United States Senate elections in Maryland, 2012

Voters in Maryland elected one member to the U.S. Senate in the November 6, 2012 elections.

Incumbent Ben Cardin (D) won re-election to the U.S. Senate on November 6, 2012, winning with 55% of the vote.^[1]

Candidate Filing Deadline	Primary Election	General Election
January 11, 2012	April 3, 2012	November 6, 2012

Primary: Maryland has a closed primary system, in which the selection of a party's candidates in an election is limited to registered party members.

Voter registration: Voters had to register to vote in the primary by March 13. For the general election, the voter registration deadline was October 16.^[2]

See also: Maryland elections, 2012

Incumbent: The election filled the Class 1 Senate seat, which was held by Ben Cardin (D). First elected in 2006, Cardin ran for re-election in 2012 and won.

Candidates

General election candidates

Ben Cardin

Lih Young (Write-in)

Dan Bongino

Mary Catherine Podlesak (Write-in)

Dean Ahmad

Brandy Baker

Rob Sobhani

Ed Tinus

April 3, 2012, primary results

Democratic primary Ben Cardin:240,704 Incumbent[3][4] Raymond Blagmon:5,909 CPA[5] C. Anthony Muse:50,807 State Senator[6] J.P. Cusick:4,778[7] Christopher Garner:9,274Engineer, businessman[8] Ralph Jaffe:3,313Former political science teacher[8] Blaine Taylor:4,376[8] Ed Tinus:1,064[8] Lih Young:3,993[8]

Republican primary Dan Bongino:68,597 Former Secret Service agent[9][4] William Capps:7,092 Army veteran[10] Rick Hoover:10,787[11] Joseph Alexander:18,171[8] Robert Broadus:11,020[8] Richard Douglas:57,776 Small business owner and former diplomat[8] David Jones:8,380 Carpenter[8] John Kimble:10,506 Behavioral scientist[8] Brian Vaeth:3,781[8] Corrogan Vaughn:8,158[8]

Note: Eric Wargotz originally indicated interest in running, but eventually announced that he would not run.^[12]

Election results

U.S. Senate, Maryland General Election, 2012

Party	Candidate	Vote %	Votes
	Democratic	Ben Cardin Incumbent	56%	1,474,028
	Republican	Dan Bongino	26.3%	693,291
	Libertarian	Dean Ahmad	1.2%	32,252
	Independent	Rob Sobhani	16.4%	430,934
	Democratic	Lih Young (Write-in)	0%	163
	Republican	Mary Podlesak (Write-in)	0%	21
	Independent	Brandy Baker	0%	151
	Independent	Ed Tinus	0%	48
	N/A	Other Write-ins	0.1%	2,346
Total Votes	2,633,234
Source: Maryland State Board of Elections "U.S. Senator"

U.S. Senate, Maryland Democratic Primary, 2012

Candidate	Vote %	Votes
Ben Cardin Incumbent	74.2%	240,704
Raymond Blagmon	1.8%	5,909
C. Anthony Muse	15.7%	50,807
J.P. Cusick	1.5%	4,778
Christopher Garner	2.9%	9,274
Ralph Jaffe	1%	3,313
Blaine Taylor	1.3%	4,376
Ed Tinus	0.3%	1,064
Lih Young	1.2%	3,993
Total Votes	324,218

U.S. Senate, Maryland Republican Primary, 2012

Candidate	Vote %	Votes
Daniel John Bongino	33.6%	68,597
Joseph Alexander	8.9%	18,171
Robert "BRO" Broadus	5.4%	11,020
William Thomas Capps, Jr.	3.5%	7,092
Richard J. Douglas	28.3%	57,776
Rick Hoover	5.3%	10,787
David Jones	4.1%	8,380
John B. Kimble	5.1%	10,506
Brian Vaeth	1.9%	3,781
Corrogan R. Vaughn	4%	8,158
Total Votes	204,268

Race background

Ben Cardin was endorsed by the organization Progressive Maryland in his race for re-election.^[13] He was also endorsed by President Barack Obama, Governor Martin O'Malley, Lt. Governor Anthony Brown, Mayor of Baltimore Stephanie Rawlings-Blake and Kweisi Mfume, a former congressman and former head of the NAACP.^[14]

U.S. Senator from Utah, Mike Lee (Utah),^[15] representative from Illinois' 8th Congressional District Joe Walsh,^[16] Harford County Executive David R. Craig,^[17] and Blaine Young, President of the Frederick County Commissioners,^[18] endorsed Dan Bongino for Maryland's Senate Seat. Candidate Richard Douglas has obtained support from former Governor Robert L. Ehrlich, Jr.^[19] and John Bolton, former U.S. ambassador to the United Nations.^[20]

