Seven Maryland Republicans are running to replace retiring U.S. Sen. Ben Cardin (D-Md.).

Maryland voters will elect a Republican nominee for the U.S. Senate on May 14.

Here is a look at the Republican candidates for the seat. Candidates are listed alphabetically by last name.

Read more about the Democratic candidates here.

Moe Barakat

Moe Barakat, a Montgomery County resident, told The Diamondback his priorities as a senator would be to reform the country’s border security, reduce inflation and protect freedom of speech.

Barakat, a first-generation American, said illegal immigration affects the nation’s ability to process legal immigration.

He is committed to “addressing the challenges of unlawful immigration” while “recognizing the value of legal migration,” according to his website.

Barakat runs a trade association that promotes American business abroad, he said.

Chris Chaffee

Chris Chaffee — a farmer from southern Maryland and a lifelong state resident — plans to focus on reducing inflation, providing support for veterans and closing the United States border if elected, according to his campaign website.

Chaffee’s website emphasizes the importance of freedom and criticizes the closures that occurred due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

“We must get the government out of the way,” his website said.

Chaffee did not respond to an interview request from The Diamondback.

Robin Ficker

Robin Ficker, a former member of the Maryland House of Delegates from 1979 to 1983, said he is running to secure the country’s border and stand with former President Donald Trump.

“Trump needs a buddy in the U.S. Senate,” Ficker told The Diamondback.

[Maryland legislators pass bill to aid recovery in Baltimore after bridge collapse]

He is currently in second place in the Republican primary behind former Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan, according to an Emerson College poll conducted from May 6 to 8.

Ficker, who lives in Boyds, said that a lack of security at the U.S.-Mexico border allows fentanyl into the United States which leads to American deaths.

His other priorities include securing funding for transportation infrastructure in the state and for the University of Maryland, Ficker told The Diamondback.

This is Ficker’s 22nd political campaign, Maryland Matters reported. In 2022, while running as a Republican candidate for governor, Ficker was disbarred as a defense attorney due to “a long history of complaints of professional misconduct,” The Washington Post reported.

Lorie Friend

Lorie Friend, a registered nurse from Garrett County, said she is running to address the “continual humanitarian crises” at the U.S. borders, inflation and crime.

She told The Diamondback that she previously ran for U.S. Senate in 2022 because people’s “medical freedoms [were] being violated through the [COVID-19 vaccine] mandate.”

Friend had to put up a fight to not lose her job after refusing to be vaccinated, she said.

One of her first priorities as a senator would be to get the country to close its borders, Friend said.

Larry Hogan

Former Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan entered the race to fill Cardin’s seat on the day of the filing deadline. He is leading in polling for the nomination, according to an Emerson College poll conducted in May.

In a video announcing his candidacy in February, Hogan said he is running “to fix our nation’s broken politics and fight for Maryland.”

While he was governor from 2015 to 2023, Hogan maintained a more than 70 percent approval rating for most of his term, according to data from a Gonzales Poll.

Hogan, who lives in Davidsonville, said on his website that he decided to run after he saw the U.S. Senate’s bipartisan border security bill fail earlier this year.

[Here’s a look at the bills Maryland legislators passed this session]

“This crisis ultimately requires federal action,” Hogan’s campaign website reads. “The solutions are not complicated: Fix the asylum process, send more resources to law enforcement on the border with more Customs and Border Protection agents, increase the number of immigration judges, and dismantle the criminal cartel networks.”

Hogan’s campaign did not respond to multiple requests for an interview from The Diamondback.

John Myrick

John Myrick is a former Harford County deputy sheriff and veteran who has worked with several U.S. intelligence agencies.

He told The Diamondback his first action as a senator would be to shut down illegal border crossings. He wants to see the nation’s immigration laws rewritten, he said.

He urged Marylanders to consider not electing career politicians like some of his opponents.

“Marylanders, like most of the people in the country, we get comfortable with the people in power,” Myrick said. “And we keep electing career politicians over and over and over again. And I always ask them, ‘How’s that working out for you?’”

Laban Seyoum

Laban Seyoum lives in Prince George’s County and is a small business owner, according to MoCo360.

Seyoum did not have any contact information listed online.