VAN HOLLEN WINS SENATE SEAT: Rep. Chris Van Hollen won Maryland’s open Senate seat Tuesday, capping a nearly two-year campaign in which the seven-term Democratic lawmaker argued that his ability to navigate a polarized Congress would enable him to carry on the legacy of his popular predecessor.
- For the first time in decades, Maryland will be without a woman in the state’s congressional delegation, reports Brian Witte of the AP.
BROWN WINS HOUSE SEAT: Democratic former Lt. Gov. Anthony G. Brown on Tuesday won a seat in the House of Representatives from the state’s 4th Congressional District — and a measure of political redemption after his upset loss to Republican Larry Hogan in the 2014 gubernatorial election, John Fritze reports in the Sun.
SEN. RASKIN WINS HOUSE SEAT: Democrat Jamie Raskin, an outspokenly liberal member of the Maryland Senate for the past decade, Tuesday was overwhelmingly elected as the next member of Congress from the 8th District, reports Louis Peck in Bethesda Beat.
- Peck also reports that with state Sen. Jamie Raskin all but certain to be elected to represent Maryland’s 8th District in Congress, Montgomery County Democrats have wasted little time in setting up a process to fill Raskin’s seat in Annapolis before the 2017 session of the Maryland General Assembly convenes in January.
- Raskin will take over the 8th District congressional seat formerly held by Democrat Chris Van Hollen, who won his race to replace Barbara Mikulski in the U.S. Senate on Tuesday. Raskin, a Democrat from Takoma Park, defeated Republican challenger Dan Cox, of Emmitsburg, Ryan Marshall and Brandi Bottalico report in the Frederick News Post.
SIX HOUSE INCUMBENTS WIN: Six Maryland incumbents in the House of Representatives — five Democrats and a Republican — coasted to re-election on Tuesday. Democratic Reps. Elijah E. Cummings of Baltimore, Dutch Ruppersberger of Baltimore County, John Sarbanes of Baltimore County, John Delaney of Montgomery County and Steny Hoyer of Southern Maryland and Republican Rep. Andy Harris of Baltimore County all won reelection, Matthew Hay Brown writes in the Sun.
REP. DELANEY RE-ELECTED:Democratic Rep. John Delaney struck a bipartisan tone Tuesday evening as he thanked volunteers, supporters and family for helping him win a third term in Maryland’s 6th Congressional District, Glynis Kazanjian writes in MarylandReporter.com. Delaney handily defeated Republican candidate Amie Hoeber 55% to 41%. Delaney spent $1.4 million on the race, and Hoeber spent close to $1 million, plus independent spending by a super PAC funded by her husband.
- Democratic Rep. John Delaney won re-election Tuesday to a third term, turning back a well-funded challenge by Republican Amie Hoeber in what was widely regarded as Maryland’s only competitive congressional race in this fall’s general election, Louis Peck writes for Bethesda Beat.
- Delaney received 55.3%, or 167,229 votes, according to the Maryland State Board of Elections. Hoeber received 40.9%, or 123,611 votes, Danielle Gaines and Nancy Lavin of the Frederick News Post report.
LOSING & CELEBRATING: Len Lazarick of MarylandReporter.com reports that while Maryland Republicans were losing the U.S. Senate race by a wide margin and losing hard fought races for Congress, on Tuesday night in a ballroom at the BWI Marriott, they were celebrating and looking ahead to the 2018 election with glee.
DAY IN PHOTOS: Here’s a Sun photo gallery of Election Day happenings around Maryland.
BALLOT QUESTIONS AROUND STATE: Voters rebuffed the political establishment by adopting term limits in Montgomery County. And in Prince George’s County, voters endorsed a measure favored by most of their elected leaders in adding two at-large seats to the County Council. That expands the body from nine members to 11, Robert McCartney reports for the Post.
- As Marylanders cast ballots Tuesday for national and statewide races, Baltimore-area voters also faced ballot questions in their home jurisdictions on issues related to campaign finance, term limits and zoning provisions for outlet malls, reports Pamela Wood in the Sun. In Howard County, voters approved a proposal to establish a public funding system for candidates running for County Council and county executive. The issue had been hotly debated in weeks leading up to Tuesday’s vote.
- In a slim margin, Howard County voters Tuesday approved a measure to allow candidates running in local races to use public funds for their campaigns, reports Fatimah Waseem for the Columbia Flier.
- Nearly three-fourths of Maryland voters supported a proposed amendment to the Maryland Constitution that changes how vacancies for attorney general or comptroller are filled. With most precincts reporting statewide, Question 1 on the ballot was supported by 72.5 percent of Maryland voters, according to the Easton Star Democrat.
