There will be significant turnover in Annapolis come 2027, with five state senators and 19 House members either retiring or running for other offices, and others could be ousted in the primaries or general election.
You don’t have to look too far down the ballot to find interesting battles in the June 23 primary. Many seem to be taking place in Prince George’s County, which is hardly surprising, given the level of political churn there, but just about every jurisdiction in the state has a noteworthy political race somewhere.
On Wednesday, Maryland Matters looked at county executive and congressional primaries worth watching. Here are some legislative primaries and local races to keep an eye on.
State Senate
The Big Enchilada: It is hard to imagine Senate President Bill Ferguson (D-Baltimore City) losing. He’s not taking anything for granted. He’s highly visible in the community. He’s sitting on a huge war chest. He’s attuned to the needs of the big corporations and the small businesses in his district. Many of his constituents know the value of being represented in Annapolis by such a powerful lawmaker.
But in this era of restive politics, the electorate can turn quickly, as Ferguson’s own upset victory over a long-serving incumbent back in 2010 showed. Ferguson’s challenger, Bobby LaPin, has a devoted army of progressive supporters and is making quick, memorable videos focused on consumers and a political system that’s tilted toward the powerful and insiders. If you doubt that a presiding officer can lose, think back to 2002, when then-House Speaker Casper Taylor (D) was bounced from his Western Maryland seat. Or ask your friends in North Carolina about the state Senate president there, Phil Berger (R).
Baltimore grudge match: When former Sen. Jill Carter (D) resigned her seat in early 2025, two delegates from the 41st District competed for the appointment to replace her, Dalya Attar (D) and Malcolm Ruff (D) – the latter of whom had been appointed to his House seat two years earlier. Attar narrowly prevailed in the Baltimore City Democratic Central Committee vote and moved up to the Senate, becoming one of the highest ranking Orthodox Jewish women in U.S. politics.
Since then, Attar has been indicted and is facing extortion charges related to her 2022 House reelection campaign. Ruff has decided to challenge her in the upcoming Senate primary. Attar’s legal troubles might suggest that Ruff should be favored. But navigating the racial, ethnic and factional politics in a very diverse district can be tricky. Attar has won two elections in the 41st; Ruff has not. This race seems very tough to call.
Three for Prince George’s: So many competitive and compelling races seem to be happening in Prince George’s County this primary season, at least three for Senate.
In the 23rd District, former Board of Education member Raaheela Ahmed is seeking a Democratic primary rematch against Sen. Ron Watson. Ahmed finished 4 points behind Watson in a three-way primary four years ago. This time, she is the sole challenger, and Watson is facing questions about a lucrative second job he started, and later left under scrutiny, with the county public school system. After electing moderate senators for decades, will this Bowie-based district be ready for a full-throated progressive? There’s a two-way race in the 24th District to replace retiring Sen. Joanne C. Benson (D), featuring Del. Tiffany Alston (D), who had to leave the House amid scandal in 2012 before resurrecting her political career, and Kevin Ford Jr. (D), a real estate professional and former campaign operative. In the 26th District, veteran Sen. C. Anthony Muse (D), a prominent minister in the community and political operator of the highest order, faces an aggressive challenge from Antonio Driver (D), a teacher in the Prince George’s County public schools who was the county government’s first LGBTQIA+ liaison.
Missing target: When Stephen Tillett, a prominent Annapolis minister, entered the Democratic race for the 32nd District Senate seat in Anne Arundel County, he and his allies – who include another Anne Arundel senator, Shaneka Henson (D) – were targeting veteran Sen. Pamela Beidle (D), exposing some of the factionalism in Anne Arundel Democratic politics. But right at the candidate filing deadline, Beidle withdrew from the race and endorsed a protege, Del. Mark Chang (D), to replace her. Beidle’s departure has changed some of the contours of the primary, but not the overall dynamic in the district.
King for a day: Considering the number of ambitious young pols in Montgomery County, and the supposed energy on the left flank of the Democratic Party, surprisingly few county senators are facing primary challenges. The most noteworthy involves Senate Majority Leader Nancy King (D), who has been in the Senate since 2007 and has also served in the House and on the county school board.
