Three candidates are on the ballot to fill the District 7 Anne Arundel County Council seat, which covers Crofton and the southern part of the county.

The seat is held by Republican Shannon Leadbetter, who announced in September that she would leave the position after one term.

Two Republicans and one Democrat are in the running to fill Leadbetter’s spot. Only the Republican candidates will be on the ballot for Tuesday’s primary; the Democrat will proceed directly to the general election in November.

Dillon Aldrich (Republican)

Dillon Aldrich, who will be 30 at the time of the general election, has a background in project management and construction and lives in Shady Side.

He told the Capital Gazette that he decided to run for office because he believes current council members aren’t getting it right with issues such as procurement, construction and the environment.

“I got tired of … watching people who say they know what they’re doing making poor decisions,” Aldrich said.

Aldrich has centered his campaign on three issues: concerns about utility rates, affordable housing and the environment.

Regarding utility rates, Aldrich wants to leverage the county’s power to fight against rate increases and encourage renewable energy sources. He also has concerns about the potential effects data centers could have on rates.

If elected, Aldrich said he would expedite the county’s permitting process specifically for developers looking to construct affordable housing.

Another focus for Aldrich would be the environment, specifically stream restoration and invasive plant control. He also wants to bring bug predators back to the area, specifically to control the tick population. The issue is personal, as Aldrich has alpha-gal syndrome, a tick-borne illness that causes an allergy to red meat and dairy.

Procurement reform is also on the candidate’s list of concerns. He believes the county could save millions of dollars by changing the way the county procures materials for projects.

Aldrich believes he is the best candidate due to his experience in construction and remediation.

“I’m the only one who has practical, real environmental remediation experience. I’ve actually done the work, I’ve done what most politicians only dream of, where I’ve actually restored the environment and actually built homes that people can build and live in,” Aldrich said.

Dawn Pulliam (Republican)

Anne Arundel Board of Education Vice President Dawn Pulliam is the other Republican aiming for the District 7 seat. She has spent her nearly 30-year career in academia, the private sector, and government, including at the University of Maryland and the Department of Defense.

She said she was inspired to run for office after receiving a call from Leadbetter after she announced her decision not to run for reelection.

For her, the biggest problem faced by District 7 residents, and the county at large, is affordability.

“I’m talking about the cost of living, I’m talking about every single person, whether you’re a Republican or Democrat, everyone is getting hit really hard by the state, and then we have to do the exact opposite in the county,” Pulliam said.

If elected, she said, she would focus on solving traffic issues on Route 3, and infrastructure in general, while keeping South County rural. She is also focused on bolstering small businesses in the region.

Pulliam said she should be chosen over her opponents due to her industry experience and her experience as an elected official, working with politicians on both sides of the aisle.

“I genuinely care about my colleagues. We work well together, and you can’t always say that, and I work well across the county council and in the state, and to get things done, you have to be able to work across the aisle. … I have a track record of that,” Pulliam said. “I’m a hands-on grassroots candidate, and the community has always been my passion, and because of them, we have been successful, and I believe getting on to the county council, I will continue that and expand it to the rest of our constituents.”

Spencer Jones (Democrat)

The race’s only Democrat, Crofton resident Spencer Jones is already looking past the primary and forward to the general election. Jones, a self-described moderate who will be 28 on Election Day, is the owner of Downtown Annapolis staple Chick & Ruth’s, as well as several Five Guys franchises in the region, including within his home district.

He told the Capital Gazette that his family was always involved in politics, but being a business owner opened his eyes to the ways that businesses are affected by government policy.

“As a business owner, every few months I go through our budgets line by line to … try to find savings where we can, and that’s the kind of thing where every time I do that, I always find something where it’s like, ‘Hey, this made sense last year, maybe it doesn’t make sense as much this year,'” Jones said. “And at the county level, I think we need to do the same thing.”

If elected, he said, he would focus on affordability and education funding. He wants to improve pay for teachers, but also for potentially overlooked positions such as teachers’ assistants.

He said that he thinks he should be chosen over other candidates due to his business ownership experience.

“There are 100 people that are reliant on me to not screw up in order to keep their jobs,” Jones said. “There’s an obligation and a responsibility that comes with that, that I think fits well for public trust, with a bigger budget, but similar kind of issues.”