SEN. PUGH ELECTED CITY MAYOR: State Sen. Catherine E. Pugh was elected Baltimore’s mayor by an overwhelming margin Tuesday. The Democrat will lead a city that is enjoying a development boom in some areas but suffering from a shocking level of violence and persistent poverty in others. Pugh beat back a spirited write-in challenge from Sheila Dixon, the former mayor who finished a close second in April’s Democratic primary. In a city where most voters are Democrats, Pugh easily outdistanced Green Party candidate Joshua Harris and Republican Alan Walden, reports Luke Broadwater in the Sun.
- “Everybody knows you don’t get to these positions by yourself,” Pugh said during a victory speech Tuesday night, flanked by U.S. Rep. Elijah Cummings, City Councilman Bernard C. “Jack” Young and Baltimore County Executive Kevin Kamenetz. Melody Simmons writes the story for the Baltimore Business Journal.
- A political veteran who previously ran for mayor twice (losing to Sheila Dixon in 2007 and to Stephanie Rawlings-Blake in 2011), Pugh declared victory tonight in the mayor’s race with a preliminary finish of about 58% of the vote, Fern Shen and Mark Reutter of Baltimore Brew report.
BRAND NEW CITY COUNCIL MEMBERS: When the new Baltimore City Council convenes Dec. 8, more than half its members will take seats in the chamber for the first time. The newcomers are pledging to push a more liberal agenda than their predecessors, including increasing the city’s minimum wage to $15 an hour.
CECIL EXEC SPOT GOES TO REPUBLICAN: Republican Cecil County Council Vice President Alan McCarthy convincingly won the race for county executive against his Democratic opponent Port Deposit Mayor Wayne Tome on Tuesday night, Cheryl Mattix of the Cecil Whig reports.
TIGHT HAGERSTOWN MAYORAL RACE: With all 15 city precincts reporting Tuesday night, Robert E. Bruchey was leading the Hagerstown mayor’s race with 6,216 votes compared with 6,125 votes for incumbent Mayor David S. Gysberts. With only 91 votes separating the two, the race was too close to call since there were at least 638 absentee city ballots as of earlier in the evening, the Hagerstown Herald Mail is reporting.
WHO TURNED OUT & WHY: Kevin Rector of the Sun writes that in the Montgomery County suburb of Silver Spring, a cultural melting pot outside Washington, home to one of the largest immigrant communities in Maryland, young first-generation Americans arrived with their immigrant parents to vote together alongside older, whiter residents. Some said they preferred Hillary Clinton. Others, Donald Trump.
- From the 81-year-old Peruvian woman who pumped her fist as she exited an Arlington, Va., polling station to the Dominican grandmother in Hyattsville, Md., who said she was “desperate” to protect her fellow immigrants, Latino Americans voting in this election said they were casting ballots for something larger than themselves, Michael E. Miller, Antonio Olivo and Arelis R. Hernández report for the Post.
POLLS AT JAIL REJECTED: The highest court in Maryland considered — but ultimately rejected — a last-minute request on Monday for state elections officials to provide incarcerated pre-trial and non-felon inmates in Maryland better access to the ballot box during Tuesday’s national and local elections, in part by installing polling stations within correctional facilities, writes Kevin Rector for the Sun.
VOTING ODDS & ENDS: For months, Gov. Larry Hogan (R) said he didn’t like Donald Trump. Then, this summer, the popular first-term governor said he wouldn’t vote for the Republican presidential nominee or for Hillary Clinton. He thought neither deserved to be president. So, who got his vote? Ovetta Wiggins of the Post finds out.
- Baltimore City’s top prosecutor posted on social media — then deleted — a ballot-box photo Tuesday. Taking pictures and video is banned in Maryland polling places. The picture comes amid a flurry of media attention on voters taking selfies. State’s Attorney Marilyn Mosby posted to Twitter an image from what appeared to be the inside of a voting booth, showing one of her daughters looking over a blank ballot and holding a pen in her right hand, Justin Fenton reports for the Sun.
- Despite the fact that most African Americans in Baltimore City are Democrat, there are definitely Republican African Americans. Taylor Haire of WYPR-FM speaks with them.
- When the local Democratic watch party first started at Cafe 611 in downtown Frederick on election night, every table in the restaurant was filled. By 10:30 p.m., writes Kate Masters for the Frederick News Post, it was half empty, as incredulous Democrats watched more and more states fall to Donald Trump, the Republican presidential nominee. “I feel mildly nauseous,” said 23-year-old Melissa Wright, who volunteered for Hillary Clinton’s campaign in Maryland.
- Baltimore County Republicans gathered to watch the returns last night in Essex, a GOP stronghold where the party faithful became more convinced the election was in the bag for Donald Trump, reports John Lee for WYPR-FM.
Recent Comments