The 2010 Maryland gubernatorial election was held on November 2, 2010. The date included the election of the

governor A governor is an administrative leader and head of a polity or political region, ranking under the head of state and in some cases, such as governors-general, as the head of state's official representative. Depending on the type of political ...

lieutenant governor A lieutenant governor, lieutenant-governor, or vice governor is a high officer of state, whose precise role and rank vary by jurisdiction. Often a lieutenant governor is the deputy, or lieutenant, to or ranked under a governor — a "second-in-comm ...

, and all members of the

Maryland General Assembly The Maryland General Assembly is the state legislature of the U.S. state of Maryland that convenes within the State House in Annapolis. It is a bicameral body: the upper chamber, the Maryland Senate, has 47 representatives and the lower chamb ...

. Incumbent Democratic governor

Martin O'Malley Martin Joseph O'Malley (born January 18, 1963) is an American lawyer and former politician who served as the 61st Governor of Maryland from 2007 to 2015. A member of the Democratic Party, he was Mayor of Baltimore from 1999 to 2007. O'Malley ...

and lieutenant governor Anthony Brown won reelection to a second term in office, defeating

Republican Republican can refer to: Political ideology * An advocate of a republic, a type of government that is not a monarchy or dictatorship, and is usually associated with the rule of law. ** Republicanism, the ideology in support of republics or agains ...

former governor

Bob Ehrlich Robert Leroy Ehrlich Jr. (born November 25, 1957) is an American lawyer and politician who served as the 60th Governor of Maryland from 2003 to 2007. A Republican, Ehrlich represented Maryland's 2nd Congressional district in the U.S. House of ...

and his running mate Mary Kane. Ehrlich had previously lost reelection to O'Malley in 2006. O'Malley and Brown became the first gubernatorial ticket in Maryland history to receive more than one million votes. As of 2022, this is the most recent gubernatorial election in which the Democratic nominee was not an African American.

Democratic primary

Candidates

*J. P. Cusick *:Running mate: Michael Lange *Ralph Jaffe, teacher and

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 ...

*:Running mate: Freda Jaffe *

, incumbent governor *:Running mate: Anthony Brown, incumbent lieutenant governor

Results

Maryland Governor Democratic primary, 2010

Republican primary

Candidates

, former governor :*Running mate: Mary Kane, former Maryland Secretary of State *Brian Murphy, businessman :*Running mate: Mike Ryman, former federal and congressional inspector and candidate for the State Senate in 2006 :*Former running mate:

Carmen Amedori Carmen Amedori (born 1955) is an American journalist and politician. She was elected in 1998 to the Maryland House of Delegates for District 5A, from Carroll County. After being re-elected in 2002 she served in the Maryland General Assembly un ...

, former State Delegate

Results

Maryland Governor Republican primary, 2010

Minor party candidates

Constitution Party

*Eric Delano Knowles :*Running mate: Michael Hargadon

Green Party

*Maria Allwine :*Running mate: Ken Eidel

Libertarian Party

*Susan Gaztanaga :*Running mate: Doug McNeil

General election

Predictions

Polling

Results

Republican voter suppression

In the summer before the election, Ehrlich's campaign hired a consultant who advised that "the first and most desired outcome is

voter suppression Voter suppression is a strategy used to influence the outcome of an election by discouraging or preventing specific groups of people from voting. It is distinguished from political campaigning in that campaigning attempts to change likely voting ...

", in the form of having "African-American voters stay home." To that end, the Republicans placed thousands of Election Day

robocall A robocall is a phone call that uses a computerized autodialer to deliver a pre-recorded message, as if from a robot. Robocalls are often associated with political and telemarketing phone campaigns, but can also be used for public service or emer ...

s to Democratic voters, telling them that O'Malley had won, although in fact the polls were still open for some two more hours. The Republicans' call, worded to seem as if it came from Democrats, told the voters, "Relax. Everything's fine. The only thing left is to watch it on TV tonight." The calls reached 112,000 voters in majority-

African American African Americans (also referred to as Black Americans and Afro-Americans) are an ethnic group consisting of Americans with partial or total ancestry from sub-Saharan Africa. The term "African American" generally denotes descendants of ens ...

areas. In 2011, Ehrlich's campaign manager, Paul Schurick, was convicted of fraud and other charges because of the calls. Ehrlich denied knowing about the calls.

References

External links

Maryland State Board of Elections

Maryland Governor Candidates
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 si ...

Campaign contributions for 2010 Maryland Governor
from ''Follow the Money''

from OurCampaigns.com
2010 Maryland Governor General Election: Bob Ehrlich (R) vs Martin O'Malley (D)
graph of multiple polls from ''Pollster.com''
Election 2010: Maryland Governor
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, ...

''
2010 Maryland Governor – Ehrlich vs. O'Malley
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 ...

''
2010 Maryland Governor's 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 combined ...

''
Race Profile
in ''

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 ...

''
Candidate blogs
at ''

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 Tr ...

'' ;Official campaign websites (Archived)
Bob Ehrlich for Maryland

Martin O'Malley for Governor
{{2010 United States elections

Gubernatorial A governor is an politician, administrative leader and head of a polity or Region#Political_regions, political region, ranking under the Head of State, head of state and in some cases, such as governor-general, governors-general, as the head of ...

2010 File:2010 Events Collage New.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2010 Chile earthquake was one of the strongest recorded in history; The Eruption of Eyjafjallajökull in Iceland disrupts air travel in Europe; A scene from the opening ceremony of ...

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 ...

Martin O'Malley

Democratic primary

Candidates

Results

Republican primary

Candidates

Results

Minor party candidates

Constitution Party

Green Party

Libertarian Party

General election

Predictions

Polling

Results

Republican voter suppression

See also

References

External links