2010 Maryland gubernatorial election

Summary

The 2010 Maryland gubernatorial election was held on November 2, 2010.[2] The date included the election of the governor, lieutenant governor, and all members of the Maryland General Assembly. Incumbent Democratic governor Martin O'Malley and lieutenant governor Anthony Brown won re-election to a second term in office, defeating Republican former governor Bob Ehrlich and his running mate Mary Kane.

2010 Maryland gubernatorial election

← 2006 November 2, 2010 2014 →
Turnout54.02% Decrease 3.51%[1]
 
Nominee Martin O'Malley Bob Ehrlich
Party Democratic Republican
Running mate Anthony Brown Mary Kane
Popular vote 1,044,961 776,319
Percentage 56.2% 41.8%

County results
O'Malley:      40–50%      50–60%      60–70%      80–90%
Ehrlich:      50–60%      60–70%      70–80%

Governor before election

Martin O'Malley
Democratic

Elected Governor

Martin O'Malley
Democratic

Ehrlich had previously lost re-election to O'Malley in 2006. O'Malley and Brown became the first gubernatorial ticket in Maryland history to receive more than one million votes.[3][4]

While Ehrlich won a clear majority of Maryland’s counties, he lost in the area between Baltimore and Washington, which accounts for more than 90% of the state’s population. This allowed O’Malley to win by a relatively large margin of 14.4%.

As of 2024, this is the most recent gubernatorial election in which the Democratic nominee was not an African American.

Democratic primary edit

Candidates edit

Results edit

 
Results by county:
Map legend
  •   O'Malley—≥90%
  •   O'Malley—80–90%
  •   O'Malley—70–80%
Democratic primary results[6]
Party Candidate Votes %
Democratic Martin O'Malley (incumbent) 414,595 86.28
Democratic J. P. Cusick 46,411 9.66
Democratic Ralph Jaffe 19,517 4.06
Total votes 480,523 100

Republican primary edit

Candidates edit

  • Running mate: Mary Kane, former Maryland Secretary of State
  • Brian Murphy, businessman[8]
  • Running mate: Mike Ryman, former federal and congressional inspector and candidate for the State Senate in 2006[9]
  • Former running mate: Carmen Amedori, former State Delegate[9]

Results edit

 
Results by county:
Map legend
  •   Ehrlich—80–90%
  •   Ehrlich—70–80%
  •   Ehrlich—60–70%
Republican primary results[6]
Party Candidate Votes %
Republican Bob Ehrlich 211,428 75.84
Republican Brian Murphy 67,364 24.16
Total votes 278,792 100

Minor party candidates edit

Constitution Party edit

  • Eric Delano Knowles
  • Running mate: Michael Hargadon

Green Party edit

  • Maria Allwine
  • Running mate: Ken Eidel

Libertarian Party edit

  • Susan Gaztanaga
  • Running mate: Doug McNeil

General election edit

Predictions edit

Source Ranking As of
Cook Political Report[10] Tossup October 14, 2010
Rothenberg[11] Likely D October 28, 2010
RealClearPolitics[12] Likely D November 1, 2010
Sabato's Crystal Ball[13] Likely D October 28, 2010
CQ Politics[14] Lean D October 28, 2010

Polling edit

Poll source Dates administered Bob
Ehrlich (R)
Martin
O'Malley (D)
Rasmussen Reports October 24, 2010 42% 52%
Rasmussen Reports October 5, 2010 41% 49%
Washington Post September 22–26, 2010 41% 52%
Rasmussen Reports September 15, 2010 47% 50%
Center Maryland/Opinion Works Archived 2010-09-06 at the Wayback Machine August 13–18, 2010 41% 47%
Rasmussen Reports August 17, 2010 44% 45%
Gonzales poll July 13–21, 2010 42% 45%
Public Policy Polling July 10–12, 2010 42% 45%
Rasmussen Reports July 12, 2010 47% 46%
Magellan Strategies June 29, 2010 46% 43%
The Polling Company June 8–10, 2010 43% 44%
Rasmussen Reports June 8, 2010 45% 45%
Washington Post May 3–6, 2010 41% 49%
Rasmussen Reports April 20, 2010 44% 47%
Rasmussen Reports February 23, 2010 43% 49%
Gonzales poll September 17, 2009 38% 49%

