Jamie Raskin reported he won’t be running for resigning Sen. Ben Cardin’s seat in the Senate in 2024, but instead plans to run for reelection.
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“At this moment, I believe the best way for me to make the greatest difference in American politics in 2024 and beyond is this: to run for reelection to the House of Representatives in Maryland’s extraordinary 8th District,” he said in a lengthy statement on Friday.
As one of the most prominent Democrats in Maryland, Mr. Raskin would have been considered a strong contender for the vacant Senate seat. In May, Mr. Cardin, 79, announced that he would not run for office again.
Mr. Raskin stated last month that he was “seriously considering” the opportunity while appearing on a SurgeZircUS program. He noted that such openings are uncommon and that it can take up to 30 years for a seat to become available again.
Leading Impeachment Efforts
Mr. Raskin came to prominence during the term of President Donald Trump for leading efforts to impeach the former president. He was a member of the House committee investigating the Jan. 6, 2021, breach of the Capitol, and now he serves as a ranking member of the House Oversight Committee.
The representative declared in December 2022 that he was determined to have lymphoma, which he called a “serious but curable form of cancer” He announced on April 27 that he had completed his chemo-immunotherapy treatments and was currently in remission with a 90% chance of not relapsing.
The Maryland Democrat reaffirmed his opposition to Mr. Trump and the former president’s supporters in a statement on Friday, stating that they “must be stopped in their political tracks.”
He told his friends and supporters to “elect sweeping Democratic majorities in both houses of Congress and secure a landslide for Joe Biden and the Democrats in 2024.”
Mr. Raskin stated that “[i]f these were normal times,” he would probably be running for Mr. Cardin’s seat, and he added that individuals “from all over Maryland” had “strongly encouraged” him to do so.
He stated in his statement, “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, as well as human rights and opportunity for people everywhere.”
“I have received compelling arguments from friends, family and political leaders and supporters in our state on all sides of this question, and I thank you for your wise counsel and insight. I want to assure everyone that I will do whatever I need to do to see to it that our new Senator will be a Democrat and that our Senator will be a strong true-blue Democrat with broad support in our state.”
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David Trone, D-Md., Rep. and Angela Alsobrooks, the executive director of Prince George County, is one of the people who want to take over for Cardin.
Democrats presently control the U.S. Senate, 51-49. In the following year’s races, seats in a few swing states will be available for anyone. In states that Mr. Trump won in 2020, three Democrats are running: Sens. Joe Manchin, (D-WV), Jon Tester (D-Mont.) and Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio).
