Politics & Government

Romney Wins Maryland Primary

Incumbents Cummings, Harris, Ruppersberger, and Sarbanes also lock up primary wins.

UPDATED (11:15 p.m.)— Mitt Romney has won the Maryland Republican presidential primary, according to multiple news outlets.

At 11 p.m., Romney leads Rick Santorum 91,402 (48 percent) to 57,299 (30 percent) with 1,281 of 1,851 precincts reporting.

"I voted for Romney, he's the lesser of the evils," said Lisa Watts of Darnestown, MD.

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Chuck Duvall also of Darnestown, said he voted for Ron Paul, but expected Romney to win the Maryland primary. Both he and his wife, Ruth, said they planned to support Romney against Democratic incumbent President Barack Obama even though he wasn't their primary selection.

A Romney win in Maryland was not unexpected. CNN declared Romney the winner at 8 p.m. when polls in Maryland and Washington closed.

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“Maryland’s role is to ratify the decision the Republican leadership has already made around the country,” said Matthew Crenson, professor emeritus of political science at Johns Hopkins University. “The endorsements are all lining up behind Romney”

There are 37 delegates up for grabs in Maryland apportioned by congressional district. The winner of each district earns three delegates who are committed to that respective candidate. The balance goes to the candidate who wins the state.

Entering tonight, Romney was nearly half way to the 1,211 delegates needed to secure his party’s nomination. Santorum had less than 300 total delegates.

At 10 p.m., Romney leads all Republican candidates in every congressional district, according to the Maryland State Board of Elections. He also was ahead in 22 of Maryland’s 24 jurisdictions except rural Garrett and Somerset Counties where Santorum holds leads.

Obama is running unopposed in Maryland and has nearly 88 percent of the vote in the Democratic Primary.

In the Democratic 3rd District congressional race incumbent Rep. John Sarbanes has jumped out to an early lead over democratic challenger David H. Lockwood—9,404 to 1,179 respectively.

On the Republican side of the race, candidates are still jockeying for position with Eric Delano Knowles (1,485 votes) in the lead and Thomas E. "Pinkston" Harris (1,252 votes) close behind. Other contenders in the Republican race for the Third District are Armand F. Girard who currently has 1,041 votes and Draper S. Phelps who trails the pack with 623 votes.

Rep. Elijah Cummings has a large lead in the Democratic primary for House of Delegates in the 7th District with 94.5 percent of the vote. Charles U. Smith and Ty Glen Busch are both running against Cummings.

Frank C. Mirabile leads with 71 .4 percent of the votes in the 7th Distirict Republican primary. He is running against M. Justin Kinsey.

The district encompasses a large portion of Baltimore City, western Baltimore County and parts of Howard County.  

In the , Ken Timmerman leads a field of four with almost 42 percent of the votes and Dave Wallace has captured around 35 percent of the votes.

Reporters Adam Bedan, Greg Cohen, Nick Gestido, and Ryan McDermott contributed to this story.


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