The 2010 United States Senate election in Maryland was held on November 2, 2010. Primary elections were held on September 14, 2010. Incumbent Democratic U.S. Senator

Barbara Mikulski Barbara Ann Mikulski ( ; born July 20, 1936) is an American politician and social worker who served as a United States senator from Maryland from 1987 to 2017. A member of the Democratic Party, she also served in the United States House of Repr ...

won re-election to a fifth term.

Background

According to ''

The Baltimore Sun ''The Baltimore Sun'' is the largest general-circulation daily newspaper based in the U.S. state of Maryland and provides coverage of local and regional news, events, issues, people, and industries. Founded in 1837, it is currently owned by T ...

'' columnist David Nitkin, Mikulski had indicated she planned to seek re-election to a fifth term. If Mikulski were to win re-election and serve the full term, she would tie

Paul Sarbanes Paul Spyros Sarbanes (; February 3, 1933 – December 6, 2020) was an American politician and attorney. A member of the Democratic Party from Maryland, he served as a member of the United States House of Representatives from 1971 to 1977 ...

as the longest-serving senator in state history, and also becoming the longest-serving female senator in history, turning 80 years old in the process. On February 15, 2010, rumors began to circulate that Mikulski would not seek reelection; however, these were denied by Democratic sources soon after. She previously won senate elections in

1986 The year 1986 was designated as the International Year of Peace by the United Nations. Events January * January 1 **Aruba gains increased autonomy from the Netherlands by separating from the Netherlands Antilles. **Spain and Portugal enter ...

, 1992,

1998 1998 was designated as the ''International Year of the Ocean''. Events January * January 6 – The ''Lunar Prospector'' spacecraft is launched into orbit around the Moon, and later finds evidence for frozen water, in soil in permanently s ...

, and 2004 by margins of 21, 42, 41 and 31 percentage points, respectively. Additionally, in the general election, state parties are expected to focus much of their attention on the seats of Governor Martin O'Malley and first-term Congressman

Frank Kratovil Frank Michael Kratovil Jr. (born May 29, 1968) is an American politician who was the U.S. representative for from 2009 to 2011. Elected in 2008, he was defeated in his bid for reelection on November 2, 2010. Kratovil is a member of the Democratic ...

, the latter of whom won a surprise victory in a conservative district of the state. Nitkin and

Larry Sabato Larry Joseph Sabato (; born August 7, 1952) is an American political scientist and political analyst. He is the Robert Kent Gooch Professor of Politics at the University of Virginia, where he is also the founder and director of the Center for P ...

Crystal Ball A crystal ball, also known as an orbuculum or crystal sphere, is a crystal or glass ball and common fortune-telling object. It is generally associated with the performance of clairvoyance and scrying in particular. In more recent times, the cry ...

consider her seat as overwhelmingly "safe."

Primary results

Democratic primary

Results

Republican primary

Candidates

* Joseph Alexander * Barry Steve Asbury, newspaper publisher * Neil Cohen, dentist * Stephens Dempsey * Samuel R. Graham, Sr. * John B. Kimble,

perennial candidate A perennial candidate is a political candidate who frequently runs for elected office and rarely, if ever, wins. Perennial candidates' existence lies in the fact that in some countries, there are no laws that limit a number of times a person can ...

* Gregory Kump * Daniel W. McAndrew * Jim Rutledge, attorney * Eddie Vendetti, engineer * Eric Wargotz

Queen Anne's County, Maryland Queen Anne's County is located on the Eastern Shore of the U.S. state of Maryland. As of the 2020 census, the population was 49,874. Its county seat and most populous municipality is Centreville. The census-designated place of Stevensville ...

Commission President (elected)

Results

General election

Candidates

Major

(D), incumbent U.S. Senator * Eric Wargotz (R),

Commission President (elected) and physician

Minor

* Don Kaplan (Independent) * Richard Shawver (Constitution) * Kenniss Henry (Green) * Natasha Pettigrew (''deceased'') was the Green Party candidate. On September 19, while cycling, Pettigrew was hit by an SUV. Her mother, Kenniss Henry, was chosen by the Green Party to replace Pettigrew on the ballot.

Campaign

Wargotz released two television ads, in the first he created and introduced the term "insidersaurus": comparing Mikulski to a

dinosaur Dinosaurs are a diverse group of reptiles of the clade Dinosauria. They first appeared during the Triassic period, between 243 and 233.23 million years ago (mya), although the exact origin and timing of the evolution of dinosaurs is t ...

by calling her a political "insidersaurus" being in Washington for over thirty years (a long-term political incumbent.) A second ad showed a hammer hitting a brick wall, breaking it down and citing criticisms of Mikulski's record as a U.S. Senator. Mikulski released advertisements emphasizing education and job creation. Despite Wargotz's limited campaign and resources he received the highest percentage of votes against Mikulski as an incumbent U.S. Senator (over 20 years.)

Debates

Despite repeated requests by the Wargotz Campaign formal debate was declined by the incumbent U.S. Senator Mikulski. The two candidates did appear together on Maryland Public Television (MPT) fielding common questions posed to both by the moderator but no formal debate was held.

Predictions

Polling

Fundraising

Results

References

External links

Maryland State Board of Elections

U.S. Congress candidates for Maryland
at

Project Vote Smart Vote Smart, formerly called Project Vote Smart, is a non-profit, non-partisan research organization that collects and distributes information on candidates for public office in the United States. It covers candidates and elected officials in s ...

Maryland U.S. Senate
from OurCampaigns.com
Campaign contributions
from

Open Secrets ''Open Secrets'' () is a book of short stories by Alice Munro published by McClelland and Stewart in 1994 File:1994 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The 1994 Winter Olympics are held in Lillehammer, Norway; The Kaiser Permanente buil ...

2010 Maryland Polls
graph of multiple polls from ''Pollster.com''
Election 2010: Maryland Senate
from

Rasmussen Reports Rasmussen Reports is an American polling company founded in 2003. The company engages in political commentary and the collection, publication, and distribution of public opinion polling information. Rasmussen Reports conducts nightly tracking, ...

Maryland Senate
from

Real Clear Politics RealClearPolitics (RCP) is an American political news website and polling data aggregator formed in 2000 by former options trader John McIntyre and former advertising agency account executive Tom Bevan. The site features selected political new ...

2010 Maryland Senate Race
from

CQ Politics Congressional Quarterly, Inc., or CQ, is part of a privately owned publishing company called CQ Roll Call that produces a number of publications reporting primarily on the United States Congress. CQ was acquired by the Economist Group and combine ...

Race profile
from

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid d ...

Candidate blogs
at

;Official campaign sites
Barbara Mikulski for U.S. Senate
incumbent
Daniel W. McAndrew for U.S. Senate

Jim Rutledge for U.S. Senate

Vaughn for U.S. Senate

Wargotz for U.S. Senate

Neil Cohen for U.S. Senate
{{United States elections, 2010

United States Senate The United States Senate is the upper chamber of the United States Congress, with the House of Representatives being the lower chamber. Together they compose the national bicameral legislature of the United States. The composition and pow ...

Maryland Maryland ( ) is a state in the Mid-Atlantic region of the United States. It shares borders with Virginia, West Virginia, and the District of Columbia to its south and west; Pennsylvania to its north; and Delaware and the Atlantic Ocean to ...

2010