Donna Edwards
In the seven weeks since Sen. Barbara Mikulski (D-Md.) announced her retirement, a wave of political frenzy has unfolded, with several state politicians announcing their intentions to run for Congress.
Two Democratic House members, Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.) and Donna Edwards (D-Md.), will vacate their congressional seats to vie for the rare open Senate seat. In response, seven hopefuls have announced their candidacies for the newly open congressional seats.
With more than 11 months until the primary election, candidates are focusing on earning high-profile endorsements and building a strong donor base, said government and politics professor Stella Rouse, Center for American Politics and Citizenship assistant director at this university.
“What they are trying to do is shore up donors quietly, going around and also taking a feel of where they are in the race relative to other candidates to see how much they’re going to put forward,” Rouse said.
Van Hollen earned endorsements from Democrats including Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.), former Labor Secretary Robert Reich and the county executives from Prince George’s, Montgomery and Frederick counties.
Seven members of the Prince George’s County Council endorsed Edwards on April 15, including Dannielle Glaros, who represents College Park.
Edwards has raised more than $335,000 as of the March 31 filing date, according to the Federal Election Commission website. Van Hollen’s numbers haven’t been reported on the FEC website, but The Baltimore Sun reports he has raised $1.2 million.
“I think Edwards will try to position herself to Van Hollen’s left,” said Ben Kramer, president of this university’s College Democrats chapter. “While Van Hollen may be more of the establishment part of Democratic Party, he still holds a lot of positions that people on the left of the Democratic Party support.”
Van Hollen and Edwards running for Senate seats means two congressional seats are also up for grabs, the 8th District in Montgomery County and the 4th District, which snakes through Prince George’s and Anne Arundel counties.
Five Democratic hopefuls announced bids for the 4th District seat, including former Lt. Gov. Anthony Brown, former state’s attorney Glenn Ivey, former Prince George’s County Councilwoman Ingrid Turner and Dels. Dereck Davis and Joseline Peña-Melnyk, who lives in College Park and was previously on the City Council.
Two Democratic candidates have declared their candidacy for Van Hollen’s Montgomery County seat, state Sen. Jamie Raskin and Del. Kumar Barve.
No Republican candidates have officially declared a run for Mikulski’s seat, but a few candidates have approached the state party, said GOP spokesman Ross Turlington, who declined to name them. Rouse said rumors have mentioned former Gov. Bob Ehrlich, former Secret Service member Dan Bongino, who narrowly lost a 2014 congressional race, Rep. Andy Harris and former Lt. Gov. Michael Steele as possible Senate candidates.
Turlington said he is confident the party can continue its momentum from Gov. Larry Hogan’s victory in November.
“Maryland, especially this last election cycle, spoke that they were unhappy with the current administration and the direction the state had been going,” Turlington said. “We feel there is a great shot for us to compete in every election coming up in 2016.”
While the race is still in the beginning stages, the candidates from Montgomery and Prince George’s counties represent a power shift taking place within the state from Baltimore, home of Mikulski and Sen. Ben Cardin (D-Maryland), to the Washington suburbs, Rouse said.
“That power shift matters, Baltimore City is really no longer the central power of politics in Maryland,” Rouse said. “I don’t know if that shift is permanent, but it is certainly taking place.”
