Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-Md.), a leading progressive who has achieved national fame as one of the managers of former President Donald Trump’s second impeachment, said Friday he would not run for his home state’s open Senate seat, arguing that his role in the House was too crucial to give up.
Raskin would’ve been one of the leading candidates in the race to replace retiring Sen. Ben Cardin (D-Md.), if not necessarily an outright favorite. The two major contenders for the seat are now Prince George’s County Executive Angela Alsobrooks and Total Wine co-founder-turned-Rep. David Trone (D-Md.)
“I am profoundly grateful not only to those who have encouraged me on this exciting path but also to those from all over Maryland who have strongly encouraged me to run for the U.S. Senate seat being left vacant by Senator Ben Cardin,” Raskin wrote in a lengthy statement. “If these were normal times, I am pretty sure that this is what I would be announcing now. But these are not normal times and we are still in the fight of our lives for democratic institutions, freedom and basic social progress in America.”
Raskin is now the ranking Democrat on the House Oversight Committee, where he worked to battle Committee Chair James Comer’s (R-Ky.) efforts to investigate President Joe Biden and Biden’s son Hunter. He has also worked with the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee to hire summer fellows who help work on congressional campaigns and has become a sought-after campaign surrogate.
Raskin would’ve been the clear favorite of progressive institutions in the Democratic primary, while Alsobrooks and Trone are largely seen as mainstream liberals.
Alsobrooks has attracted the support of much of the state’s political establishment, including Reps. Steny Hoyer and Kweisi Mfume. Trone, meanwhile, is relying on his immense personal wealth and ties to liberal groups to power his own campaign.
Maryland is a heavily Democratic state, and the winner of the Democratic primary is all but certain to win the general election.