From Surf Wiki (app.surf) — the open knowledge base

2016 United States Senate election in Maryland

The 2016 United States Senate election in Maryland took place on November 8, 2016, to elect a member of the United States Senate to represent the State of Maryland, concurrently with the 2016 U.S. presidential election, as well as other elections to the United States Senate in other states and elections to the United States House of Representatives and various state and local elections.

Incumbent Democratic Senator Barbara Mikulski decided to retire after five terms in the Senate. Primary elections were held April 26, 2016, in which Chris Van Hollen and Kathy Szeliga were chosen as the Democratic and Republican party nominees, respectively. In addition, the Green Party chose Margaret Flowers and the Libertarian Party chose Arvin Vohra as their respective nominees.

Van Hollen was heavily favored to win the election. He ultimately won with over 60% of the vote. As typically occurs with the state's elections, most support for the Democratic nominee, Van Hollen, came from the densely populated Baltimore–Washington metropolitan area in central Maryland, while the Republican nominee, Szeliga, did well in the more sparsely populated areas on the Eastern Shore and in Western Maryland, and narrowly won Anne Arundel County, home to the state capital Annapolis, as well as exurban Frederick County.

Mikulski first ran for the U.S. Senate in 1974, losing to Republican incumbent Charles Mathias. Mikulski then served in the U.S. House of Representatives from 1977 to 1987 and was elected to the U.S. Senate in 1986, succeeding the retiring Mathias. She was re-elected by large margins in 1992, 1998, 2004 and 2010. Shortly after being sworn in for her fifth term in 2011, she succeeded Margaret Chase Smith as the longest-serving female senator in U.S. history, and on March 17, 2012, she became the longest-serving female member of Congress in U.S. history, surpassing Congresswoman Edith Nourse Rogers of Massachusetts, who served from 1925 to 1960. On March 2, 2015, Mikulski announced that she would not run for re-election to a sixth term in office.

In August 2013, Abby Livingston of Roll Call had predicted that a potential retirement by Mikulski would create "chaos" and "blow open Maryland's political bottleneck" because "the state's teeming political Democratic Party talent is backed up in lower offices." Among the ten Democrats who ran in the primary, only two had previously been elected to an office.

Freddy Donald Dickson Jr.
Donna Edwards, U.S. Representative
Ralph Jaffe, perennial candidate
Theresa Scaldaferri
Charles U. Smith, perennial candidate
Violet Staley
Blaine Taylor
Ed Tinus, perennial candidate
Chris Van Hollen, U.S. Representative
Lih Young, perennial candidate
Rushern Baker, Prince George's County Executive (endorsed Chris Van Hollen)
Anthony Brown, former Lieutenant Governor of Maryland and nominee for Governor of Maryland in 2014 (ran for MD-04)
Susan L. Burke, attorney
Elijah Cummings, U.S. Representative (ran for re-election)
John Delaney, U.S. Representative (ran for re-election)
Peter Franchot, Comptroller of Maryland
Doug Gansler, former Attorney General of Maryland and candidate for Governor of Maryland in 2014
Steny Hoyer, U.S. Representative and House Minority Whip (ran for re-election)
Benjamin Jealous, former president and CEO of the NAACP
Kevin Kamenetz, Baltimore County Executive
Kathleen Kennedy Townsend, former lieutenant governor of Maryland, nominee for governor in 2002 and nominee for Maryland's 2nd congressional district in 1986
Frank Kratovil, former U.S. Representative
Kweisi Mfume, former U.S. Representative, former president and CEO of the NAACP and candidate for the U.S. Senate in 2006
Barbara Mikulski, incumbent senator
Heather Mizeur, former state delegate and candidate for governor in 2014
Martin O'Malley, former governor of Maryland (ran for President)
Thomas Perez, United States Secretary of Labor and former secretary of the Maryland Department of Labor, Licensing and Regulation
Jamie Raskin, state senator (ran for MD-08)
Stephanie Rawlings-Blake, Mayor of Baltimore
Dutch Ruppersberger, U.S. Representative (ran for re-election)
John Sarbanes, U.S. Representative and son of former U.S. Senator Paul Sarbanes (ran for re-election)
Kenneth Ulman, former Howard County Executive and nominee for lieutenant governor in 2014

Dates	Location	Van Hollen	Edwards	Link
March 25, 2016	Baltimore, Maryland	Participant	Participant

