Maryland
Welcome to the Maryland state page! Here, Maryland organizers can access and document ongoing projects, current leadership positions, upcoming races, and other important information. This list is non-exhaustive, and state teams are encouraged to expand and adapt these pages to their organizing needs.
Political Landscape of Maryland
Partisan Composition of Maryland
Overall, Maryland is considered a deep blue state, with a Cook PVI of D+14 as of 2022, regularly voting 62-67% Democrat in statewide races. The state's governor, both US Senators and 7 of their 8 US House seats are Democrat. Democrats also have veto-proof majorities in the state house (102-39) and state senate (34-13), giving them a trifecta (as of 2/10/24).
Progressive Outlook for Maryland
The overall progressive strategy for Maryland is very optimistic. The state legislature is amenable to progressive legislation and many goals can be directly accomplished here. The goal for progressives should be retaining blue seats and flipping red seats while primarying out uncooperative or moderate Democrats who stand in the way of progressive goals. The state has citizen-led veto measures only, unfortunately, but things could be much worse overall. As MD is a closed-primary blue state, it is highly recommended to register as a Democrat to vote for progressive candidates in their primaries.
Get Involved
Register to Vote in Maryland
Progressive Organizations in Maryland
Below is a list of progressive organizations in Maryland. If you see a state organization that isn't on this list, please add it.
Notable Campaigns in 2024
Below is a list of progressive candidates or ballot measures in the 2024 election cycle for Maryland. Non-progressive candidates may also be placed here if they are substantially to the left of their district's partisan lean and worth campaigning for. If you see a candidate or ballot measure that should be on this list, please add them. Since Maryland is deep blue, the Democrat primaries tend to be the real elections here.
May 14th Primary Election (Filing Deadline February 9th)
- US Senate: With Cardin retiring, this seat is certainly going to be competitive in the primary and it is imperative that a progressive candidate wins this solidly-blue open seat in a rare open contest. Angela Alsobrooks seems to be the most progressive.
- MD-2: An open blue seat with three Democrats competing. John Olszewski Jr.seems to be the frontrunner, Bhandarivoted significantly to the right of the average Democrat in the Maryland house and Bryan Mooreis completely unknown.
- MD-3: An open blue seat with fourteen Democrats competing. Clarence Lam seems like the most progressive candidate who can win, but he doesn't have a campaign website yet.
- Gabriel Njinimbot for US House MD-4: Gabriel is a strong progressive choice who draws inspiration from Bernie Sanders and AOC, running against an AIPAC-endorsed moderate holding a seat so blue that no Republicans are even running for it. This is THE election for MD-4, so if you're progressive and want to make an impact on what kind of house majority Democrats will have, here is your chance!
- MD-6: An open swing seat with twelve Democrats competing. Ideology AND electability matter here, so consider this when voting.
November 5th General Election
- US Senate: With Cardin retiring, and popular former governor Larry Hogan (R) running, this senate seat might be more competitive than normal. Whoever ends up winning the Democratic primary for this race may need your support!
- MD-6: David Trone (D) is retiring to run for US Senate, and MD-6 is the only swing district in Maryland at this level. As such, a key progressive priority should be ensuring whoever wins the Democratic primary wins this seat in November.
- MD-7: No Republicans have filed to run in this race, meaning this is a rare opportunity to vote third party! Michael Scott (People's Party) and Michael Sigmon (Progressive Party) are running against a Democrat, most likely the incumbent Kwesi Mfume.
Run for Local Office
An underrated way to impact change is to run for a local position! Please feel free to add information on doing so below.