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| Turnout | 77.63%[1] | |||||||||||||||||||||||||
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 County results Congressional district results
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The2008 United States presidential election in Maryland took place on November 4, 2008, and was part of the2008 United States presidential election. Voters chose 10 representatives, or electors to theElectoral College, who voted forpresident andvice president.
Maryland was won by Democratic nomineeBarack Obama by a 25.4% margin of victory. Prior to the election, all 17 news organizations considered this a state Obama would win, or otherwise considered as a safeblue state. Maryland has voted for the Democratic presidential candidate of every election since1992. In 2008, Obama easily captured the state's 10 electoral votes in a landslide victory, winning 61.92% of the popular vote to RepublicanJohn McCain's 36.47%.
There were 16 news organizations who made state-by-state predictions of the election. Here are their last predictions before election day:
| Source | Ranking |
|---|---|
| D.C. Political Report[2] | Likely D |
| Cook Political Report[3] | Solid D |
| The Takeaway[4] | Solid D |
| Electoral-vote.com[5] | Solid D |
| Washington Post[6] | Solid D |
| Politico[7] | Solid D |
| RealClearPolitics[8] | Solid D |
| FiveThirtyEight[6] | Solid D |
| CQ Politics[9] | Solid D |
| The New York Times[10] | Solid D |
| CNN[11] | Safe D |
| NPR[6] | Solid D |
| MSNBC[6] | Solid D |
| Fox News[12] | Likely D |
| Associated Press[13] | Likely D |
| Rasmussen Reports[14] | Safe D |
Obama won every single pre-election poll, each by a double-digit margin of victory and at least 51% of the vote. The final 3 polls averaged Obama leading 54% to 38%.[15]
John McCain raised a total of $3,439,120 in the state. Barack Obama raised $19,091,136.[16]
Obama spent $257,582 while McCain spent nothing.[17] Both tickets visited the state once.[18]
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Maryland has supported the Democratic nominee in each of the last five presidential elections by an average margin of 15.4%. In1980, it was 1 of only 6 states to vote for DemocratJimmy Carter over RepublicanRonald Reagan. It has only supported a Republican six times sinceFranklin D. Roosevelt –1948 and the Republican landslides of1952,1956,1972,1984 and1988.
Maryland is often among the Democratic nominees' best states. In 1992,Bill Clinton fared better in Maryland than any other state except his home state ofArkansas. In1996, Maryland was Clinton's sixth best, in2000 Maryland ranked fourth forAl Gore and in2004John Kerry showed his fifth best performance in Maryland.
Republican presidential candidates typically win more counties by running up huge margins in western Maryland and theEastern Shore. However, they are usually swamped by the heavily DemocraticBaltimore-Washington, D.C. axis, which casts almost 75% of the state's vote. The state's four largest county-level jurisdictions –Montgomery,Prince George's andBaltimore counties and the City of Baltimore — are strongly Democratic. These areas, which contain 1.5 million voters combined, make it extremely difficult for a Republican to win Maryland. Even in bad years for Democrats, a Republican usually has to run the table in the rest of the state and win either Montgomery, Prince George's or Baltimore counties to have a realistic chance of carrying the state. In 1984, for instance,Ronald Reagan only carried Maryland by crushingWalter Mondale in Baltimore County and narrowly winning Montgomery. In 1988,George H. W. Bush ran up a 42,300-vote margin in Baltimore County overMichael Dukakis – almost 85% of his statewide margin of 49,800 votes.
The 2008 election was no exception.Barack Obama won the state's 10 electoral votes in 2008 with 61.92% of the vote toJohn McCain's 36.47%. Obama carried Montgomery, Prince George's, Baltimore County and Baltimore City with 71.6%, 88.9%, 56.2 and 87.2% of the vote, respectively. Obama's combined 550,000-vote margin in these four areas would have been enough to carry the state. While McCain won more counties, the only large county he won wasAnne Arundel County, home to the state capital,Annapolis. In this election, Maryland voted 18.17% to the left of the nation at-large.[19]
In 2008, Democrats picked up aU.S. House an open seat inMaryland's 1st Congressional District as DemocratFrank M. Kratovil, Jr. defeated RepublicanAndy Harris by less than a 1% margin of victory.
