It wasn’t just the governor’s race.
In addition to powering Democrat Ben Jealous’s victory over establishment favorite Rushern L. Baker III on Tuesday, progressive voters in Maryland ousted at least four incumbents allied with Senate President Thomas V. Mike Miller Jr. (D-Calvert) — causing a shift in the state Senate.
“I call it a political earthquake,” said Larry Stafford, executive director of Progressive Maryland, which backed candidates who defeated two powerful Democratic committee chairs and the Senate’s president pro tem.
Stafford said progressive activists will now have much more leverage to push for a $15 minimum wage, which has previously stalled in the General Assembly; universal health care; and “policies to better protect immigrants.”
Miller, the longest-serving state Senate president in the country, declined a request for an interview.
Todd Eberly, a political-science professor at St. Mary’s College of Maryland, said there is a bleaker possibility for Democrats, as well: Candidates nominated Tuesday may be so left-leaning that centrist voters will back GOP candidates in November.
“Maryland has always had a big-tent Democratic Party, with some moderate and conservative Democrats included,” Eberly said. “Those folks are waking up today and realizing the party they grew up with won’t necessarily be on the ballot in November.”