Biden on Mikulski pic.twitter.com/s6p7P417AD
— Zeke Miller (@ZekeJMiller) March 2, 2015
Anna Merlan, at Jezebel, “Sen. Barbara Mikulski, Longest-Serving Woman in Congress, Will Retire“:
Senator Barbara Mikulski of Maryland, the longest-serving woman in Congressional history, will be retiring at the end of this term. Mikulski, 78, has served in the Senate since 1987, and acted as a Representative for 10 years before that, a total of 38 years in Congress.
Mikulski sponsored several important pieces of legislation during her time in the Senate, including the Child Care and Development Block Grant Act, which helps pay for childcare for low-income families, and, in April of 2014, the Paycheck Fairness Act, which would force employers to prove that pay disparities are based on an employee’s qualifications, not their gender. That is, if Senate Republicans would quit blocking it…
At a news conference [Monday], Mikulski, a former social worker who the Baltimore Sun once called “a vicious terrier” about the issues she cares about, said she would rather spend the next two years “raising hell” than fundraising for reelection.
“Do I spend my time raising money or do I spend my time raising hell?” she told reporters. “Remember, for the next two years, I will be here, working the way that I do.”
Any Marylanders who’d like to weigh in on Mikulski’s potential replacement(s)?
Martin OâMalley says he wonât run for the seat being vacated by Senator Barbara A. Mikulski http://t.co/qN4feA0XFI
— The New York Times (@nytimes) March 3, 2015
Remember how I was saying progressive groups would probably get behind Donna Edwards? #MDSen pic.twitter.com/PUzsOypMLw
— daveweigel (@daveweigel) March 3, 2015
tsquared2001
Man, what I wouldn’t give to see Donna Edwards in the Senate.
Tommy
@tsquared2001: Many years ago. Many years Mikulski was my rep. I am very happy I got to vote for her.
Xantar
Martin O’Malley has ruled himself out which means he’s definitely running for President (and I say all the best luck to him. I like him, and we need someone to at least give Hillary some exercise).
Donna Edwards would be fine. I know from talking to people that Congressman John Delaney is also considering a run, but people are also asking him to challenge Larry Hogan for Governor in four years.
Chris Van Hollen would be an obvious choice, but I think he’s gunning for a higher position in the House even though he knows he will be in the minority for the next couple cycles.
The dark horse candidate would be Baltimore Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake. I don’t give her much of a chance, but she might try it.
It’s going to be Maryland’s most interesting race in 2016 for sure.
Hal
Right now Scott Brown is looking up real estate in Maryland.
sharl
This Murlndrrr hasn’t given it much thought. I did hear that O’Malley took himself out of the running for that seat (hmm, wondering if he’s on the edge of his seat watching HillaryEMailGateOrWhateverTheFuckTheyWillCallIt), and I heard a bit of reasonable speculation on local radio that Steny Hoyer is highly unlikely to leave his senior House position either. Otherwise, I’ve heard that as many as 6 Democrats and 4 (underdog) Republicans might be interested. With the exception of Elijah Cummings our House delegation is relatively young
I’d miss the hell out of having Donna as my CD rep (MD-4), but then she’d be my Senator, which would be most excellent. As long as we don’t get a return of the likes of Corporate Al Wynn (Edwards’ predecessor here). With former PG County Executive and career scumbag Jack Johnson safely behind bars, we have some decent possibilities for replacing Donna if she tries for the Senate.
Just in case folks don’t know, the big population areas in MD are Baltimore and its suburbs, and the Montgomery and Prince George’s County suburbs surrounding Washington DC. MD has a high population of African Americans concentrated in these areas, and is usually a Democratic state, though we recently elected a GOP governor; some tax weariness and a piss-poor campaign by the Dem candidate helped bring that result about. My impression is that statewide Democratic losses happen when AA voters stay home, which by my observations has tended to happen when state Dem Party leadership takes AA voters for granted (that wasn’t as big a factor in this last election, AFAICT – or maybe more correctly, was a factor in a more complex situation – but definitely was THE major factor when the state elected it’s last GOP governor, Bob Ehrlich, in 2002).
