2006 United States Senate election in Maryland

Election for U. S. senator from Maryland
related races

The 2006 United States Senate election in Maryland was held Tuesday, November 7, 2006. Incumbent Democrat Paul Sarbanes, Maryland's longest serving United States Senator, decided to retire instead of seeking a sixth term. Democratic nominee Ben Cardin, a U. S. Representative, won the open seat, defeating Republican Lieutenant Governor Michael Steele.

Chris Van Hollen, U. S. Representative

Kweisi Mfume, a former congressman and NAACP President, was the first to announce for the position, in March 2005. Ben Cardin, then a congressman since 1987, was the only other major candidate until September 2005, when former Baltimore County Executive Dennis F. Rasmussen, American University professor Allan Lichtman, and wealthy Potomac businessman Josh Rales entered the contest. Thirteen other candidates subsequently also entered the primary. As of August 2006, Cardin had raised more than $4.8 million and collected endorsements from a number of Democratic politicians, the AFL–CIO, and The Washington Post; Mfume had raised over $1.2 million and collected endorsements from the Maryland State Teachers Association, Progressive Maryland, former Maryland Governor Parris Glendening, the National Organization for Women, and Maryland Congressmen Elijah Cummings and Al Wynn. On August 31, 2006, Maryland Public Television (MPT) and the League of Women Voters (LWV) sponsored a debate between the two leading Democratic Primary Candidates. The LWV of Maryland and MPT arbitrarily excluded most of the FEC qualified candidates from the only televised debates in the primary election. There were 18 candidates in this race, only 2, Ben Cardin and Kweisi Mfume, were allowed to debate, despite the strenuous protests of the excluded candidates. Lichtman, Rales, and Rasmussen petitioned MPT and LWV for inclusion in the debate, but received no response. On the day of the debate, Lichtman, his wife, and a campaign aide were arrested for trespassing while protesting during the taping of the debate. They were found not guilty on all charges. The judge in the case said it should never have been brought to court and was a gross violation of the parties' constitutional rights.

Source Date BenCardin A. RobertKaufman AllanLichtman KweisiMfume JoshRales Dennis F. Rasmussen Washington Post June 25, 2006 26% 2% 4% 33% 0% 4% Baltimore Sun July 17, 2006 32% 1% 1% 28% 1% 1% Public Opinion Strategies August 1–2, 2006 31% — — 25% 4% 6% Gonzales Research August 30, 2006 43% — — 30% 6% — SurveyUSA August 31, 2006 38% — — 42% 7% — SurveyUSA September 11, 2006 47% — — 38% 7% —

Michael S. Steele was expected to win the Republican primary, and the Baltimore Sun wrote the month before that he faced "only nominal opposition". Among a field of nine other candidates, the only Republican receiving sufficient media coverage was Daniel Vovak.

Michael S. Steele (R) – lieutenant governor
Ben Cardin (D) – U. S. congressman
Kevin Zeese (G) – (Campaign website). Zeese won the nominations of the Maryland Green Party, the Libertarian Party of Maryland, and the Populist Party of Maryland, the first time all three parties had nominated the same candidate. However, a Maryland law passed in April 2006 prohibited such fusion candidacies, so Zeese, who was a registered Green Party member, was listed on the ballot as only the Green Party candidate.

This was Maryland's first open Senate seat since 1986, when junior Senator Barbara Mikulski was first elected. Michael Steele won the Republican nomination after facing little competition in the contest for the Republican ticket. With mostly unknown secondary candidates, Steele received 87% of the Republican Primary vote. Third District Congressional Representative Ben Cardin won the Democratic Party nomination after facing tough competition in the contest for the Democratic ticket from former congressman and NAACP President Kweisi Mfume, businessman Josh Rales, former Baltimore County Executive Dennis F. Rasmussen, and several lesser known candidates. Cardin received 44% of the Democratic Primary vote to 40% for Mfume, his next closest competitor. All other candidates received percentages only in the single digits. Kevin Zeese, the nominee for the Green, Populist and Libertarian Parties, was also on the ballot. Though Steele lost the general election by 10% of the vote, a much wider margin than predicted, his was and remains the best showing for a Republican in a Senate race in Maryland since Charles Mathias, Jr. was reelected in 1980 with 66.17% of the vote.

Both Steele and Cardin made controversial statements and advertising throughout the campaign.

Source Date BenCardin (D) MichaelSteele (R) KevinZeese (G) Baltimore Sun April 2005 41% 37% Baltimore Sun October 25, 2005 47% 38% Potomac Survey Research November 1, 2005 41% 32% Rasmussen November 21, 2005 49% 41% Rasmussen January 13, 2006 40% 45% Zogby January 20, 2006 49% 43% Rasmussen February 22, 2006 49% 35% Zogby/Wall Street Journal March 31, 2006 49% 39% Gonzales Research April 18, 2006 49% 35% Rasmussen April 25, 2006 45% 35% Zogby/Wall Street Journal June 21, 2006 51% 40% Washington Post June 25, 2006 49% 39% Baltimore Sun/Potomac Inc. July 6–10, 2006 47% 36% Rasmussen July 17, 2006 47% 41% Zogby/Wall Street Journal July 24, 2006 50% 42% Public Opinion Strategies (R) August 1–2, 2006 43% 35% Rasmussen August 18, 2006 47% 42% Zogby/Wall Street Journal August 28, 2006 50% 41% Gonzales Research August 30, 2006 44% 39% Zogby/Wall Street Journal September 10, 2006 49% 40% Rasmussen September 19, 2006 50% 43% SurveyUSA September 20, 2006 47% 48% 4% Baltimore Sun/Potomac Inc. September 25, 2006 51% 40% VC Research (R) September 27–28, 2006 44% 39% Zogby/Wall Street Journal September 28, 2006 52% 39% Mason Dixon/MSNBC October 2, 2006 47% 41% 1% Public Opinion Strategies (R) October 2–4, 2006 47% 43% Reuters/Zogby October 5, 2006 45% 37% USA Today/Gallup October 6, 2006 54% 39% Rasmussen October 16, 2006 53% 44% SurveyUSA October 18, 2006 46% 46% 3% VC Research (R) October 22–23, 2006 41% 39% Garin Hart Yang (D) October 23–24, 2006 52% 40% Rasmussen October 26, 2006 49% 42% Washington Post October 29, 2006 54% 43% 1% Reuters/Zogby November 2, 2006 49% 44% Baltimore Sun/Potomac Inc. November 2, 2006 49% 43% 2% SurveyUSA November 3, 2006 47% 47% Mason Dixon/MSNBC November 5, 2006 47% 44% 1% SurveyUSA November 6, 2006 49% 46% 3%

Despite polls days before the election showing the race at a 3% margin, Cardin won by just over 10% with a 178,295 vote margin, although , this is the closest a Republican has come to winning a U. S. Senate election in Maryland since Charles Mathias was reelected in 1980. Steele conceded defeat at On the same day, incumbent Republican governor Bob Ehrlich lost reelection to Baltimore Mayor Martin O'Malley.