Results edit

2010 Maryland gubernatorial election[15]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Democratic Martin O'Malley (incumbent) 1,044,961 56.24% +3.54%
Republican Bob Ehrlich 776,319 41.79% -4.41%
Libertarian Susan Gaztanaga 14,137 0.76%
Green Maria Allwine 11,825 0.64% -0.26%
Constitution Eric Knowles 8,612 0.46%
Write-ins 2,026 0.11%
Majority 268,642 14.45% +7.92%
Turnout 1,857,880
Democratic hold Swing
Counties that flipped from Republican to Democratic

Republican voter suppression edit

In the summer before the election, Ehrlich's campaign hired a consultant who advised that "the first and most desired outcome is voter suppression", in the form of having "African-American voters stay home."[16] To that end, the Republicans placed thousands of Election Day robocalls to Democratic voters, telling them that O'Malley had won, although in fact the polls were still open for some two more hours.[17] The Republicans' call, worded to seem as if it came from Democrats, told the voters, "Relax. Everything's fine. The only thing left is to watch it on TV tonight."[16] The calls reached 112,000 voters in majority-African American areas.[17] In 2011, Ehrlich's campaign manager, Paul Schurick, was convicted of fraud and other charges because of the calls.[16] Ehrlich denied knowing about the calls.[16]

See also edit

References edit

  1. ^ "2010 Gubernatorial Primary Election - Voter Turnout". elections.maryland.gov. Maryland State Board of Elections. Retrieved May 1, 2022.
  2. ^ "Maryland Elections, forthcoming". Msa.md.gov. November 6, 1956. Retrieved August 21, 2010.
  3. ^ "State Gubernatorial Term Limits". Archived from the original on September 27, 2007. Retrieved September 9, 2007.
  4. ^ "Maryland State Board of Elections". www.elections.state.md.us. Archived from the original on June 14, 2012.
  5. ^ "2010 Gubernatorial Primary Election" (PDF). Maryland State Board of Elections.
  6. ^ a b "Maryland Gubernatorial Primary Results". Maryland State Board of Elections. September 19, 2010. Retrieved September 19, 2010.
  7. ^ "Ehrlich Announces Run For Maryland Governor". wjz.com. March 31, 2010. Archived from the original on April 4, 2010. Retrieved August 21, 2010.
  8. ^ "Brian Murphy for Governor of Maryland. Leading a Return to Principled Governance". Brianmurphy2010.com. Archived from the original on August 14, 2010. Retrieved August 21, 2010.
  9. ^ a b Wagner, John (July 6, 2010). "Maryland Politics – GOP hopeful Murphy offers second running mate". Voices.washingtonpost.com. Retrieved August 21, 2010.
  10. ^ "2010 Governors Race Ratings". Cook Political Report. Archived from the original on October 28, 2010. Retrieved October 28, 2010.
  11. ^ "Governor Ratings". Rothenberg Political Report. Retrieved October 28, 2010.
  12. ^ "2010 Governor Races". RealClearPolitics. Retrieved October 28, 2010.
  13. ^ "THE CRYSTAL BALL'S FINAL CALLS". Sabato's Crystal Ball. Retrieved October 28, 2010.
  14. ^ "Race Ratings Chart: Governor". CQ Politics. Archived from the original on October 5, 2010. Retrieved October 28, 2010.
  15. ^ "2010 General Election Official Results".
  16. ^ a b c d Broadwater, Luke (December 6, 2011), "Schurick guilty of election fraud in robocall case", The Baltimore Sun, archived from the original on January 11, 2014, retrieved December 7, 2011
  17. ^ a b Wagner, John (December 6, 2011), "Ex-Ehrlich campaign manager Schurick convicted in robocall case", The Washington Post, retrieved December 8, 2011

External links edit

  • Maryland State Board of Elections
  • Maryland Governor Candidates at Project Vote Smart
  • Campaign contributions for 2010 Maryland Governor from Follow the Money
  • Maryland Governor 2010 from OurCampaigns.com
  • 2010 Maryland Governor General Election: Bob Ehrlich (R) vs Martin O'Malley (D) graph of multiple polls from Pollster.com
  • Election 2010: Maryland Governor from Rasmussen Reports
  • 2010 Maryland Governor – Ehrlich vs. O'Malley from Real Clear Politics
  • 2010 Maryland Governor's Race[permanent dead link] from CQ Politics
  • Race Profile in The New York Times
  • Candidate blogs Archived 2011-06-29 at the Wayback Machine at The Baltimore Sun
Official campaign websites (Archived)
  • Bob Ehrlich for Maryland
  • Martin O'Malley for Governor