Conservatives are spread out more – Baltimore exurbs, Eastern Shore (as in east of the Chesapeake Bay), north-central rural areas, and the relatively sparsely populated Appalachian foothills, hills and hollers of the western panhandle.
mdblanche
@Xantar:
Either that or Vice President.
@Hal:
And Alan Keyes is looking up real estate in Chicago.
BBA
Former Lt. Gov. Michael Steele is overdue for a comeback.
Violet
Has Harold Ford’s helicopter landed in enough places in Maryland so he can run?
gf120581
Another likely possibility is John Sarbanes.
My guess is either him or Van Hollen. Edwards too is in the mix. Much like in California, the state has a lot of ambitious Democrats and not enough offices to go around. But while Kamala Harris seems to have scared off everyone else in California, I’m not sure that’ll be the case here.
JPL
@gf120581: Then why is there a republican governor.
OT.. I was just surfing on the web and everyone has the woodpecker and weasel but all I see now is Betty’s picture of Bibi riding Boehner’s back. Maybe it’s only my own biases and I admit that. That pic has to be front paged.
Mike J
‘Star Trek’ fans told to stop ‘Spocking’ Canadian $5 bill.
khead
Well, my first thought was “O’Malley is lucky as hell”. But if he’s really out, then Van Hollen.
sharl
Wikipedia’s list of Maryland Congress-critters includes decent mini-maps of districts, and includes the Cook Partisan Voting Index (PVI) numbers for each district (though I don’t know how current those PVI numbers are). The state Dem party machine gerrymandered former GOP Rep. Roscoe Bartlett out of his seat, so we have just just one GOP Congressman now, the bellicose Andy Harris.
Donna Edwards is not a fan of machine politics, and that gives rise to occasional reports of tension with the Dem party bosses in Annapolis, who run a fairly powerful machine. She criticized that gerrymander, for example. I don’t know if or how much that tension might complicate her chances if she decides to run in the Dem primary for Mikulski’s seat.
gf120581
@JPL: Hogan’s win was much like Ehrlich’s in 2002; a low-turnout midterm combined with a lackluster Dem candidate who ran a bad campaign. Much like Ehrlich, he’ll be one term and done.
Completely different situation here. In a Presidential year, a Republican has no chance of winning statewide in a state as blue as Maryland. I doubt they’ll put up anything more then token opposition. (Ehrlich seems serious about pursuing his quixotic Presidential race.)
BillinGlendaleCA
@sharl:
You mean the winking Andy Harris.
tsquared2001
@Tommy: I like how Ms. Edwards took up Ms. Mikulski’s mantle re domestic violence. Plus, she turfed out that waste of skin Al Wynn – for that alone, I think she would be a brilliant senator.
JPL
@gf120581: thanks for the info.
mb
Not a Marylander, but I’d vote for Elijah Cummings. Donna Edwards, second choice — but a close second.
max
Martin OâMalley says he wonât run for the seat being vacated by Senator Barbara A. Mikulski
That’s stupid. He should totally run. He’ll almost certainly win, he’ll be in the Senate and the end of the term would coincide with 2022, just in time for the race to 2024. OR he’ll almost certainly win, even if the Dems lose the Presidency in 2016, then he can aim at 2020. WOO.
Hanging around and hoping for the Veep slot is a non-starter. And he is at best third in a three person field.
max
[‘Muckety-muck Democrats and their fucking shitty timing decisions. This is why we don’t have a deep bench.’]
Elizabelle
Vicious terrier?
We need more of that.
Mike in NC
@gf120581: I lived in Maryland when that nonentity was governor. No doubt he’ll consider running for Senate.
trollhattan
@Hal:
Keyboard wipe, aisle my computer.
Scotty Hotpants will not be denied!
trollhattan
@Mike J:
Oh man that’s funny–Crazy Canadians.
Although, could that really be Mel Brooks?
Bonnie
I lived in Maryland from 1984 through June 2008. It was great pleasure having Mikulski for Senator. I got to meet her on various occasions; and, she was just so impressive. She will be missed. I wish her the best of luck in the future and a long happy life. She definitely improved the lives of all American women during her tenure in Congress.
Mike J
@trollhattan: A google image search for Spocking’ Canadian $5 bill yields many better examples.
