Photo from Dawn Keen’s Campaign (via Facebook)

PRINCE FREDERICK, Md. — On July 30, the GOP-endorsed candidate for Calvert County Board of Education in District Two, Dawn Keen, told TheBayNet.com that she is pausing her campaign.

“At this time I have taken a pause due to the unprecedented effects of COVID, and the impact on my family life,” Keen said.

This announcement follows what could be considered an arguably tumultuous few weeks for her campaign, seeing outspoken criticism over comments she had made across social media.

WARNING: Vulgar language in embedded posts.

Keen received the second-highest number of votes out of six candidates back in the June primary election, getting roughly 22.2% of the vote. The only person to outperform her was Antoine White who got 22.7% of the total vote in the district. The pair were separated by just 78 votes. This district was also the only contested Board of Education seat in the Calvert primary, with the other open-seats having two or fewer candidates running.

While White and Keen would be facing off in the November general election, it is still unclear at this time if Keen will be taking her name off of the ballot. When asked, she adamantly stated that this is just a “pause” for her campaign.

On the other hand, White provided TheBayNet.com with a brief statement after hearing the news about Keen.

“I wish Dawn the best and she and her family are in my prayers… I will continue to work hard,” White said.

In an interview with Catherine Grasso, the chair of the Calvert County Republican Central Committee that previously endorsed Keen, Grasso said she “didn’t even know what to say” about the turn that the campaign has taken over the past few weeks.

“It’s a very unfortunate situation,” Grasso said. “We have been waiting to see what [Dawn Keen] is going to do, if she is going to reevaluate her campaign or is she going to give up her campaign and pull out. So we as a committee will be talking about this [at our meeting next] Wednesday… She was a very good candidate. Very conservative philosophy, but the campaign has taken a turn.”

Although not sure how the committee will move forward, Grasso said that if Keen eventually decides to pull her campaign off the ballot, the committee would not move to pursue a write-in candidate in November.

Contact Zach at zach.hill@thebaynet.com