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-MD). Some of the issues that Cardin championed include human rights, the Paycheck Protection Program, funding the Chesapeake Bay, and legislation expanding Medicare coverage.
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.
Contenders to replace Cardin could include Prince George’s County executive Angela Alsobrooks, Rep. David Trone (D-MD), Rep. John Sarbanes (D-MD), Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-MD), 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.
Cardin’s possible replacements were quick to sing his praises.
“I salute him and have congratulated him on a truly amazing and inspiring career devoted to service of our people and the old-fashioned public values of honesty and decency,” Raskin said in a statement. “I want to thank him, his beloved wife Myrna and their whole family for their outstanding and continuing contributions to our state.”
“Ben gets things done for people — things that lifted up families, here in Maryland and across our nation,” Trone tweeted. “For years, Ben has been a champion for working people, bringing jobs to Maryland, especially underserved communities whose voices don’t often reach the halls of power.”
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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 reported by the Baltimore Sun.