King has prevailed in tough primaries before. This year, she is facing Amar Mukunda, who helped run an anti-gun violence program and is making a generational and outsider case against the 76-year-old political insider, and Destiny Drake West, a former legislative staffer who founded an organization focused on economic security for women and families. Mukunda was just endorsed by the Sierra Club. West ran unsuccessfully in the congressional 6th District in 2024, finishing seventh in the 10-person primary with 2% of the vote. As she did in 2022, King has endorsed a challenger to one of the three delegates in her district, and that could come into play as one of the political crosscurrents in the race.
Fighting firefighter with firefighter: There’s a three-way Republican primary to replace retiring Sen. Chris West (R) in the 42nd District, which takes in northern Baltimore County and Carroll County. Two of the candidates, Matt Fox and Kevin Ford, are professional firefighters and small business owners. The third is Adam Wood, the former executive director of the Maryland Republican Party. All are conservatives, so the race could turn on personality, as well as the candidates’ community contacts and political organizations.
House of Delegates
Comeback kids?: Baltimore City’s 45th legislative district has its share of political rivalries. The state senator, Cory McCray (D), and Del. Stephanie Smith (D), are not allies – though they have been operating under a truce for the past year or so. A former long-serving delegate, Talmadge Branch (D), who is now an Annapolis lobbyist, continues to hold some sway in the district. And his daughter, former Del. Chantel Branch (D), who was appointed to a vacancy in 2020 before narrowly losing a bid for a full term in 2022, is trying to make a political comeback.
All three House incumbents, Smith and Dels. Jackie Addison (D) and Caylin Young (D), are seeking reelection. But Young, who finished third in the 2022 primary, was charged with second-degree assault earlier this year and resigned his city government job in response; the charges were later dropped, but they could become an issue in the campaign. Also running is former two-term City Councilmember Robert Stokes Sr. (D), who was knocked off in the 2024 Democratic primary, and George Johnson (D), who previously sought the House seat four years ago.
Consequences of constant turnover: Montgomery County’s District 16, centered in Bethesda, has had three senators in this term. Current Sen. Sara Love (D) was appointed to the seat in 2024 after being elected to the House in 2018 and reelected in 2022. Only one of the district’s three delegates, Marc Korman (D), who joined the House in 2015, was actually elected to his seat. The other delegates, Sarah Wolek (D) and Teresa Saavedra Worman (D), were appointed in 2023 and 2024, respectively. Love and Korman have endorsed each other, but have so far chosen not to publicly align with either delegate in the primary. Also running is Tazeen Ahmad, the former president of the powerful Montgomery County Women’s Democratic Club, who has also worked for a Washington, D.C., government relations firm and has served on several local boards and commissions.
Four political heavyweights are competing for three seats. Who will be the odd person out?
More MoCo movement: When House incumbents leave, interesting things happen. In Montgomery County’s District 19, Del. Bonnie Cullison (D) is retiring after four terms. The two other incumbents are seeking reelection: Dels. Charlotte Crutchfield (D) and Vaughn Stewart (D), both elected in 2018.
But a fascinating assortment of nonincumbents is also running: Sunil Dasgupta, a political science professor and host of the quirky “I Hate Politics” podcast; Sebastian Johnson, a nonprofit policy professional and former student member of the county school board (Disclosure: Johnson is a former member of the Maryland Matters Board of Directors); Gabriel Sorrel, a software engineer and progressive activist; Alec Stone, a health care nonprofit leader; and Christa Tichy, a licensed master electrician who ran unsuccessfully for a County Council seat four years ago.
The incumbents will be favored to retain their seats, but that’s not guaranteed. Who are the challengers best equipped to break out? Many look capable of doing so.
Out of alignment: When incumbents in a district do not align, interesting things happen. In Montgomery County’s District 39 four years ago, Sen. Nancy King (D) and two of the district’s House incumbents chose to oppose the third House incumbent, Del. Gabriel Acevero (D). He won anyway.