| 2008 United States presidential election in Maryland[20] | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Party | Candidate | Running mate | Votes | Percentage | Electoral votes | |
| Democratic | Barack Obama | Joe Biden | 1,629,467 | 61.92% | 10 | |
| Republican | John McCain | Sarah Palin | 959,862 | 36.47% | 0 | |
| Independent | Ralph Nader | Matt Gonzalez | 14,713 | 0.56% | 0 | |
| Libertarian | Bob Barr | Wayne Allyn Root | 9,842 | 0.44% | 0 | |
| Independent | Write-in candidates | 9,063 | 0.34% | 0 | ||
| Green | Cynthia McKinney | Rosa Clemente | 4,747 | 0.18% | 0 | |
| Constitution | Chuck Baldwin | Darrell Castle | 3,760 | 0.14% | 0 | |
| America's Independent | Alan Keyes (write-in) | Brian Rohrbough | 103 | 0.00% | 0 | |
| Unaffiliated | Donald Kenneth Allen (write-in) | Christopher Borcik | 17 | 0.00% | 0 | |
| Independent | Blaine Taylor (write-in) | n/a | 12 | 0.00% | 0 | |
| Socialist USA | Brian Moore (write-in) | Stewart Alexander | 10 | 0.00% | 0 | |
| Totals | 2,631,596 | 100.00% | 10 | |||
| Voter turnout (Voting age population) | 62.4% | |||||
| County | Barack Obama Democratic | John McCain Republican | Various candidates Other parties | Margin | Total votes cast[21] | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| # | % | # | % | # | % | # | % | ||
| Allegany | 10,693 | 35.95% | 18,405 | 61.88% | 644 | 2.17% | -7,712 | -25.93% | 29,742 |
| Anne Arundel | 125,015 | 48.15% | 129,682 | 49.95% | 4,922 | 1.90% | -4,667 | -1.80% | 259,619 |
| Baltimore | 214,151 | 56.22% | 158,714 | 41.66% | 8,073 | 2.12% | 55,437 | 14.55% | 380,938 |
| Baltimore City | 214,385 | 87.16% | 28,681 | 11.66% | 2,902 | 1.18% | 185,704 | 75.50% | 245,968 |
| Calvert | 20,299 | 46.07% | 23,095 | 52.42% | 663 | 1.50% | -2,796 | -6.35% | 44,057 |
| Caroline | 4,971 | 37.61% | 8,015 | 60.64% | 232 | 1.76% | -3,044 | -23.03% | 13,218 |
| Carroll | 28,060 | 33.11% | 54,503 | 64.30% | 2,197 | 2.59% | -26,443 | -31.20% | 84,760 |
| Cecil | 17,665 | 41.57% | 23,855 | 56.14% | 974 | 2.29% | -6,190 | -14.57% | 42,494 |
| Charles | 43,635 | 62.22% | 25,732 | 36.69% | 760 | 1.08% | 17,903 | 25.53% | 70,127 |
| Dorchester | 6,912 | 45.25% | 8,168 | 53.48% | 194 | 1.27% | -1,256 | -8.22% | 15,274 |
| Frederick | 54,013 | 48.58% | 55,170 | 49.62% | 2,003 | 1.80% | -1,157 | -1.04% | 111,186 |
| Garrett | 3,736 | 29.02% | 8,903 | 69.17% | 233 | 1.81% | -5,167 | -40.14% | 12,872 |
| Harford | 48,552 | 39.38% | 71,751 | 58.19% | 2,992 | 2.43% | -23,199 | -18.82% | 123,295 |
| Howard | 87,120 | 59.99% | 55,393 | 38.14% | 2,720 | 1.87% | 31,727 | 21.85% | 145,233 |
| Kent | 4,953 | 49.43% | 4,905 | 48.95% | 162 | 1.62% | 48 | 0.48% | 10,020 |
| Montgomery | 314,444 | 71.58% | 118,608 | 27.00% | 6,209 | 1.41% | 195,836 | 44.58% | 439,261 |
| Prince George's | 332,396 | 88.87% | 38,833 | 10.38% | 2,797 | 0.75% | 293,563 | 78.49% | 374,026 |
| Queen Anne's | 8,575 | 35.66% | 15,087 | 62.74% | 383 | 1.59% | -6,512 | -27.08% | 24,045 |
| Somerset | 4,779 | 48.16% | 5,037 | 50.76% | 108 | 1.09% | -258 | -2.60% | 9,924 |
| St. Mary's | 19,023 | 42.84% | 24,705 | 55.63% | 681 | 1.53% | -5,682 | -12.79% | 44,409 |
| Talbot | 9,035 | 44.45% | 10,995 | 54.09% | 298 | 1.47% | -1,960 | -9.64% | 20,328 |
| Washington | 26,245 | 42.61% | 34,169 | 55.47% | 1,186 | 1.93% | -7,924 | -12.86% | 61,600 |
| Wicomico | 19,436 | 46.44% | 21,849 | 52.20% | 569 | 1.36% | -2,413 | -5.77% | 41,854 |
| Worcester | 11,374 | 41.59% | 15,607 | 57.07% | 365 | 1.33% | -4,233 | -15.48% | 27,346 |
| Totals | 1,629,467 | 61.92% | 959,862 | 36.47% | 42,267 | 1.61% | 669,605 | 25.45% | 2,631,596 |
| Democratic Hold Gain from Republican | Republican Hold |
Barack Obama carried six of Maryland's eight congressional districts. McCain carried two congressional districts, including one that was won by a Democrat.
| District | Obama | McCain | Representative |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1st | 39.81% | 58.26% | Wayne Gilchrest (110th Congress) |
| Frank Kratovil (111th Congress) | |||
| 2nd | 59.84% | 38.25% | Dutch Ruppersberger |
| 3rd | 58.78% | 39.23% | John Sarbanes |
| 4th | 85.06% | 14.16% | Albert Wynn (110th Congress) |
| Donna Edwards (111th Congress) | |||
| 5th | 65.44% | 33.30% | Steny Hoyer |
| 6th | 40.19% | 57.65% | Roscoe Bartlett |
| 7th | 78.79% | 19.89% | Elijah Cummings |
| 8th | 73.88% | 24.70% | Chris Van Hollen |
Technically the voters of Maryland cast their ballots for electors: representatives to theElectoral College. Maryland is allocated 10 electors because it has 8congressional districts and 2senators. All candidates who appear on the ballot or qualify to receive write-in votes must submit a list of 10 electors, who pledge to vote for their candidate and their running mate. Whoever wins the majority of votes in the state is awarded all 10 electoral votes. Their chosen electors then vote for president and vice president. Although electors are pledged to their candidate and running mate, they are not obligated to vote for them.[22] An elector who votes for someone other than their candidate is known as afaithless elector.
The electors of each state and theDistrict of Columbia met on December 15, 2008, to cast their votes for president and vice president. The Electoral College itself never meets as one body. Instead the electors from each state and the District of Columbia met in their respective capitols.
The following were the members of the Electoral College from the state. All 10 were pledged toBarack Obama andJoe Biden:[23]
State and district results of the2008 United States presidential election | ||
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