The 2006 United States Senate election in Maryland was held Tuesday, November 7, 2006. Incumbent Democrat Paul Sarbanes, Maryland's longest serving United States Senator, decided to retire instead of seeking a sixth term. Democratic nominee Ben Cardin, a U.S. Representative, won the open seat, defeating Republican Lieutenant Governor Michael Steele.
Democratic primary
Candidates
Declared
Benjamin L. Cardin, U.S. Representative
David Dickerson, engineer
George T. English, economist
James H. Hutchison, psychiatrist
Anthony Jaworski
A. Robert Kaufman, social activist and perennial candidate
Allan Lichtman, professor at American University
Thomas McCaskill, physicist
Kweisi Mfume, former U.S. Representative and former president of the NAACP
Josh Rales, entrepreneur
Dennis F. Rasmussen, former Baltimore County Executive
Bob Robinson
Theresa C. Scaldaferri
Mike Schaefer, attorney
Charles Ulysses Smith, activist
Blaine Taylor, writer
Joseph Werner, attorney
Lih Young, perennial candidate
Withdrew
Lise Van Susteren, psychiatrist and sister of Greta Van Susteren
Declined
Chris Van Hollen, U.S. Representative
Campaign
Kweisi Mfume, a former congressman and NAACP President, was the first to announce for the position, in March 2005. Ben Cardin, then a congressman since 1987, was the only other major candidate until September 2005, when former Baltimore County Executive Dennis F. Rasmussen, American University professor Allan Lichtman, and wealthy Potomac businessman Josh Rales entered the contest. Thirteen other candidates subsequently also entered the primary. As of August 2006, Cardin had raised more than $4.8 million and collected endorsements from a number of Democratic politicians, the AFL–CIO, and The Washington Post; Mfume had raised over $1.2 million and collected endorsements from the Maryland State Teachers Association, Progressive Maryland, former Maryland Governor Parris Glendening, the National Organization for Women, and Maryland Congressmen Elijah Cummings and Al Wynn.
On August 31, 2006, Maryland Public Television (MPT) and the League of Women Voters (LWV) sponsored a debate between the two leading Democratic Primary Candidates. The LWV of Maryland and MPT arbitrarily excluded most of the FEC qualified candidates from the only televised debates in the primary election. There were 18 candidates in this race, only 2, Ben Cardin and Kweisi Mfume, were allowed to debate, despite the strenuous protests of the excluded candidates. Lichtman, Rales, and Rasmussen petitioned MPT and LWV for inclusion in the debate, but received no response. On the day of the debate, Lichtman, his wife, and a campaign aide were arrested for trespassing while protesting during the taping of the debate. They were found not guilty on all charges. The judge in the case said it should never have been brought to court and was a gross violation of the parties' constitutional rights.
Debates
Complete video of debate, August 31, 2006
Polling
Results
Republican primary
Candidates
Ray Bly, small businessman
Earl S. Gordon
Thomas J. Hampton, accountant
John B. Kimble, behavioral researcher
Edward Raymond Madej
Daniel Muffoletto, small businessman
Richard Shawver, activist
Michael Steele, Lieutenant Governor and former Chairman of the Maryland Republican Party Corrogan R. Vaughn, perennial candidate Daniel "The Wig Man" Vovak, ghostwriter and owner of Greenwich Creations
Campaign
Michael S. Steele was expected to win the Republican primary, and the Baltimore Sun wrote the month before that he faced "only nominal opposition". Among a field of nine other candidates, the only Republican receiving sufficient media coverage was Daniel Vovak.
Results
General election
Candidates
Michael S. Steele (R) – lieutenant governor
Ben Cardin (D) – U.S. congressman
Kevin Zeese (G) – (Campaign website). Zeese won the nominations of the Maryland Green Party, the Libertarian Party of Maryland, and the Populist Party of Maryland, the first time all three parties had nominated the same candidate. However, a Maryland law passed in April 2006 prohibited such fusion candidacies, so Zeese, who was a registered Green Party member, was listed on the ballot as only the Green Party candidate.
Campaign
This was Maryland's first open Senate seat since 1986, when junior Senator Barbara Mikulski was first elected.