Heliopause
Bad visual.
sparrow
As a denizen of Maryland, all I can say is that I choked on my cereal this morning when the Washington Post suggested that Stephanie Rawlings-Blake (current failsome mayor of Baltimore) could be running. She can barely string words into a sentence without either offending half the room or sounding like a lame, third-rate politician (which she is). Baltimore is continuing to go exactly nowhere under her “leadership”, and she is overly fond of giving away “incentive” tax-breaks to developers that were going to build anyway (most recently $400 million for a housing development in the inner harbor). Lots of platitudes and no substance. Ick.
I wish we could clone Mikulski because she was a dang good senator, and deserves a good replacement. O’Malley would be ok. I don’t think he’s going anywhere on the presidential front, but he’s already said he’s not interested in the senate seat.
MattF
I guess Edwards and Van Hollen are the leading Congressional Dems in the mix for the seat. Van Hollen is my representative– his main political achievement, IMO, is still beating Connie Morella for the House seat some years ago. Maybe he’s made a mark in the House Democratic leadership, but I don’t have a strong opinion about him.
Edwards would certainly be more interesting as a candidate. An honest-to-goodness liberal, of all things. But either Edwards or Van Hollen would run a competent race and be a good Senator.
I was semi-pleased to hear that O’Malley had opted out. He also opted out of trying to help Brown win the Governor’s race, and now we’re stuck with a Repub. But it’s fair to say that Brown ran an awful race for Governor, and I hope he stays out of the Senate contest.
Scamp Dog
@Mike J: I may have to get myself a Canadian $5 bill!
msdc
I was very happy with O’Malley as governor, but I’m glad he isn’t going for the senate seat. We need someone who’s willing to give voters a real choice in the presidential primary.
I would love to see Donna Edwards run for the seat, though I think she’d face somewhat more of an uphill battle than other Democratic candidates would. (Let’s just say that while Anthony Brown was more than capable of losing the governor’s race on his own, I wonder if his race didn’t put another thumb on the scale.)
OTOH, Edwards might fire up the base in a way that Brown never did, and in a presidential election year the Dem nominee probably starts with around a 20, 25 point cushion. I hope she goes for it.
Starfish
Can someone explain the O’Malley love to me because I do not get it. It seemed like he used Baltimore as a quick stepping stone to governor, and there was so much work to do in the city that it felt like he abandoned it for self-glorification. And most people who had a chance to meet him were kinda “Meh, politicians” about the whole thing.
Woodrowfan
she’s a great Senator but apparently the boss from hell, winning the “worst boss to work for” among Congressional staffers fairly frequently.
msdc
@Starfish:
Sure. He knocked out an incumbent Republican governor and started implementing liberal policies again (while closing the hole Ehrlich blew in our budget). His second term in particular saw same-sex marriage, a state version of the Dream Act, and the repeal of the death penalty. I just read the other day that Maryland had one of the biggest declines in the uninsured since we set up a state exchange and expanded Medicaid under the ACA. He’s a competent executive who doesn’t shy away from liberal ideas.
He’d been mayor of Baltimore for about seven years when he ran for governor. In other words, almost twice as long as Obama was in the senate.
Lord save us from fans who think The Wire was a documentary.
DivF
Could a Marylander explain what the “O’Malley has no charisma” thing is about ? He’s won four elections, two statewide so he must have some appeal.
Tommy
@DivF: Best I can tell from reading a few long profiles on him he is about the ultimate political wonk. Loves to get deep in the weeds on policy. I find that refreshing but could see how many would not.
Kay (not the front-pager)
@DivF:
I think it comes from his 2012 convention speech, which followed Deval Patrick’s stem-winder. O’Malley is very articulate and quick on his feet in interview and panel situations, so expectations were high (at least for me) that he would be able to use the speech to break out nationally. But Patrick’s speech was such an inspiring, Obama-level performance that O’Malley just couldn’t compete; and you could tell that he knew it a few seconds into the speech.
It’s a shame really. He has a lot to offer as a progressive politician.
Katherine
@Bonnie: she has the best blue crab cake recipe ! i grew up on Maryland crabs / as for a replacement i support Donna Edwards
Epicurus
If I lived in the state of my birth, I’d be tempted to write in “Tommy Carcetti.”