WASHINGTON — Maryland voters might find themselves spending a little extra time in the voting booth on April 26 because one of the congressional races features a long list of candidates.
Democrats voting in Maryland’s 8th District congressional race will find nine names on the ballot, and many of them will be familiar. Three are current State House officeholders: Sen. Jamie Raskin and Delegates Kumar Barve and Ana Sol Gutierrez.
Incumbent Rep. Chris Van Hollen is not running for re-election and is instead seeking the Democratic nomination for the open U.S. Senate seat.
Josh Kurtz, a political analyst and contributor to Center Maryland, says the list of candidates to replace Van Hollen will pose a bit of a dilemma for voters.
“Because there are nine Democratic candidates, and they’re all pretty serious, pretty qualified people.”
But Kurtz says the race is a standout for another reason: it’s breaking records in campaign spending.
That’s due largely to the candidacy of businessman David Trone, who’s already spent $9 million of his own money on the race. His closest competitors, Raskin and former TV anchor and Marriott executive Kathleen Matthews, have ramped up their spending as well.
“The question is: What does $10 million buy? We don’t know — we’ll find out,” says Kurtz.
David Anderson, a nonprofit executive; Dan Bolling, a former biotech executive; plus former Obama administration staffers William Jawando and Joel Rubin are also seeking the Democratic nomination.
Republican primary voters will choose among five candidates: Dan Cox, Jeffrey Jones, Liz Matory, Aryeh Shudofsky and Shelly Skolnick.
