Posted on 05/01/23
| News Source: TIME
Sen. Ben Cardin, a Maryland Democrat, plans to announce his retirement from the Senate in the coming days, multiple sources familiar with the matter tell TIME, setting up a potentially crowded and fierce primary fight to succeed him in one of the bluest states in the nation.
Cardin, who has spent the last 36 years in Congress, told his staff last week he was not running for reelection, the sources say. He’s likely to request Senate floor time this week or next to inform his colleagues and the country about his departure after three terms in the upper chamber, where he became known as a behind-the-scenes workhouse and foreign policy leader, the sources add. Before joining the Senate in 2007, Cardin served for 20 years in the House of Representatives.
The Senator’s office did not respond to a request for comment.
The grandson of Russian Jewish immigrants, Cardin has been one of the Democrats’ key players on foreign affairs on Capitol Hill, where he was seen by the left as one of the more hawkish Democrats. He was one of the few Democrats to oppose the 2015 Iran nuclear deal. During the Trump years, he was the ranking member on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. Since his party took back Senate control after the 2020 elections, he has held the gavel as chair of the Senate Small Business Committee.
Cardin’s retirement is expected to trigger a political dogfight in Maryland, where U.S. Senate seats don’t open often. Two of the most recent former Senators—Paul Sarbanes and Barbara Mikulski—served in their seats for 30 years. The prominent state Democrats expected to run to replace Cardin include Prince George’s County Executive Angela Alsobrooks and U.S. Rep. David Trone.
U.S. Rep. Jamie Raskin has also been eyeing a Senate bid. A Democratic star in the House who served on the Jan. 6 Committee last year, Raskin was recently appointed ranking member of the Oversight Committee. Last week, he announced that he has entered remission after chemotherapy treatment following a lymphoma diagnosis last year.