Anne Arundel County Council member and county executive candidate Pete Smith on Monday put a brief and unsettling video in front of voters, saying it shows one of his campaign volunteers getting hit with racial slurs and threatening language while knocking on doors.
The clip is rough and hard to watch. The audio, which Smith says was captured during canvassing, includes repeated use of a racial slur. The camera shakes, the speakers are not clearly visible, and Smith has not said where the exchange happened.
Smith pushes the video out on Facebook
Smith posted the recording on his Facebook page and, as Eye On Annapolis reported, the audio "includes repeated uses of a racial slur and language that Smith characterized as threatening." Smith appears briefly before and after the clip, telling viewers, "This isn’t theoretical. It’s real life, and it’s impacting our neighbors." His post offers no location, names, or other identifying details about the encounter.
Who Smith represents and what he is running for
Pete Smith currently serves as the District 1 representative on the Anne Arundel County Council, according to Anne Arundel County. He is also listed on the Maryland State Board of Elections filing roster as an active Democratic candidate for county executive. District 1 includes communities such as Severn, Glen Burnie, and parts of the BWI corridor.
Recent racial tensions in the area
The video surfaces against a backdrop of other racially charged episodes in and around Annapolis. In 2023, police investigated graffiti near an Annapolis playground that included both racial and homophobic slurs, WBAL reported. At the time, officials urged residents to review surveillance footage and share tips with investigators. That recent history helps explain why a sitting councilmember might choose to publicly amplify what he says happened to a campaign volunteer.
How Smith is framing the incident and what comes next
After posting the clip, Smith described the encounter as evidence of what he called "a growing racial divide" and said the behavior "should not be happening here," according to Eye On Annapolis. His post does not say whether his campaign or law enforcement has filed a formal complaint. It is not yet clear whether the video will trigger any official response beyond the attention it has already drawn online.
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