Race rating

Cook Political Report

Each month the Cook Political Report released race ratings for President, U.S. Senate, U.S. House (competitive only) and Governors. There are seven possible designations:^[21]

Solid Democratic      Likely Democratic      Lean Democratic

Tossup

Lean Republican      Likely Republican      Solid Republican

Cook Political Report Race Rating -- Maryland Senate
Month	Rating
November 1, 2012[22]
October 4, 2012[23]
September 13, 2012[24]
August 21, 2012[25]
July 12, 2012[26]
May 31, 2012[27]
May 10, 2012[28]
March 22, 2012[29]
March 1, 2012[30]
January 26, 2012[31]
December 22, 2011[32]
December 1, 2011[33]

Campaign contributions

Candidates for Congress were required to file up to seven main reports with the Federal Election Commission during the 2012 elections season. Below are candidate reports.

Ben Cardin

Ben Cardin (2012)[34] Campaign Finance Reports
Report	Date Filed	Beginning Balance	Total Contributions for Reporting Period	Expenditures	Cash on Hand
Pre-Primary[35]	March 22, 2012	$2,664,270.44	$598,679.60	$(1,358,169.21)	$1,904,780.83
April Quarterly[36]	April 13, 2012	$1,904,780.83	$310,565.56	$(102,844.12)	$2,112,502.27
July Quarterly[37]	July 13, 2012	$2,112,502.27	$521,478.88	$(512,382.30)	$2,121,598.85
			Running totals
			$1,430,724.04	$(1,973,395.63)

Dan Bongino

Dan Bongino (2012)[38] Campaign Finance Reports
Report	Date Filed	Beginning Balance	Total Contributions for Reporting Period	Expenditures	Cash on Hand
Pre-Primary[39]	March 20, 2012	$14,779.72	$57,944.88	$(56,814.88)	$15,909.72
April Quarterly[40]	April 13, 2012	$15,909.72	$77,668.99	$(64,211.37)	$29,367.34
July Quarterly[41]	July 13, 2012	$29,367.34	$207,004.29	$(134,652.40)	$101,719.23
			Running totals
			$342,618.16	$(255,678.65)

Election history

2010

On November 2, 2010, Barbara Mikulski won re-election to the United States Senate. She defeated Eric Wargotz (R), Richard Shawver (Constitution), Kenniss Henry (Green), Claud L. Ashbury (R, Write-In), Donald Kaplan (I), James T. Lynch, Jr. (D, Write-In), Lih Young (I), Denise L. Whittington (I), Robert J. Evans (I) and Mary Catherine Podlesak (R, Write-In) in the general election.^[42]

U.S. Senate, Maryland General Election, 2010
Party	Candidate	Vote %	Votes
	Democratic	Barbara Mikulski Incumbent	62.2%	1,140,531
	Republican	Eric Wargotz	35.8%	655,666
	Constitution	Richard Shawver	0.8%	14,746
	Green	Kenniss Henry	1.1%	20,717
	Republican, Write-In	Claud L. Ashbury	0%	204
	Independent	Write-In	0.1%	1,644
	Independent	Donald Kaplan	0%	110
	Democratic, Write-In	James T. Lynch, Jr.	0%	84
	Independent	Lih Young	0%	80
	Independent	Denise L. Whittington	0%	56
	Independent	Robert J. Evans	0%	14
	Republican, Write-In	Mary Catherine Podlesak	0%	6
Total Votes	1,833,858

2006

On November 7, 2006, Ben Cardin won election to the United States Senate. He defeated Michael S. Steele (R), Kevin Zeese (G) and Lih Young (D, Write-In) in the general election.^[43]

U.S. Senate, Maryland General Election, 2008
Party	Candidate	Vote %	Votes
	Democratic	Ben Cardin	54.2%	965,477
	Republican	Michael S. Steele	44.2%	787,182
	Green	Kevin Zeese	1.5%	27,564
	Democratic, Write-In	Lih Young	0%	120
	Independent	Write-In	0%	796
Total Votes	1,781,139

See also

• United States House of Representatives elections in Maryland, 2012
• United States Senate elections, 2012

External links

• Ben Cardin campaign website
• Raymond Blagmon campaign website
• Dan Bongino campaign website
• William Capps campaign website
• Rick Hoover campaign website
• Eric Wargotz campaign website

Footnotes