Maryland primary: Voters weigh in on key Senate, House races

The polls in Maryland open in Maryland at 7 a.m. Tuesday as voters are set to weigh in on a slew of important primary contests across the state.

Voters are weighing in on a slew of important primary contests across Maryland on Tuesday.

“It’s more impactful I think, when you walk up and cast your vote,” a voter in Bethesda told WTOP.

Among the races voters will decide in are a closely watched Senate primary that has divided Democrats; the likely political return of a popular Republican officeholder; and crowded House contests, including one in the state’s most competitive congressional district.

Polls are open from 7 a.m. to 8 p.m. You can look up your voting location on the Maryland State Board of Elections website.

Heading into primary day, nearly 640,000 Marylanders had requested mail-in ballots for the primary, according to data from the Maryland State Board of Elections. That’s the highest number aside from 2020, when most of the election was conducted via mail-in ballot because of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Voters head to polls

Most voters at Walter Johnson High School in Bethesda were there to vote in person, though some dropped off mail-in ballots near the front of the school.

“This is really a time when we need to focus on our democracy,” a voter said.

A couple brought along their son for the occasion, all three donned “I Voted” stickers as they exited the polling place.

“Obviously this is an important election and we want to make sure we bring our little one so he sees the importance of coming to vote and exercising his civic duty,” a father told WTOP.

What’s on the ballot?

Voters on Tuesday are selecting the Democratic and Republicans nominees for Senate who will square off in the general election in the fall.

On the Democratic side, a total of 10 candidates are vying for the seat left open by the retirement of longtime Sen. Ben Cardin.

The race dividing Democrats

The leading contenders are three-term Congressman David Trone, who represents the 6th District in the U.S. House, and Prince George’s County Executive Angela Alsobrooks.

Trone, the co-owner of Total Wine & More, has poured more than $50 million of his own money into his Senate bid.

On the campaign trail, he has pointed to his record of bipartisanship, securing federal funding for Maryland in the House and his ability to win elections in purple territory. In his 2022 run for a third term in the recently redistricted congressional district, Trone won by nearly 10 points over his GOP challenger.

He has criticized Alsobrooks for taking contributions from oil companies and other special interests.

Alsobrooks has made preserving abortion rights a key part of her campaign and has emphasized her experience as a two-term county executive securing the FBI headquarters in Greenbelt, Maryland, and other economic development projects as evidence.

Alsobrooks has been endorsed by some of the top Democratic officeholders in Maryland, including Gov. Wes Moore and heavyweight representatives Steny Hoyer and Jamie Raskin.

Alsobrooks would be the first Black woman elected to the Senate from Maryland — and only the third in the U.S. — if she were to win in the fall.

The campaign has bitterly divided Democrats — especially in Prince George’s County where a battle over endorsements has turned personal.

Throughout the campaign, polls had given Trone the edge over Alsobrooks. However, more recently, there were signs the race was tightening, with Alsobrooks taking a slim lead over Trone — although still within the margin of error — in one poll.

There are eight other Democrats on the ballot. They are: Michael W. Cobb, Sr., Marcellus Crews, Brian E. Frydenborg, Scottie J. Griffin, Robert K. Houton, Joseph Perez, Steven H. Seuferer and Andrew J. Wildman.

You can read more about the other candidates here.

Central to the bitterly contested contest between Alsobrooks and Trone is a key question: Who can beat former Gov. Larry Hogan in the fall and help make sure the U.S. Senate remains in Democratic hands?

Hogan’s return? 

Hogan, who served two terms as governor and left the governor’s mansion with sky-high popularity ratings, jolted the race when he announced he was throwing his hat in the ring as a Republican candidate for the open Senate seat.

Hogan has promised to take on “dysfunction in Washington” and partisan gridlock, talking up his bipartisan bona fides on the campaign trail. However, his reputation as one of the most vocal Republican critics of former President Donald Trump, could hurt him in a GOP primary.

