Cardin re-elected to Senate in Maryland, beating out 3 challengers

WASHINGTON — Democratic Sen. Ben Cardin secured a third term shortly after polls closed at 8 p.m., beating out challengers Republican Tony Campbell, independent Neal Simon and Libertarian Arvin Vohra.

Cardin captured 64 percent of vote.

In his victory speech at the Baltimore Museum of Industry, Cardin said that during his travels in the state, voters wanted to see an “independent Congress — independent of the president,” The Baltimore Sun reported.

Cardin’s decades in public service stretch back to the Maryland House of Delegates. He was first elected to the U.S. Senate in 2006, after serving in the House of Representatives from 1987.

Campbell, who teaches political science at Towson University and is also a former Army chaplain, secured the Republican nomination from a crowded primary earlier this year. Simon, the independent candidate, is a business executive who lives in Potomac. Vohra is on the ballot as a Libertarian, and also has plans for a presidential campaign.

Cardin, Campbell and Simon appeared in a televised debate in October where they discussed gun violence, immigration and health care. While Cardin touted his record on Capitol Hill, both Campbell and Simon criticized his decadeslong career as part of the problem with current partisanship. Vohra was not at the debate.