2008 United States presidential election in Maryland

The 2008 United States presidential election in Maryland took place on November 4, 2008, and was part of the 2008 United States presidential election. Voters chose 10 representatives, or electors to the Electoral College, who voted for president and vice president.

2008 United States presidential election in Maryland
November 4, 2008
 
Nominee Barack Obama John McCain
Party Democratic Republican
Home state Illinois Arizona
Running mate Joe Biden Sarah Palin
Electoral vote 10 0
Popular vote 1,629,467 959,862
Percentage 61.92% 36.47%
County Results
President before election

George W. Bush
Republican

 Elected President

Barack Obama
Democratic

Main article: 2008 United States presidential election
Elections in Maryland
Government

Maryland was won by Democratic nominee Barack Obama by a 25.4% margin of victory. Prior to the election, all 17 news organizations considered this a state Obama would win, or otherwise considered as a safe blue state. The Old Line State has voted for the Democratic presidential candidate of every election since 1992. In 2008, Obama easily captured the state's 10 electoral votes in a landslide victory, winning 61.92% of the popular vote to Republican John McCain's 36.47%.

Primaries
  • Maryland Democratic primary, 2008
  • Maryland Republican primary, 2008

Campaign

Predictions

There were 16 news organizations who made state-by-state predictions of the election. Here are their last predictions before election day:

Polling

Obama won every single pre-election poll, each by a double-digit margin of victory and at least 51% of the vote. The final 3 polls averaged Obama leading 54% to 38%.[14]

Fundraising

John McCain raised a total of $3,439,120 in the state. Barack Obama raised $19,091,136.[15]

Advertising and visits

Obama spent $257,582 while McCain spent nothing.[16] Both tickets visited the state once.[17]

Analysis
Voting taking place at a Maryland polling station

Maryland has supported the Democratic nominee in each of the last 5 presidential elections by an average margin of 15.4%. In 1980, it was 1 of only 6 states to vote for Democrat Jimmy Carter over Republican Ronald Reagan. It has only supported a Republican 6 times since Franklin D. Roosevelt – 1948 and the Republican landslides of 1952, 1956, 1972, 1984 and 1988.

Maryland is often among the Democratic nominees' best states. In 1992, Bill Clinton fared better in Maryland than any other state except his home state of Arkansas. In 1996, Maryland was Clinton's sixth best, in 2000 Maryland ranked fourth for Al Gore and in 2004 John Kerry showed his fifth best performance in Maryland.

Republican presidential candidates typically win more counties by running up huge margins in western Maryland and the Eastern Shore. However, they are usually swamped by the heavily Democratic Baltimore-Washington, D.C. axis, which casts almost 75% of the state's vote. The state's four largest county-level jurisdictions – Montgomery, Prince George's and Baltimore counties and the City of Baltimore — are strongly Democratic. These areas, which contain 1.5 million voters combined, make it extremely difficult for a Republican to win Maryland. Even in bad years for Democrats, a Republican usually has to run the table in the rest of the state and win either Montgomery, Prince George's or Baltimore counties to have a realistic chance of carrying the state. In 1984, for instance, Ronald Reagan only carried Maryland by crushing Walter Mondale in Baltimore County and narrowly winning Montgomery. In 1988, George H. W. Bush ran up a 42,300-vote margin in Baltimore County over Michael Dukakis – almost 85% of his statewide margin of 49,800 votes.

The 2008 election was no exception. Barack Obama won the state's 10 electoral votes in 2008 with 61.92% of the vote to John McCain's 36.47%. Obama carried Montgomery, Prince George's, Baltimore County and Baltimore City with 71.6%, 88.9%, 56.2 and 87.2% of the vote, respectively. Obama's combined 550,000-vote margin in these four areas would have been enough to carry the state. While McCain won more counties, the only large county he won was Anne Arundel County, home to the state capital, Annapolis.

Both of Maryland's U.S. Senators and 7 of its 8 U.S. Representatives in Congress are Democrats, and Democrats hold supermajorities in the state Senate and House of Delegates. The state has elected only 5 Republican governors since 1900.

U.S. Representative Steny Hoyer, a Democrat who represents Maryland's 5th Congressional District, was elected as House Majority Leader for the 110th Congress of the U.S. House of Representatives and 111th Congress, serving in that post since January 2007.