This year, the same phenomenon is at play: King and Dels. Lesley Lopez (D) and Greg Wims (D) – who was appointed to his seat in 2023 – are backing Gaithersburg City Councilmember Robert Wu for the third delegate seat over Acevero. George Lluberes, who has dedicated himself to lifting up the district’s Latino residents and other underserved communities, is also running.
Way out west: It’s only natural that the communities of far Western Maryland would send conservatives to Annapolis. But their elected representatives have been political pragmatists, too. Will that trend continue? Or will the electorate opt for a more visible MAGA enthusiast?
Five Republicans are running to succeed retiring Del. Jim Hinebaugh (R) in District 1A, the westernmost district in the state, which takes in Garrett County and part of Allegany County. Businessman Tim Thomas, who ran a respectable second to Hinebaugh in the 2022 GOP primary, is trying again. So is Andy Adams, a farmer touting his MAGA bonafides, who finished third in the ‘22 primary. Also running: Edward E. Clemons Jr., a local minister; Dan Duggan, a farmer and ex-Marine who is a former judge on the Garrett County Orphans’ Court; and Lisa Lowe, an aide to Del. Seth Howard (R-Anne Arundel), who has been active on housing and health care policy.
Prince George’s-palooza: There is an abundance of intriguing House primaries in Prince George’s County – some in districts where very few incumbents are running again. In District 22, the lone incumbent on the ballot is Del. Ashanti Martinez (D), the chair of the Legislative Latino Caucus, who was appointed to the job in 2023 after twice running unsuccessfully for the seat. Another strong contender is Molly McKee-Seabrook, who has worked for the district’s former senator, Paul Pinsky (D), and for Senate President Bill Ferguson (D-Baltimore City). But don’t count out Edmonston Mayor Tracy Gant or Craig Hayes, a progressive political strategist. In District 24, two incumbents are on the ballot – Dels. Andrea Fletcher Harrison and Derrick Coley. Harrison has held the seat since 2019 and previously spent a decade on the County Council. Coley has been on the job for just four months, having been appointed to replace former Del. Jazz Lewis (D). So he doesn’t have all the traditional advantages of incumbency. Also running: Crystal Carpenter, chief operating officer at the Campaign for the Fair Sentencing of Youth, who also sought appointment to the seat when Coley was selected; Stanford Fraser, a public defender in Prince George’s; Bobby Henry, an attorney who has run for other offices in the county; Jordan McFarland, an attorney and former legislative staffer in Annapolis; and LaTasha Ward, who heads a local nonprofit and has sought the seat three times – twice in primaries, and once during the most recent appointment process.
In District 27A, a single-member district representing parts of Prince George’s and Charles counties, incumbent Del. Darrell Odom Sr., is seeking a full term after being appointed to the seat in January. But he’s not being given any deference. Challengers include: Yonelle Moore Lee, the head of the Charles County Board of Education, who was beaten out for the appointment Odom won; Clifton Crosby Jr., who is finishing graduate work in cyber security operations; and Shawn Maldon, a business owner and former mayor of Capitol Heights.
Some courthouse primaries to watch:
- The Democratic primary for Anne Arundel County state’s attorney, between incumbent Anne Colt Leitess and Carolynn Grammas, a former county prosecutor and federal law clerk.
- The Democratic primary for Anne Arundel County register of wills, between appointed incumbent Jasmine Jackson and Courtney Buiniskis, a longtime Democratic activist and Anne Arundel County Council legislative staffer.
- The Democratic primary for Baltimore County state’s attorney, featuring longtime incumbent Scott Shellenberger and challengers Sarah David and Lauren Lipscomb.
- The Montgomery County Democratic primary for sheriff, which pits incumbent Maxwell Uy against Will Millam, a former assistant chief sheriff in Prince George’s.
- The Prince George’s County Democratic primary for state’s attorney. This three-way race features the appointed incumbent, Tara Jackson, the county’s former chief administrative officer who also served as interim county executive. Her challengers are County Councilmember Wanika Fisher, who is a former prosecutor, and Karen Piper Mitchell, a deputy state’s attorney in Charles County.
There are so many more primaries to talk about – and so little time. Visit Maryland Matters for more in-depth coverage!