials, he told the newspaper he would honor criminal warrants signed by a judicial officer but not administrative warrants signed by an agency official.

Jenkins defended the former 287(g) arrangement that allowed jail staff to work with federal immigration authorities. He argued that it helped build relationships with immigrant residents and expressed concern about the consequences of Maryland’s ban. Those were Jenkins’ campaign assessments. Bickel said the state’s action had put the question of participating in that program to rest.

Neither the candidates’ history nor the size of Tuesday’s opening margin settled this fourth contest. The early tally captured only part of the county vote.