The 2018 United States Senate election in Maryland took place on November 6, 2018, in order to elect a member of the United States Senate to represent the State of Maryland. It was held concurrently with other elections to the United States Senate, elections to the United States House of Representatives, and various state and local elections. Incumbent Democratic U.S. Senator Ben Cardin was re-elected to a third and ultimately final term by a landslide margin of almost 35 points, the largest margin in any election for this seat since Maryland began holding direct elections for Senate in 1913.

The primary election for the Senate race was held on June 26, 2018. The incumbent, Ben Cardin, won the Democratic Party primary. In the general election, Cardin was reelected to a third term. Tony Campbell, a professor of political science at Towson University and former Army chaplain, won the Republican Party primary. If elected, Campbell would have become Maryland's first African American U.S. Senator. Businessman Neal Simon ran as an independent, and Arvin Vohra was the Libertarian Party nominee in the general election. There were also several official write-in candidates. With Republican governor Larry Hogan winning re-election in the same year, this was the first election since 1974 in which Maryland simultaneously voted for a gubernatorial nominee and a U.S. Senate nominee of opposite parties.

Democratic primary Candidates

Declared Ben Cardin, incumbent U.S. senator Erik Jetmir Chelsea Manning, whistleblower, convicted of Espionage Act crimes, former U.S. Army soldier Marcia H. Morgan, of Montgomery County Jerome Segal, political activist and philosopher Richard "Rikki" Vaughn, of Baltimore Debbie "Rica" Wilson, candidate for MD-05 in 2016, of White Plains Lih Young, perennial candidate, of Montgomery County

Declined Elijah Cummings, U.S. representative John Delaney, U.S. representative (running for president in 2020) Donna Edwards, former U.S. representative and candidate for the U.S. Senate in 2016 (running for Prince George's county executive) Heather Mizeur, former state delegate John Sarbanes, U.S. representative

Endorsements

Polling Poll source Date(s)administered Samplesize Marginof error BenCardin ChelseaManning Other UndecidedGoucher CollegeGoucher College February 12–18, 2018 409 ± 4.8% 61% 17% 3% 19%

Results

Republican primary Candidates Declared Tony Campbell, of Baltimore County, political science faculty member at Towson University Chris Chaffee, candidate for the U.S. Senate in 2016 Evan M. Cronhardt, of Anne Arundel County Nnabu Eze, of Baltimore County, Green nominee for MD-03 in 2016 John Graziani, candidate for the U.S. Senate in 2016 and candidate for MD-04 in 2014 Christina J. Grigorian, attorney Albert Howard Bill Krehnbrink, perennial candidate Gerald I. Smith, Jr., conspiracy theorist, of Cecil County Blaine Taylor, perennial candidate, of Baltimore County Brian Charles Vaeth, perennial candidate

Withdrew Sam Faddis, former CIA officer and candidate for MD-05 in 2016

Declined Larry Hogan, governor of Maryland since 2015 (running for reelection)

Endorsements

Results

Libertarian Party Candidates Declared Arvin Vohra, vice chair of the Libertarian National Committee and perennial candidate, of Montgomery County

Independents Candidates Declared Michael B Puskar, property manager Edward Shlikas, home care compliance manager Neal Simon, businessman

General election Candidates Tony Campbell, professor at Towson University (R) Ben Cardin, incumbent (D) Michael B Puskar, property manager (I) Neal Simon, businessman (I) Arvin Vohra, vice chair of the Libertarian National Committee (L)

Endorsements

Debates On October 7, 2018, Cardin, independent candidate Neal Simon and Republican candidate Tony Campbell participated in the sole televised debate of the campaign.

Predictions SourceRankingAs ofThe Cook Political Report October 26, 2018Inside Elections November 1, 2018Sabato's Crystal Ball November 5, 2018Fox News July 9, 2018CNN July 12, 2018RealClearPolitics June 2018

Polling Poll source Date(s)administered Samplesize Marginof error BenCardin (D) TonyCampbell (R) NealSimon (I) Other UndecidedGonzales Research (I-Simon)Gonzales Research (I-Simon) October 1–6, 2018 806 ± 3.5% 49% 22% 18% – 11%Goucher CollegeGoucher College September 11–16, 2018 472 ± 4.5% 56% 17% 8% 1%Arvin Vohra (L) with 1% 14%

