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Veteran Democratic congressman retires from safely blue seat in Maryland [1]

['Daily Kos Staff']

Date: 2023-10-26  

Democratic Rep. John Sarbanes announced Thursday that he would not seek a 10th term representing Maryland's 3rd District next year, a decision that came two months after he indicated he would in fact run for reelection. Sarbanes' suburban Baltimore constituency supported Joe Biden 62-36, so whoever takes a plurality in the May 14 Democratic primary should have no trouble holding it.

While the congressman's declaration took observers by surprise, Inside Elections' Jacob Rubashkin quickly mentioned several Democrats who could run to replace him, including Howard County Executive Calvin Ball, state Sen. Sarah Elfreth, Anne Arundel County Executive Steuart Pittman, and Del. Courtney Watson. The Baltimore Sun also names state Sen. Clarence Lam as a possibility.

Sarbanes, who is the son of the late Sen. Paul Sarbanes, worked as an attorney and as a special assistant to the state superintendent of school before his father's retirement set off a chain of events that gave him the chance to run for Congress in 2006. Then-Rep. Ben Cardin left behind an old version of the 3rd to wage a successful bid to succeed the elder Sarbanes, while the senator's son joined a field of seven other Democrats all seeking to replace the 10-term Cardin.

Sarbanes ended up beating former Baltimore Health Commissioner Peter Beilenson, the son of former California Rep. Anthony Beilenson, 32-25, and he had no trouble winning the general election or holding onto the seat thereafter. The new congressman was quickly talked about as a future candidate for higher office in part because his father, Cardin, and Sen. Barbara Mikulski had all made the jump from representing the 3rd to the upper chamber.

Indeed, observers speculated in 2012 that Democrats redrew his seat to take in wealthy parts of the D.C. suburbs so he'd have access to more wealthy donors; the Washington Post dubbed that version of the 3rd "a crazy quilt," while a judge said it looked like a "broken-winged pterodactyl, lying prostrate across the center of the state."

That long-awaited Sarbanes Senate bid never happened, though. He ultimately sat out the race to succeed Mikulski in 2016 after she announced her retirement and barely saw his name mentioned as a possible contender after Cardin decided to step aside this May. Sarbanes himself told Maryland Matters in August, "I decided a few years back that was something that I wasn't drawn to," while also insisting that "I always come off each cycle looking forward to the next campaign." However, the 61-year-old congressman said Thursday that he wanted to get back to "working with nonprofits, volunteering and otherwise contributing to my community."

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