Poll source	Date(s)administered	Samplesize	Margin oferror	DonnaEdwards	ChrisVan Hollen	Other	Undecided
Monmouth University	April 18–20, 2016	300	± 5.7%	36%	52%	1%	11%
Public Policy Polling	April 15–17, 2016	492	± 4.4%	33%	42%	—	25%
Marist College	April 5–9, 2016	775	± 3.5%	38%	44%	—	18%
Washington Post/University of Maryland	March 30 – April 3, 2016	539	± 4.5%	44%	40%	—	16%
Garin-Hart-Yang Research	March 28–30, 2016	604	± 4.9%	40%	45%	—	15%
University of Baltimore	March 4–9, 2016	400	± 4.9%	34%	28%	—	31%
Gonzales Research	February 29 – March 4, 2016	411	± 5.0%	41%	42%	—	17%
Goucher College	February 13–18, 2016	307	± 5.6%	39%	37%	—	24%
Gonzales Research	January 11–16, 2016	402	± 5%	36%	38%	—	24%
University of Baltimore	November 13–17, 2015	419	± 4.8%	19%	28%	40%	13%
31%	45%	—	24%
Washington Post/University of Maryland	October 8–11, 2015	1,006	± 3.5%	20%	20%	33%	27%
Global Strategy Group (D-Edwards)	August 3–9, 2015	600	± 4%	42%	37%	—	21%
Mellman Group (D-Cummings)	March 19–22, 2015	700	± 3.7%	23%	22%	29%	27%

Party	Candidate	Votes	%
	Democratic	470,320	53.2%
	Democratic	343,620	38.9%
	Democratic	14,856	1.7%
	Democratic	13,178	1.5%
	Democratic	10,244	1.2%
	Democratic	8,561	1.0%
	Democratic	7,912	0.9%
	Democratic	7,161	0.8%
	Democratic	5,932	0.7%
	Democratic	2,560	0.3%
884,344	100.0%

Chris Chaffee, candidate for MD-05 in 2010 and nominee for MD-05 in 2014
Sean P. Connor
Richard Douglas, attorney, former Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense and candidate for the U.S. Senate in 2012
John Graziani, candidate for MD-04 in 2014
Greg Holmes, candidate for MD-04 in 2012 and 2014 and Democratic state senate candidate in 2006
Joseph Hooe, small business owner
Chrys Kefalas, vice president of executive communications for the National Association of Manufacturers and deputy legal counsel under Governor Bob Ehrlich
Mark McNicholas
Lynn Richardson
Anthony Seda
Richard Shawver, candidate for U.S. Senate in 2006
Kathy Szeliga, state delegate and House Minority Whip
Dave Wallace, businessman and nominee for MD-08 in 2014
Garry Thomas Yarrington
Dan Bongino, former United States Secret Service agent, nominee for the U.S. Senate in 2012 and nominee for Maryland's 6th congressional district in 2014 (moved to Florida)
Ben Carson, author and retired director of pediatric neurosurgery at Johns Hopkins Hospital (running for President)
Kendel Ehrlich, former First Lady of Maryland
Robert Ehrlich, former governor of Maryland
Barry Glassman, Harford County Executive
Jeannie Haddaway-Riccio, former state delegate and candidate for lieutenant governor in 2014
Andy Harris, U.S. Representative (running for re-election)
Larry Hogan, Governor of Maryland
Mary Kane, former Secretary of State of Maryland and nominee for lieutenant governor in 2010
Allan Kittleman, Howard County Executive
Connie Morella, former U.S. Representative and former United States Ambassador to the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development
Laura Neuman, former Anne Arundel County Executive
Boyd Rutherford, Lieutenant Governor of Maryland
Steve Schuh, Anne Arundel County Executive
Michael Steele, former lieutenant governor of Maryland, former chairman of the Republican National Committee and nominee for the U.S. Senate in 2006

Poll source	Date(s)administered	Samplesize	Margin oferror	KathySzeliga	RichardDouglas	BarryGlassman	ChrysKefalas	AnthonySeda	Undecided
Marist College	April 5–9, 2016	368	± 5.1%	20%	13%	–	9%	–	57%
Washington Post/University of Maryland	March 30 – April 3, 2016	283	± 7.5%	15%	9%	–	11%	–	46%
University of Baltimore	March 4–8, 2016	400	± 4.9%	6%	1%	–	2%	<1%	79%
University of Baltimore	November 13–17, 2015	307	± 5.6%	15%	9%	8%	5%	4%	59%

Primary results by county Szeliga 20–30% 30–40% 40–50% 50–60% Chaffee 20–30% 30–40% 40–50% 50–60%

Party	Candidate	Votes	%
	Republican	135,337	35.6%
	Republican	52,066	13.7%
	Republican	36,340	9.6%
	Republican	29,007	7.6%
	Republican	23,226	6.1%
	Republican	21,727	5.7%
	Republican	20,792	5.5%
	Republican	16,722	4.4%
	Republican	16,148	4.3%
	Republican	9,988	2.6%
	Republican	8,282	2.2%
	Republican	3,873	1.0%
	Republican	3,155	0.8%
	Republican	2,988	0.8%
379,651	100.0%

Szeliga won the April 26, 2016, primary in Baltimore City and each of Maryland's counties except Calvert, St. Mary's, Charles, and Prince George's, in which Chris Chaffee received more votes.