While Maryland is a Democratic Party stronghold, its best known political figure is perhaps a Republican – former Governor Spiro Agnew, who served as Vice President under Richard M. Nixon. He was Vice President from 1969 to 1973, when he resigned in the aftermath of revelations that he had taken bribes while he was Governor of Maryland. In late 1973, a court found Agnew guilty of violating tax laws.

In 2008, Democrats picked up a U.S. House an open seat in Maryland's 1st Congressional District as Democrat Frank M. Kratovil, Jr. defeated Republican Andy Harris by less than a 1% margin of victory.

As of the 2016 presidential election, this is the last election in which Kent County voted for a Democratic Presidential candidate.

Results
United States presidential election in Maryland, 2008[18]
Party Candidate Running mate Votes Percentage Electoral votes
Democratic Barack Obama Joe Biden 1,629,467 61.92% 10
Republican John McCain Sarah Palin 959,862 36.47% 0
Independent Ralph Nader Matt Gonzalez 14,713 0.56% 0
Libertarian Bob Barr Wayne Allyn Root 9,842 0.44% 0
Independent Write-in candidates 9,043 0.34% 0
Green Cynthia McKinney Rosa Clemente 4,747 0.18% 0
Constitution Chuck Baldwin Darrell Castle 3,760 0.14% 0
America's Independent Alan Keyes (write-in) Brian Rohrbough 103 0.00% 0
Unaffiliated Donald Kenneth Allen (write-in) Christopher Borcik 17 0.56% 0
Democratic Blaine Taylor (write-in) n/a 12 0.00% 0
Socialist USA Brian Moore (write-in) Stewart Alexander 10 0.00% 0
Totals 2,631,596 100.00% 10
Voter turnout (Voting age population) 62.4%

Results by county
County Barack Hussein Obama
Democratic		 John Sidney McCain III
Republican		 Various candidates
Other parties		 Margin Total votes cast[19]
# % # % # % # %
Allegany 10,693 35.95% 18,405 61.88% 644 2.17% -7,712 -25.93% 29,742
Anne Arundel 125,015 48.15% 129,682 49.95% 4,922 1.90% -4,667 -1.80% 259,619
Baltimore County 214,151 56.22% 158,714 41.66% 8,073 2.12% 55,437 14.55% 380,938
Baltimore City 214,385 87.16% 28,681 11.66% 2,902 1.18% 185,704 75.50% 245,968
Calvert 20,299 46.07% 23,095 52.42% 663 1.50% -2,796 -6.35% 44,057
Caroline 4,971 37.61% 8,015 60.64% 232 1.76% -3,044 -23.03% 13,218
Carroll 28,060 33.11% 54,503 64.30% 2,197 2.59% -26,443 -31.20% 84,760
Cecil 17,665 41.57% 23,855 56.14% 974 2.29% -6,190 -14.57% 42,494
Charles 43,635 62.22% 25,732 36.69% 760 1.08% 17,903 25.53% 70,127
Dorchester 6,912 45.25% 8,168 53.48% 194 1.27% -1,256 -8.22% 15,274
Frederick 54,013 48.58% 55,170 49.62% 2,003 1.80% -1,157 -1.04% 111,186
Garrett 3,736 29.02% 8,903 69.17% 233 1.81% -5,167 -40.14% 12,872
Harford 48,552 39.38% 71,751 58.19% 2,992 2.43% -23,199 -18.82% 123,295
Howard 87,120 59.99% 55,393 38.14% 2,720 1.87% 31,727 21.85% 145,233
Kent 4,953 49.43% 4,905 48.95% 162 1.62% 48 0.48% 10,020
Montgomery 314,444 71.58% 118,608 27.00% 6,209 1.41% 195,836 44.58% 439,261
Prince George's 332,396 88.87% 38,833 10.38% 2,797 0.75% 293,563 78.49% 374,026
Queen Anne's 8,575 35.66% 15,087 62.74% 383 1.59% -6,512 -27.08% 24,045
Somerset 4,779 48.16% 5,037 50.76% 108 1.09% -258 -2.60% 9,924
St. Mary's 19,023 42.84% 24,705 55.63% 681 1.53% -5,682 -12.79% 44,409
Talbot 9,035 44.45% 10,995 54.09% 298 1.47% -1,960 -9.64% 20,328
Washington 26,245 42.61% 34,169 55.47% 1,186 1.93% -7,924 -12.86% 61,600
Wicomico 19,436 46.44% 21,849 52.20% 569 1.36% -2,413 -5.77% 41,854
Worcester 11,374 41.59% 15,607 57.07% 365 1.33% -4,233 -15.48% 27,346
Totals1,629,46761.92%959,86236.47%42,2671.61%669,60525.44%2,631,596

By congressional district

Barack Obama carried 6 of Maryland’s 8 congressional districts, all held by Democrats. John McCain carried two congressional districts, the only one held by a Republican and one that was won by a Democrat in 2008.

