Normally I’d bow to the realities on the ground and write that as “Sen. Barbara Mikulski to retire?” – but what the heck. We got lucky in Maryland last year; I’m willing to spend a little of that on optimism gone mad. Anyway: “U.S. Senator Barbara A. Mikulski will announce her retirement this morning in Baltimore, according to multiple sources… The Democrat will address the media at 11 a.m. in Fells Point, promising an “important announcement about her future plans.” No further details were available.”
This has been expected: Sen. Miklulski was either going to retire this term, or next one. I’m not going to lie: flipping this seat would be an uphill battle. On the bright side, nobody’s going to take the Republican candidate seriously until it’s too late… and, as Governor Larry Hogan can tell you, that can be a precious thing to have going for you. Guess we will, as they say, see.
Moe Lane
PS: Basically two real choices on the Democratic side right now: former Lt. Governor Anthony Brown and current Rep. Chris Van Hollen. Former Governor Martin O’Malley would be on that list, but he’s still kind of running for President (or possibly Vice President?). Nobody else on the D side really pops into mind right now. As for the Rs… I dunno. Some of the county executives might do; ask me again in December.
… 2016?
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It’s possible .. but depends on nominating two non-losers, and the coat-tails.
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Mew
Ben Carson should stop running for President and immediately start running for U.S. Senate. It’d be tough but he stands a better chance of winning an open race in MD then he does winning the GOP nomination let alone the General election.
Dan Bongino is the only “big” name that I can think of to run in Maryland, maybe former Gov. Erlich. All 3 of these people ought to be kicking themselves for not taking a risk on the Gov race in 2014. Had anyone of these done so they might be Governor instead of Hogan.
Granted I give props to Bongino working his best to almost unseat an incumbent Dem rep. who’s seat was gerrymandered to be a permanent Dem hold.
#THIS
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Assuming the Carson campaign *has* a staffer assigned to read Moe Lane (and if they don’t, then .. *telling* ..) consider that Dr. Carson has the two things needed to flip this seat –
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1) A charismatic, minority, native son success story.
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2) Nationwide appeal to bring in the buck$.
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Mew
Personally, I’m not thrilled at the idea of Carson being a Senator here, but better him than whoever the Democrats have chosen to replace Mikulski.
Carson vs. Mikulski’s hand-picked successor. this is a choice? realistically, his best bets are Surgeon General or this seat. i know where he should aim.
To be fair, I have a lot of respect for him. I know how long the training is to earn the title of neurosurgeon.
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But that kind of training and running a medical team doesn’t necessarily translate to a successful career in politics.
Brown is so done that the TSA won’t let him fly anymore because of the great big fork sticking out of his back.
O’Malley’s going to futz around for a little while longer while failing to adequately raise money and interest for a presidential primary, and then he’s going to decide that he really wanted to be a Senator after all.
Van Hollen will explore the idea of running against O’Malley, but will decide he’s better off where he is.
I suspect Elijah Cummings might decide to try his luck, though; ditto with Ken Ulman. Other Democrats are going to decide not to lock horns with O’Malley this time, I predict.
I don’t think any of the Republican candidates can beat O’Malley — certainly not Ehrlich or Carson, and I think Harris is going to stay put in the House for a while. If it winds up being someone else… well, I dunno.
I can see O’Malley finagling his way into a VP slot, though.
Does Maryland prevent O’Malley from running for veep and senate simultaneously?
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Mew