Maryland Sen. Chris Van Hollen fended off a challenge from fellow Democrat Michelle Smith just months after having a minor stroke, securing his party’s nomination in Tuesday’s primary election.
Meanwhile, Chris Chaffee defeated nine other candidates for the Republican nomination, including two candidates from Montgomery County and one from Prince George’s County.
Maryland has not elected a Republican senator since 1980, and Van Hollen is a heavy favorite in a state where Democrats outnumber Republicans 2-1, The Associated Press reported.
Expect the final numbers of the results to be completed much longer than usual, however. Maryland elections officials cannot start counting the mail-in ballots until Thursday morning. That means the more than 213,000 mail-in ballots received Monday and the ballots that came in Tuesday, primary day, won’t be tallied until then, and it’s possible the final outcome of several races won’t be known for several days, or even weeks.
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House races are still being counted, but one of the more highly contested elections was called early Wednesday morning. In the contest for the open seat in the 4th District, Glenn Ivey, former Prince George’s County State’s Attorney, was declared the projected winner by The Associated Press.
The district seat, which represents a large swath of Prince George’s County and a small section of Montgomery County, originally belonged to Rep. Anthony Brown. He is now running for the attorney general’s office.
Ivey defeated eight other Democratic candidates, including Angela Angel, a former state delegate, and Rep. Donna Edwards, who previously held the seat for nine years, with 51.2% of the vote with just over 68% of votes counted. Three Republican candidates are running for the open seat, with Jeff Warner leading with 60% of the vote Wednesday over George McDermott and Eric Loeb.
The seven incumbents running for reelection breezed through their party’s nominations.
Republican Andy Harris is the sole Republican in Maryland’s congressional delegation. He was unopposed in his primary and he faces Democrat Heather Mizeur in November for the 1st District House seat.
In the 2nd District, which includes parts of Baltimore City, and Baltimore and Carroll counties, the Democratic race has been called for incumbent Dutch Ruppersberger, who is running for his 11th term in the House. His challenger in November has not yet been determined, with the race still on among the six people in the Republican ballot.
John Sarbanes will again be the Democratic nominee for the 3rd District House seat. His Republican challenger is still being decided as votes continue to be counted Wednesday. Sarbanes has held the seat since 2007.
And incumbent Steny Hoyer will face off with Republican challenger Chris Palombi in the general election in November for the 5th District House seat. Hoyer is one of the longest-running members of Congress, holding the office since 1981.
In a statement, Hoyer said that he is eager to keep spending time in those communities that will be new to the Fifth District next year, and “to work just as hard on behalf of their residents as I have for those who have been part of our district for many years already.”
After undergoing a redistricting in the 6th District, David Trone is cleared to run for a third term after beating four Democratic challengers. The borders of the 6th District have recently shifted, making it potentially more promising ground for Neil Parrott, who beat five challengers for the Republican nomination.
Under the current borders, the 6th District includes all of Allegany, Frederick, Garrett and Washington counties, and a portion of Montgomery County.
Rep. Kweisi Mfume in the 7th District, which includes Baltimore City and part of Baltimore County, was declared the winner of the Democratic primary. He faces the winner of the Republican primary in November.
Lastly, Rep. Jamie Raskin will represent the Democratic Party in the 8th District House seat. Raskin was first elected in 2016, and he is running for his fourth term. Raskin faces Republican Gregory Coll in November.
WTOP’s Jack Moore contributed to this story.
