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Election 2022

Ivey leads Edwards in congressional race; Mizeur wins in 1st, while hyped Republican fizzles in 6th

Former Prince George’s County State’s Attorney Glenn Ivey and former Congresswoman Donna Edwards are among the nine-candidate field seeking the Democratic nomination in the 4th Congressional District. Photos from Wikimedia Commons, Edwards campaign.

Maryland may yet again have an all-male congressional delegation next year, with former Prince George’s State’s Attorney Glenn Ivey leading former Rep. Donna Edwards in the 4th District Democratic primary.

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Former Del. Heather Mizeur won the Democratic primary in the 1st District, but she’ll be the underdog in the general election against Rep. Andy Harris, the lone Republican in the state’s congressional delegation.

Republicans likely nominated women in the 2nd and 3rd districts, but the Democratic incumbents are favored to win reelection.

And in the 6th District — which is expected to be the most competitive congressional election in the state this fall — Republicans appear to have nominated a veteran lawmaker making his second bid for the seat over an overhyped political newcomer.

Odds are that the state’s congressional delegation will continue to be all-male — a condition that has been in place since U.S. Sen. Barbara Mikulski (D) retired at the end of 2016 and Edwards ran unsuccessfully for her seat that year.

In the 4th District, Edwards’ second attempt at a political comeback may be falling short.

With 217 of 237 election day precincts reporting as of 1:15 a.m. Wednesday, Ivey was at 51.33% of the vote compared to 35.15% for Edwards. Seven other candidates split the rest.

Due to the high-volume of mail-in ballots requested this year, it’s expected to be several days — and perhaps a week or more — before a winner is officially crowned. The 4th District was redrawn this year to take in most of northern Prince George’s County and a sliver of eastern Montgomery County. Anne Arundel County is no longer in the 4th.

Nearly 60,000 Prince George’s Democrats requested a mail-in ballot and as of Monday, more than 27,000 had been returned. Prince George’s is split between the 4th and the 5th congressional districts, .

The Edwards-Ivey battle was the most closely-watched — and expensive — congressional primary in Maryland this year.

After losing her bid for Senate in 2016, Edwards ran unsuccessfully for Prince George’s County executive in 2018 and served as a political analyst for MSNBC following her five terms in Congress. Ivey, who was state’s attorney from 2002 to 2010, is an attorney in private practice. He ran unsuccessfully to succeed Edwards in the 4th District in 2016.

The seat is vacant again because Rep. Anthony Brown (D) is running for attorney general — and has a commanding lead in his primary race against former Judge Katie Curran O’Malley (D).

Edwards and Ivey ran energetic, well-funded campaigns, though voters had to cut through a fog of TV ads financed by Washington, D.C.-based political action committees.

The United Democracy Project, a group affiliated with the American-Israeli Public Affairs Committee, spent nearly $7 million on the race, according to FEC records. More than $5 million of the organization’s money bashed Edwards; another $1.7 million was spent to boost Ivey. The UDP opposed Edwards because of votes she cast during her tenure in the House.

She called the advertising campaign “reprehensible” and “garbage,” and she called on Ivey to disavow the organization’s campaign against her. He brushed aside her request, saying that their attacks on her constituent services record was valid.

Another PAC, the League of Conservation Voters Victory Fund, said it would spend more than $650,000 on Edwards’ behalf. The group cited her environmental record. Edwards once served on the LCV board of directors.

The winner of the Democratic primary will face nominal opposition in November from whomever wins the three-way Republican race. Jeff Warner, a minister, had a substantial lead as of 1:30 a.m. Wednesday.

6th District

This is expected to be the most competitive congressional race in the state this fall, thanks to court-ordered drastic changes to the district lines.

U.S. Rep. David Trone (D), one of the richest members of Congress, is seeking a third term, and he’ll have millions to spend on his reelection, as usual.

Trone appears headed to a rematch with the 2020 GOP nominee, Del. Neil Parrott (R-Washington), who held a commanding lead in the Republican primary with 209 of 247 election day precincts reporting as of 1:30 a.m. Wednesday. Parrott was at 64.3% compared to 14.6% for Matthew Foldi, a conservative journalist and provocateur who had racked up endorsements from Gov. Lawrence J. Hogan Jr. (R), U.S. House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) and a raft of other congressional Republicans, and Donald Trump Jr., son of the former president.

Trone beat Parrott by 20 points two years ago, but Parrott will do far better this time, aided by the district line changes and the inhospitable political environment for Democrats.

The Cook Political Report, a political tip sheet, puts the 6th District in its “lean Democratic” category for the fall.

1st District

Mizeur, the former state delegate, showed a solid victory over Dave Harden, a national security policy expert, in Tuesday’s Democratic primary.

With votes in 307 of 312 election day precincts counted as of 2 a.m. Wednesday, Mizeur had 69% of the vote. Harden, a former diplomat and international trade consultant, had 31%.

“Being the nominee to represent this beautiful district is one of the greatest honors of my life,” Mizeur said Tuesday night. “Folks from the Eastern Shore, Harford and Baltimore counties deserve dignified leadership that turns down the partisan rhetoric and turns up the problem-solving, and with me, that’s what they’ll get.”

Harden conceded early Wednesday. Mizeur, he said on social media, “now carries the torch of democracy forward in the First District against Andy Harris. Our democracy is at risk, and Harris remains a fundamental threat to our nation. Good luck Heather!”

Mizeur will take on Harris, the six-term incumbent. Harris, a backer of former President Trump who has a strained relationship with Hogan, is a popular figure who will enter the race the favorite.

During this year’s General Assembly session, Democrats sought to make the Eastern Shore-based 1st District more competitive by extending it west into Anne Arundel County. But after the legislature’s map was challenged in court, the Assembly re-drew it to more closely align with the area Harris has represented since 2011.

A 2014 candidate for governor, Mizeur ran an aggressive campaign, pulling in endorsements from all seven Democrats in Maryland’s congressional delegation. She posted $1.95 million in contributions during the reporting cycle that ended June 29 and had $1.1 million remaining.

2nd District

Nicolee Ambrose, the Republican National Committeewoman for Maryland, appeared headed to a solid victory in a crowded GOP primary for the right to take on 10-term Rep. Dutch Ruppersberger (D) in the fall. She had 33% of the vote as of 2 a.m. Wednesday.

Ruppersberger will be favored for reelection, but Ambrose could be his toughest general election opponent in a generation.

3rd District

Yuripzy Morgan, a lawyer and former WBAL Radio personality, topped a five-candidate GOP field for the right to take on Rep. John Sarbanes (D) in November, with 32.33% of the vote as of 2 a.m. Wednesday. Sarbanes will be favored regardless of which Republican emerges.

U.S. Senate

How Republicans wished Gov. Lawrence J. Hogan Jr. (R) had decided to run for U.S. Senate. Instead, they’ll be stuck with an unknown as their nominee against Sen. Chris Van Hollen (D) — possibly Chris Chaffee, who runs a building contracting firm. Chaffee topped a 10-candidate ballot with 21.71% of the vote as of 2 a.m. Wednesday. Van Hollen will be the overwhelming favorite in the fall.

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Ivey leads Edwards in congressional race; Mizeur wins in 1st, while hyped Republican fizzles in 6th