District Obama McCain Representative
1st 39.81% 58.26% Wayne Gilchrest (110th Congress)
Frank M. Kratovil, Jr. (111th Congress)
2nd 59.84% 38.25% Dutch Ruppersberger
3rd 58.78% 39.23% John Sarbanes
4th 85.06% 14.16% Albert Wynn (110th Congress)
Donna Edwards (111th Congress)
5th 65.44% 33.30% Steny Hoyer
6th 40.19% 57.65% Roscoe Bartlett
7th 78.79% 19.89% Elijah Cummings
8th 73.88% 24.70% Chris Van Hollen

Electors
Main article: List of 2008 United States presidential electors

Technically the voters of Maryland cast their ballots for electors: representatives to the Electoral College. Maryland is allocated 10 electors because it has 8 congressional districts and 2 senators. All candidates who appear on the ballot or qualify to receive write-in votes must submit a list of 10 electors, who pledge to vote for their candidate and his or her running mate. Whoever wins the majority of votes in the state is awarded all 10 electoral votes. Their chosen electors then vote for president and vice president. Although electors are pledged to their candidate and running mate, they are not obligated to vote for them.[20] An elector who votes for someone other than his or her candidate is known as a faithless elector.

The electors of each state and the District of Columbia met on December 15, 2008, to cast their votes for president and vice president. The Electoral College itself never meets as one body. Instead the electors from each state and the District of Columbia met in their respective capitols.

The following were the members of the Electoral College from the state. All 10 were pledged to Barack Obama and Joe Biden:[21]

  1. Gene M. Ransom III
  2. Delores Kelley
  3. Guy Guzzone
  4. Nathaniel Exum
  5. Chris Reynolds
  6. Bobby Fouche
  7. Elizabeth Bobo
  8. Michael Barnes
  9. Susan Lee
  10. Rainier Harvey, Sr.
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References
  1. "D.C.'s Political Report: The complete source for campaign summaries". Archived from the original on 2009-01-01. Retrieved 2009-12-20.
  2. Presidential | The Cook Political Report Archived May 5, 2015, at the Wayback Machine
  3. Adnaan (2008-09-20). "Track the Electoral College vote predictions". The Takeaway. Archived from the original on April 22, 2009. Retrieved 2009-11-14.
  4. Electoral-vote.com: President, Senate, House Updated Daily
  5. Based on Takeaway
  6. POLITICO's 2008 Swing State Map - POLITICO.com
  7. RealClearPolitics - Electoral Map
  8. "CQ Presidential Maps, 2008". CQ Politics. Archived from the original on 29 October 2008. Retrieved 31 August 2012.
  9. "Electoral College Map". The New York Times. Retrieved 2010-05-26.
  10. "October – 2008 – CNN Political Ticker - CNN.com Blogs". CNN. Retrieved 2010-05-26.
  11. "Winning the Electoral College". Fox News. 2010-04-27.
  12. roadto270
  13. Election 2008: Electoral College Update - Rasmussen Reports™
  14. Election 2008 Polls - Dave Leip's Atlas of U.S. Presidential Elections
  15. "Presidential Campaign Finance". Archived from the original on 2009-03-24. Retrieved 2009-08-20.
  16. "Map: Campaign Ad Spending - Election Center 2008 from CNN.com". CNN. Retrieved 2010-05-26.
  17. "Map: Campaign Candidate Visits - Election Center 2008 from CNN.com". CNN. Retrieved 2010-05-26.
  18. "Maryland State Board of Elections". Retrieved 2008-12-12.
  19. Maryland State Board of Elections; 2008 Presidential General Election Official Results President and Vice President of the United States
  20. "Electoral College". California Secretary of State. Archived from the original on October 30, 2008. Retrieved 2008-11-01.
  21. Maryland State Board of Elections

See also
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