Sen. Ben Cardin won’t run for reelection, setting up 2024 battle for Maryland seat
Mabinty Quarshie
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Sen. Ben Cardin (D-MD) will not seek reelection in 2024, setting up a highly competitive Democratic primary for his Senate seat.
“I am proud of all I have done for Maryland. I have given my heart and soul to our great state, and I thank Marylanders for trusting me as your representative for all these years,” Cardin, 79, said in a statement.
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“I have run my last election and will not be on the ballot in 2024, but there is still much work to be done. During the next two years, I will continue to travel around the state, listening to Marylanders and responding to their needs,” he added.
Cardin first won office in the Maryland House of Delegates in 1966. He then served in the House of Representatives for 20 years. He was elected to the Senate in 2006, replacing Sen. Paul Sarbanes (D).
While Maryland is a safe blue state, the battle to replace Cardin will not only be fiercely contested but could lead to multiple open House seats as well. An open Senate seat is hard to come by in Maryland; there have been only three over the last 70 years.
Potential contenders to replace Cardin include Prince George’s County executive Angela Alsobrooks, Rep. David Trone, Rep. John Sarbanes, Rep. Jamie Raskin, who is in remission from cancer, and Montgomery County Councilman Will Jawando.
If Alsobrooks were to run and win, she would become Maryland’s first black senator and the third black woman ever elected to the Senate.
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Next year’s elections will be an uphill climb for Democrats looking to hold on to control of the Senate. But Cardin’s seat will likely remain in the Democratic camp.
The news of his retirement was first reported by the Baltimore Sun.