Margaret Flowers, former pediatrician, healthcare activist and radio host

Party	Candidate	Votes	%
	Green	125	98.0%
	Green	3	2.0%
128	100.0%

Greg Dorsey
Steve Gladstone
Edward Shlikas
Kay Young
Arvin Vohra, nominee for MD-05 in 2012 and for MD-04 in 2014
Margaret Flowers (G), former pediatrician, healthcare activist and radio host
Kathy Szeliga (R), state delegate and House Minority Whip
Chris Van Hollen (D), U.S. Representative
Arvin Vohra (L), nominee for MD-05 in 2012 and for MD-04 in 2014

Dates	Location	Van Hollen	Szeliga	Link
October 26, 2016	Baltimore, Maryland	Participant	Participant

Source	Ranking	As of
The Cook Political Report	Safe D	November 2, 2016
Sabato's Crystal Ball	Safe D	November 7, 2016
Rothenberg Political Report	Safe D	November 3, 2016
Daily Kos	Safe D	November 8, 2016
Real Clear Politics	Safe D	November 7, 2016

Poll source	Date(s)administered	Samplesize	Margin oferror	ChrisVan Hollen (D)	KathySzeliga (R)	Other	Undecided
SurveyMonkey	November 1–7, 2016	1,216	± 4.6%	64%	33%	—	3%
SurveyMonkey	October 31 – November 6, 2016	1,056	± 4.6%	64%	33%	—	3%
SurveyMonkey	October 28 – November 3, 2016	851	± 4.6%	66%	32%	—	2%
SurveyMonkey	October 27 – November 2, 2016	772	± 4.6%	67%	31%	—	2%
SurveyMonkey	October 26 – November 1, 2016	695	± 4.6%	66%	31%	—	3%
SurveyMonkey	October 25–31, 2016	740	± 4.6%	66%	31%	—	3%
University of Maryland/Washington Post	September 27–30, 2016	706	± 4.0%	58%	29%	5%	6%
Goucher College	September 17–20, 2016	514	± 4.3%	54%	24%	2%	19%
OpinionWorks	August 18–30, 2016	754	± 3.6%	55%	26%	1%	19%
Public Policy Polling	April 15–17, 2016	879	± 3.3%	53%	25%	—	22%

Party	Candidate	Votes	%	.mw-parser-output .tooltip-dotted{border-bottom:1px dotted;cursor:help}±%
	Democratic	1,659,907	60.89%	−1.30%
	Republican	972,557	35.67%	−0.08%
	Green	89,970	3.30%	+2.17%
	Write-in	3,736	0.14%	+0.03%
2,726,170	100.00%	N/A

Counties that flipped from Democratic to Republican

Dorchester (largest municipality: Cambridge)
Somerset (largest municipality: Princess Anne)
Wicomico (largest municipality: Salisbury)
Anne Arundel (largest municipality: Glen Burnie)
Kent (largest municipality: Chestertown)
Talbot (largest municipality: Easton)

Van Hollen seven of eight congressional districts.

District	Van Hollen	Szeliga
35%	62%	Andy Harris
61%	36%	Dutch Ruppersberger
62%	35%	John Sarbanes
76%	21%	Donna Edwards
Anthony Brown
64%	33%	Steny Hoyer
57%	39%	John Delaney
72%	24%	Elijah Cummings
64%	33%	Chris Van Hollen
Jamie Raskin

2016 United States Senate elections
2016 United States elections

Official campaign websites (archived)

Chris Van Hollen (D) for Senate
Kathy Szeliga (R) for Senate
Margaret Flowers (G) for Senate
Arvin Vohra (L) for Senate

Want to explore this topic further?

Ask Mako anything about 2016 United States Senate election in Maryland — get instant answers, deeper analysis, and related topics.

Research with Mako

Free with your Surf account

Content sourced from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.

This content may have been generated or modified by AI. CloudSurf Software LLC is not responsible for the accuracy, completeness, or reliability of AI-generated content. Always verify important information from primary sources.

Report