November 2023 Maryland U.S. Senate Power Rankings

Well, it’s time for a new Power Rankings. Between now and the Maryland Primary next April, we will be ranking the announced and potential candidates for U.S. Senate in order of the likelihood of their election next November.

The rankings are a combination of polls, data, political environment, and gut feelings. It is not necessarily a ranking in order of who I think should be the winner, but who is best positioned to win the election at that time. Think of it as a snapshot in time.

#10: Brian Frydenborg (D) (Previous: #10)
One of Frydenborg’s topics of interest is “How to defend the practical and results-oriented Democratic Party from far-left extremists that want to hijack it and put all that has been accomplished at risk.” He’s barking up the wrong primary voter tree with that in Maryland…..

#9: Jerome Seagal (D) (Previous: #7)
This is now Segal’s sixth run for political office if you count his abandoned plan to run for the Democratic Party Presidential nomination against Joe Biden for 2024. Segal’s run for U.S. Senate will ultimately end up just as pointless as all his other runs for office

#8: Robin Ficker (R) (Previous: #NR)
I’m giving Robin Ficker his own line this month because he has a not-terrible TV ad he’s released. He doesn’t have a snowball’s chance in hell of winning, of course, but the ad is better than his usual body of work.

#7: Moshe Landman (G) (Previous: #9)
The only bright side for Mr. Landman is that he’ll make it to the general election ballot, which is more than I can say for most people on this list.

#6: Delegate Jon Cardin (D) (Previous: #7)
Sure, why not take a shot at your uncle’s Senate Seat as he’s retiring right? Cardin ran a widely-panned run for Attorney General in 2014 that netted him only 30% of the vote in a three-way race. That might be enough to sneak through a Democratic primary if he gets in and muddles the field up. Cardin is probably best known for his stunt involving the misuse of Baltimore City Police Resources during his 2009 marriage proposal.

#5: Juan Dominguez (D) (Previous: #6)
A new Democratic candidate for U.S. Senate who, according to his website, “is a proud graduate of The United States Military Academy at West Point (‘89) and is a Gulf War Veteran.” His campaign is highlighting China, Crypto, Big Tech, and Israel as the biggest issues. That probably won’t go far in today’s Maryland Democratic Party. Nor will the fact that he served on a city council in New Jersey as a Republican (a fact weirdly omitted by Maryland Matters in a recent story). And yet Dominguez, the one Latino candidate for U.S. Senate, is being excluded from a Senate debate being held by the Prince George’s County Latino Democratic Club. Which is insane. So he’s obviously scaring somebody….

#4: Former Congressman John Delaney (D) (Previous: #3)
John Delaney was last seen making a quixotic run for President in 2020 that didn’t get very far. Delaney has, mostly, been out of the game since he dropped out of that race. With his wife running for his old House seat, I can’t imagine both Delaneys would seek to run this year.

#3: John Teichert (R) (Previous: 5)
A credible Republican has emerged to run for U.S. Senate who is not a candidate who has failed multiple times, been disbarred, or an admitted abuser. John Teicher is a retired Air Force General and combat pilot who announced recently and is running on a credible platform of fixing education, inflation, crime, and by standing up to China. Teichert is the exact kind of candidate who can be successful in Maryland, though he will be no doubt hamstrung by the top of the ticket at the Presidential level as Maryland Republicans so often are.

#2: Congressman David Trone (D) (Previous: #2)
Dutch Ruppersburger endorsed Trone, the first of his Maryland House Colleagues to support him. The MSEA endorsed him. Trone is going to make this race a fight beyond just his bank account.

#1: Prince George’s County Executive Angela Alsobrooks (D) (Previous: #1)
As long as she doesn’t snatch defeat from the jaws of victory, Angela Alsobrooks is going to be a United States Senator. But, admittedly, she looks less inevitable than she once did…