One week until Maryland’s primary

By

Ethan Rice

Welcome to the Tuesday, May 7, 2024, Brew. 

By: Ethan Rice

Here’s what’s in store for you as you start your day:

  1. One week until Maryland’s primary
  2. More election-related legislation enacted so far this year than in 2022
  3. Biden issued one public health executive order in April

One week until Maryland’s primary

Maryland is holding primaries for congressional and local offices on Tuesday, May 14. Voters will decide primaries for one member of the U.S. Senate and eight U.S. House districts. Currently, Democrats hold both U.S. Senate seats and seven of the eight U.S. House districts, with a Republican holding the remaining district. Today, let’s look at what voters will see on their ballots.

No state legislative offices are up for election in Maryland this year, so there are no state legislative primaries on the ballot. 

U.S. Senate 

Seventeen candidates are running in Senate primaries: seven in the Republican primary and 10 in the Democratic primary. The current incumbent, Ben Cardin (D), announced on May 1, 2023 he would not seek re-election.

In the 2022 Senate election, Chris Van Hollen (D) defeated Chris Chaffee (R) 65.8%-34.1%. In 2018, Cardin defeated Tony Campbell (R) 64.9%-30.3%. 

U.S. House 

  • Eighty-seven candidates, including 58 Democrats and 29 Republicans, are running for Maryland’s eight U.S. House districts. That’s an average of 10.88 candidates per district. In 2022, an average of 8.12 candidates ran per district. In 2020, the average was 9.87. In 2018, it was 6.87.
  • The total number of candidates who ran for the U.S. House in 2024 is also more than any other year this decade.
  • Three districts—the 2nd, the 3rd, and the 6th—are open, meaning no incumbents are running. That’s the most open districts in an election cycle this decade.
  • Rep. David Trone (D-6th) is running for the U.S. Senate, while Reps. Dutch Ruppersberger (D-2nd) and John Sarbanes (D-3rd) are retiring from public office.
  • Thirty-one candidates—22 Democrats and nine Republicans—ran for the open 3rd Congressional District, the most candidates running for a district in Maryland in 2024.
  • Fourteen primaries—eight Democratic and six Republican—are contested in 2024. Fifteen primaries were contested in 2022, 16 primaries were contested in 2020, and 14 were in 2018.
  • Five incumbents—four Democrats and one Republican—face primary challengers in 2024. That’s fewer than in 2022 when six incumbents faced challengers. In 2020, eight incumbents faced challengers. In 2018, six did.
  • Candidates are running in the Republican and Democratic primaries in all eight districts.

Local primaries 

  • Municipal:
    • The city of Baltimore, Maryland, is holding primary elections for mayor, comptroller, city council, and circuit court judges. 
    • Thirteen candidates are running in the Democratic mayoral primary for Baltimore, which Ballotpedia has identified as a battleground primary. Three candidates are running in the Republican mayoral primary.  
  • School board:
    • Five counties within our coverage scope are holding primary elections for school boards: Anne Arundel County, Cecil County, Howard County, Montgomery County, and Prince George’s County.
    • Ballotpedia’s coverage includes all school districts in the 100 largest cities by population and the 200 largest school districts by student enrollment. Click here to see more coverage of school board elections. 

Alaska, Arkansas, Delaware, Minnesota, North Carolina, Nebraska, South Carolina, West Virginia, and Wyoming are also holding elections on May 14. California, Georgia, Indiana, Michigan, Montana, South Carolina, and Wyoming are holding elections today. To see more upcoming election dates, see our elections calendar. 

Keep reading 

More election-related legislation enacted so far this year than in 2022

Since the start of 2024, legislators have considered more than 3,500 election-related bills, and states have adopted 188 new election-related laws. This is more than the 113 bills approved by this point in 2022 but fewer than the 284 bills approved at this point in 2023. 

Thirty-three states have enacted election-related legislation so far this year. Virginia has enacted the most bills (25), followed by Tennessee (23), Georgia (14), Idaho (13), and Utah (13). At this point in 2023, 34 states had enacted bills. Georgia had approved the most bills (49), followed by Arkansas (38), Montana (19), Virginia (19), and South Dakota (17). Thirty-one states had enacted legislation by this time in 2022, with Tennessee (15), West Virginia (12), New York (9), Utah (9), and Virginia (8) approving the most bills.

The topic area with the most bills enacted by this point this year, 2023, and 2022 was election types and contest-specific procedures, which refer to primary systems, municipal election procedures, recall elections, special election procedures, and other systems unique to a particular election type. Other common topics of bills enacted this year include ballot access (39), election dates and deadlines (35), offices (25), election officials and workers (17), and audits (17). In 2023, the most common topics of enacted legislation were audits (42), election dates and deadlines (40), counting and canvassing procedures (28), and ballot access (26). Other common topics in 2022 were audits (22), ballot access (18), voter registration (17), absentee ballots (16), and redistricting (16). Click here to learn more about our legislative categories.

Republicans have sponsored the most bills enacted so far this year as well as at this point in 2023 and 2022. States with Republican trifectas also passed the most legislation at this point across all three years. Republicans have sponsored 93 enacted bills this year, 172 in 2023, and 59 in 2022. In states with Republican trifectas, governors have approved 109 bills this year, compared to 213 last year and 62 in 2022. Democrats have sponsored 33 bills approved so far this year, compared to 43 at this point in 2023 and 23 in 2022. States with Democratic trifectas enacted 39 bills this year, 39 in 2023, and 26 in 2022. 

This data comes from our free Election Administration Legislation Tracker, which allows users to follow election administration bills in all 50 states through every step of the legislative process. To see all enacted bills this year, click here.

Keep reading 

Biden issued one executive order about public health in April

President Joe Biden (D) issued one executive order in April, bringing his total to 138. The one order he issued in April was the Executive Order on COVID-⁠19 and Public Health Preparedness and Response (April 12, 2024).

The order revokes three previous executive orders: Executive Order 13910 of March 23, 2020, Executive Order 13991 of January 20, 2021, and Executive Order 13998 of January 21, 2021. It also transfers the responsibilities of COVID-19 response coordinator to the director of the Office of Pandemic Preparedness and Response Policy (OPPR).

Biden issued 25 executive orders in January 2021, more than any other month of his presidency. He did not issue any executive orders in November 2022, January 2023, and January 2024.

Biden has issued an average of 41 executive orders per year in office, the third-lowest average among the seven presidents who have held office since 1981. Donald Trump (R) averaged 55 executive orders per year, the most in that time. Barack Obama (D) averaged 35 per year, the fewest in that time.

Franklin D. Roosevelt (D) issued 307 executive orders per year on average, the most of all U.S. presidents. William Henry Harrison (Whig) averaged the fewest, issuing none during his one month in office. Three presidents issued only one executive order each: James Madison (Democratic-Republican), James Monroe (Democratic-Republican), and John Adams (Federalist).

Keep reading