Hogan faces six other Republican candidates. They are Moe H. Barakat, Chris Chaffee, Robin Ficker, Lorie R. Friend, John A. Myrick and Laban Y. Seyoum.

Maryland hasn’t elected a Republican senator since 1980.

Crowded House races

Primary contests for all eight of Maryland’s U.S. House seats are on the ballot — and a handful of them have drawn a very crowded roster of candidates.

The sprawling 6th District includes part of Montgomery County as well as all of Allegany, Frederick, Garrett and Washington counties.

The seat is currently in Democratic hands, and there are several Democrats vying to replace Trone, who’s giving up the Senate to make his Senate bid.

To many political observers, if the race has a front-runner it’s April McClain Delaney, a former U.S. Commerce Department official and the wife of former Rep. John Delaney, who held the seat for three terms.

She’s spent more than a half-million dollars on her race and received heavy-hitting endorsements from former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and former House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer.

One of her strongest rivals is Maryland State Del. Joe Vogel, 27, who’s running to be the second “Generation Z” lawmaker on Capitol Hill and has emphasized progressive priorities on the campaign trail, such as gun control and climate change.

Others candidates seeking the Democratic nomination include state Del. Lesley Lopez of Montgomery County, Hagerstown Mayor Tekesha Martinez and Montgomery County Council member Laurie-Anne Sayles.

On the Republican side, there are seven candidates contending for the nomination. Among those running are former Republican gubernatorial candidate Dan Cox, who lost to Moore in a landslide in 2022, and former state Del. Neil Parrott, who has twice run for the seat in the past.

Across the state, there are other — even more crowded — congressional primaries.

In the 3rd District, which includes Howard County, parts of Anne Arundel County and a small part of Carroll County, there are a whopping 22 Democrats running for the nomination to succeed retiring Rep. John Sarbanes.

Among those running are State Sens. Sarah Elfreth and Clarence Lam and former U.S. Capitol Police officer Harry Dunn, who defended the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021.

Presidential contest, too

At the top of the ticket, President Joe Biden and former President Donald Trump are both on the ballot. Both have already been crowned their respective parties’ presumptive nominees, so Maryland’s primaries aren’t expected to have much of an impact.

However, on the Democratic side, the ballots include an “uncommitted” option, which some Democrats around the country have used to demonstrate their displeasure with Biden’s handling of the Israel-Hamas war.

On the Republican side, Trump’s closest rival former U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley, remains on the ballot. Last week, Haley got almost 22% of the vote in Indiana’s presidential primary.

When will we know results?

Once the polls close at 8 p.m., boards of elections will begin processing those votes that came in during the early voting period and on Election Day. Those will pop up in the first rounds of results.

Maryland has seen a boom in mail-in ballots, and while the state law has changed so boards of elections don’t have to wait until after Election Day to ready those ballots for tabulation, it can still take time.

Maryland State Sen. Cheryl Kagan, who worked to pass a number of elections laws, said those mail-in ballots must go through a series of steps before they can be readied for counting.

“They have to be batched, the envelope has to be opened after it is deemed to be legal with the signature on the outer envelope,” and then the ballot can be scanned, but not counted — that will be done once the polls close.

“At no point, until the polls close, will anyone have the information as to the vote totals,” Kagan said.

If the outer envelope is not signed by the voter, the mail-in ballot has to be “cured,” and in that case, the voter is contacted so they can provide a valid signature and the ballot can then be processed.

If voters opted to send their ballots back by mail, the ballot must be postmarked by May 14. To allow those mailed ballots to arrive at elections boards, the last date for receipt of those sent by mail is 10 days after the election.

In races where insurmountable leads are established early, there could be victory speeches — or concession speeches — within hours of the polls closing. But in races that are razor thin, the wait could stretch for days and could depend on provisional ballots and those mail-in ballots that arrive just under the wire.

And finally, the vote results must be certified, which will happen after May 24, the last day for tabulating all valid ballots.

WTOP’s Kate Ryan, Mitchell Miller and The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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