Maryland, Attorney General

Maryland held an election for attorney general on November 6, 2018. The candidate filing deadline was February 27, 2018.

SETTING THE STAGE
Heading into the 2018 election, the sitting attorney general was Brian Frosh (D), who was first elected in 2014. He sought re-election in 2018.
At the time of the 2018 election, Maryland was under divided government. It first gained this status when Gov. Larry Hogan (R) took office in 2015. Maryland was under divided triplex control in 2018.
Maryland was won by the Democratic candidate in each of the five presidential elections leading up to the 2018 election. The widest margin of victory was Hillary Clinton's 26 percent margin in 2016 while the narrowest was John Kerry's 13 percent margin in 2004.

State election history

This section provides an overview of federal and state elections in Maryland from 2000 to 2016. All data comes from the Maryland State Board of Elections.

Historical elections

Presidential elections, 2000-2016

This chart shows the results of the presidential election in Maryland every year from 2000 to 2016.

Election results (President of the United States), Maryland 2000-2016

Year	First-place candidate	First-place candidate votes (%)	Second-place candidate	Second-place candidate votes (%)	Margin of victory (%)
2016	Hillary Clinton	60.3%	Donald Trump	33.9%	26.4%
2012	Barack Obama	62.0%	Mitt Romney	35.9%	26.1%
2008	Barack Obama	61.9%	John McCain	36.5%	25.4%
2004	John Kerry	55.9%	George W. Bush	42.9%	13.0%
2000	Al Gore	56.6%	George W. Bush	40.2%	16.4%

U.S. Senate elections, 2000-2016

This chart shows the results of U.S. Senate races in Maryland from 2000 to 2016. Every state has two Senate seats, and each seat goes up for election every six years. The terms of the seats are staggered so that roughly one-third of the seats are up every two years.

Election results (U.S. Senator), Maryland 2000-2016

Year	First-place candidate	First-place candidate votes (%)	Second-place candidate	Second-place candidate votes (%)	Margin of victory (%)
2016	Chris Van Hollen	60.9%	Kathy Szeliga	35.7%	25.2%
2012	Ben Cardin	56.0%	Dan Bongino	26.3%	29.7%
2010	Barbara Mikulski	62.2%	Eric Wargotz	35.8%	26.4%
2006	Ben Cardin	54.2%	Michael Steele	44.2%	10.0%
2004	Barbara Mikulski	64.8%	E. J. Pipkin	33.8%	31.0%
2000	Paul Sarbanes	63.2%	Paul Rappaport	36.7%	26.5%

Gubernatorial elections, 2000-2016

This chart shows the results of the four gubernatorial elections held between 2000 and 2016. Gubernatorial elections are held every four years in Maryland.

Election results (Governor), Maryland 2000-2016

Year	First-place candidate	First-place candidate votes (%)	Second-place candidate	Second-place candidate votes (%)	Margin of victory (%)
2014	Larry Hogan	51.0%	Anthony G. Brown	47.2%	3.8%
2010	Martin O'Malley	49.5%	Robert L. Ehrlich, Jr.	41.8%	6.7%
2006	Martin O'Malley	52.7%	Robert L. Ehrlich, Jr.	46.2%	6.5%
2002	Robert L. Ehrlich, Jr.	51.6%	Kathleen Kennedy Townsend	47.7%	3.9%

Congressional delegation, 2000-2016

This chart shows the number of Democrats and Republicans who were elected to represent Maryland in the U.S. House from 2000 to 2016. Elections for U.S. House seats are held every two years.

Congressional delegation, Maryland 2000-2016

Year	Republicans	Republicans (%)	Democrats	Democrats (%)	Balance of power
2016	1	12.5%	7	87.5%	D+7
2014	1	12.5%	7	87.5%	D+7
2012	1	12.5%	7	87.5%	D+7
2010	2	25%	6	75%	D+4
2008	1	12.5%	7	87.5%	D+7
2006	2	25%	6	75%	D+4
2004	2	25%	6	75%	R+1
2002	2	25%	6	75%	R+1
2000	4	50.0%	4	50.0%	Even

Trifectas, 1992-2017

A state government trifecta occurs when one party controls both chambers of the state legislature and the governor's office.

Maryland Party Control: 1992-2019
19 years of Democratic trifectas • No Republican trifectas

Year	92	93	94	95	96	97	98	99	00	01	02	03	04	05	06	07	08	09	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18	19
Governor	D	D	D	D	D	D	D	D	D	D	D	R	R	R	R	D	D	D	D	D	D	D	D	R	R	R	R	R
Senate	D	D	D	D	D	D	D	D	D	D	D	D	D	D	D	D	D	D	D	D	D	D	D	D	D	D	D	D
House	D	D	D	D	D	D	D	D	D	D	D	D	D	D	D	D	D	D	D	D	D	D	D	D	D	D	D	D

Demographics

Demographic data for Maryland

	Maryland	U.S.
Total population:	5,994,983	316,515,021
Land area (sq mi):	9,707	3,531,905
Gender
Female:	51.6%	50.8%
Race and ethnicity**
White:	57.6%	73.6%
Black/African American:	29.5%	12.6%
Asian:	6%	5.1%
Native American:	0.3%	0.8%
Pacific Islander:	0%	0.2%
Two or more:	3%	3%
Hispanic/Latino:	9%	17.1%
Education
High school graduation rate:	89.4%	86.7%
College graduation rate:	37.9%	29.8%
Income
Median household income:	$74,551	$53,889
Persons below poverty level:	10.7%	11.3%
Source: U.S. Census Bureau, "American Community Survey" (5-year estimates 2010-2015) for more information on the 2020 census and here for more on its impact on the redistricting process in Maryland.

As of July 2016, Maryland's three largest cities were Baltimore (pop. est. 611,648), Columbia (pop. est. 103,439), and Germantown (pop. est. 90,494).