Results

By county +CountyBen Cardin DemocraticTony Campbell RepublicanNeal Simon IndependentArvin Vohra LibertarianWrite-ins IndependentMarginTotal votes

cast#%#%#%#%#%#% Allegany 8597 36.82% 13790 59.06% 746 3.19% 196 0.84% 20 0.09% -5193 -22.24%23349 Anne Arundel 122910 53.74% 92401 40.40% 10528 4.60% 2674 1.17% 190 0.08% 3050913.34%228703 Baltimore (City) 160370 86.95% 16184 8.77% 5596 3.03% 1917 1.04% 375 0.20% 14418678.17%184442 Baltimore (County) 197530 60.85% 106275 32.74% 17192 5.30% 3313 1.02% 290 0.09% 9125528.11%324600 Calvert 17372 44.51% 19901 50.99% 1273 3.26% 458 1.17% 27 0.07% -2529 -6.48%39031 Caroline 4265 37.73% 6474 57.27% 451 3.99% 105 0.93% 9 0.08% -2209 -19.54%11304 Carroll 25986 34.89% 42479 57.03% 5020 6.74% 966 1.30% 38 0.05% -16493 -22.14%74489 Cecil 13237 38.05% 19851 57.06% 1267 3.64% 412 1.18% 24 0.07% -6614 -19.01%34791 Charles 44874 69.54% 17872 27.69% 1284 1.99% 462 0.72% 41 0.06% 2700241.84%64533 Dorchester 5928 48.23% 5864 47.71% 397 3.23% 95 0.77% 8 0.07% 640.52%12292 Frederick 55256 51.67% 47038 43.99% 3242 3.03% 1292 1.21% 105 0.10% 82187.69%106933 Garrett 2817 25.75% 7801 71.31% 216 1.97% 98 0.90% 7 0.06% -4984 -45.56%10939 Harford 45921 41.63% 56749 51.45% 6185 5.61% 1352 1.23% 100 0.09% -10828 -9.82%110307 Howard 96067 66.97% 38797 27.05% 6621 4.62% 1819 1.27% 144 0.10% 5727039.92%143448 Kent 4588 53.49% 3490 40.69% 411 4.79% 86 1.00% 3 0.03% 109812.80%8578 Montgomery 314568 77.29% 74924 18.41% 13333 3.28% 3655 0.90% 517 0.13% 23964458.88%406997 Prince George's 286975 90.10% 24140 7.58% 5031 1.58% 2031 0.64% 346 0.11% 26283582.52%318523 Queen Anne's 8463 37.21% 12813 56.34% 1230 5.41% 232 1.02% 6 0.03% -4350 -19.13%22744 St. Mary's 16849 41.93% 21393 53.24% 1361 3.39% 559 1.39% 18 0.04% -4544 -11.31%40180 Somerset 3652 47.09% 3882 50.06% 172 2.22% 45 0.58% 4 0.05% -230 -2.97%7755 Talbot 9054 50.12% 8050 44.56% 796 4.41% 154 0.85% 12 0.07% 10045.56%18066 Washington 19956 39.59% 28319 56.18% 1598 3.17% 507 1.01% 26 0.05% -8363 -16.59%50406 Wicomico 16539 49.09% 15644 46.43% 1133 3.36% 351 1.04% 24 0.07% 8952.66%33691 Worcester 9840 41.37% 12886 54.17% 881 3.70% 164 0.69% 17 0.07% -3046 -12.80%23788 Total 1491614 64.86% 697017 30.31% 85964 3.74% 22943 1.00% 2351 0.10% 79459734.55%2299889

Counties that flipped from Republican to Democratic Frederick (largest municipality: Frederick) Talbot (largest municipality: Easton)

Counties that flipped from Democratic to Republican Calvert (largest municipality: Chesapeake Beach) Somerset (largest municipality: Princess Anne)

By congressional district Cardin won seven of eight congressional districts. District Cardin Campbell ElectedRepresentative 40% 54%Andy Harris 65% 30%Dutch Ruppersberger 67% 27%John Sarbanes 79% 18%Anthony Brown 68% 29%Steny Hoyer 60% 35%David Trone 75% 20%Elijah Cummings 67% 28%Jamie Raskin

See also 2018 United States Senate elections 2018 United States elections

References

Notes

External links Candidates at Vote Smart Candidates at Ballotpedia Campaign finance at FEC Campaign finance at OpenSecrets

Official campaign websites Tony Campbell (R) for U.S. Senate Ben Cardin (D) for U.S. Senate Neal Simon (I) for U.S. Senate Arvin Vohra (L) for U.S. Senate Michael B. Puskar (I) for U.S. Senate