2018 United States Senate election in Maryland

The 2018 United States Senate election in Maryland took place on November 6, 2018, in order to elect a member of the United States Senate to represent the State of Maryland. It was held concurrently with other elections to the United States Senate, elections to the United States House of Representatives, and various state and local elections. Incumbent Democratic U.S. Senator Ben Cardin was re-elected to a third and ultimately final term by a landslide margin of almost 35 points, the largest margin in any election for this seat since Maryland began holding direct elections for Senate in 1913.

The primary election for the Senate race was held on June 26, 2018.

The incumbent, Ben Cardin, won the Democratic Party primary. In the general election, Cardin was reelected to a third term. Tony Campbell, a professor of political science at Towson University and former Army Chaplain, won the Republican Party primary. If elected, Campbell would have become Maryland's first African-American U.S. Senator. Businessman Neal Simon ran as an independent and Arvin Vohra was the Libertarian Party nominee in the general election. There were also several official write-in candidates.

Declared

 * Ben Cardin, incumbent U.S. Senator
 * Erik Jetmir
 * Chelsea Manning, whistleblower, convicted of Espionage Act crimes, former U.S. Army soldier
 * Marcia H. Morgan, of Montgomery County
 * Jerome Segal, political activist and philosopher
 * Richard "Rikki" Vaughn, of Baltimore
 * Debbie "Rica" Wilson, candidate for MD-05 in 2016, of White Plains
 * Lih Young, perennial candidate, of Montgomery County

Declined

 * John Delaney, U.S. Representative (running for President in 2020)
 * Donna Edwards, former U.S. Representative and candidate for the U.S. Senate in 2016 (running for Prince George's County Executive)
 * Elijah Cummings, U.S. Representative
 * Heather Mizeur, former state delegate
 * John Sarbanes, U.S. Representative

Results
[[File:Maryland Senate Democratic Primary Election Results by County, 2018.svg|thumb|Results by county: Cardin

{{legend|#1666cb|70–80%}}

{{legend|#0645b4|80–90%}} ]]

Declared

 * Tony Campbell, of Baltimore County, political science faculty member at Towson University
 * Chris Chaffee, candidate for the U.S. Senate in 2016
 * Evan M. Cronhardt, of Anne Arundel County
 * Nnabu Eze, of Baltimore County, Green nominee for MD-03 in 2016
 * John Graziani, candidate for the U.S. Senate in 2016 and candidate for MD-04 in 2014
 * Christina J. Grigorian, attorney
 * Albert Howard
 * Bill Krehnbrink, perennial candidate
 * Gerald I. Smith, Jr., conspiracy theorist, of Cecil County
 * Blaine Taylor, perennial candidate, of Baltimore County
 * Brian Charles Vaeth, perennial candidate

Withdrew

 * Sam Faddis, former CIA officer and candidate for MD-05 in 2016

Declined

 * Larry Hogan, Governor of Maryland since 2015 (running for reelection)

Results
[[File:Maryland Senate Republican Primary Election Results by County, 2018.svg|thumb|Results by county: Campbell

{{legend|#ffccd0|<40%}} Chaffee

{{legend|#ffccaa|<40%}}

{{legend|#ffb380|40–50%}}

{{legend|#ff9955|50–60%}} ]]

Declared

 * Arvin Vohra, vice-chair of the Libertarian National Committee and perennial candidate, of Montgomery County

Declared

 * Michael B Puskar, property manager
 * Edward Shlikas, home care compliance manager
 * Neal Simon, businessman

Candidates

 * Ben Cardin, Incumbent (D)
 * Tony Campbell, Professor at Towson University (R)
 * Arvin Vohra, vice-chair of the Libertarian National Committee (L)
 * Neal Simon, businessman (I)
 * Michael B Puskar, property manager (I)

Debates
On October 7, 2018, Cardin, independent candidate Neal Simon, and Republican candidate Tony Campbell participated in the sole televised debate of the campaign.

Counties that flipped from Republican to Democratic

 * Frederick (largest municipality: Frederick)
 * Talbot (largest municipality: Easton)

Counties that flipped from Democratic to Republican

 * Calvert (largest municipality: Chesapeake Beach)
 * Somerset (largest municipality: Princess Anne)