2000 United States Senate election in Maryland

The 2000 United States Senate election in Maryland was held on November 7, 2000. Incumbent Democratic U.S. Senator Paul Sarbanes won re-election to a fifth term.

2000 United States Senate election in Maryland

← 1994 November 7, 2000 2006 →

Nominee Paul Sarbanes Paul Rappaport Party Democratic Republican Popular vote 1,230,013 715,178 Percentage 63.18% 36.73%

County results Sarbanes:      50–60%      60–70%      80–90% Rappaport:      50–60%      60–70%

U.S. senator before election Paul Sarbanes Democratic Elected U.S. Senator Paul Sarbanes Democratic

Candidates

Democratic

• Paul Sarbanes, incumbent U.S. Senator first elected in 1976

Republican

• Paul H. Rappaport, former Howard County police chief and nominee for Lieutenant Governor in 1994^[1][2]

Campaign

Rappaport won the Republican primary against S. Rob Sobhani, Ross Zimmerman Pierpont, Robin Ficker, Kenneth R. Timmerman, Kenneth Wayman and John Stafford^[3] through a grassroots movement with a plurality of just 23%.^[4] Rappaport, a major underdog, pushed for three debates. The four-term incumbent agreed to one debate on October 26.^[5]

Results

General election results^[6][7][8][9]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Democratic	Paul Sarbanes (incumbent)	1,230,013	63.18%	+4.08%
	Republican	Paul Rappaport	715,178	36.73%	−4.17%
	Other	Write Ins	1,594	0.08%
	Independent	Corrogan R. Vaughn (Write In)	113	0.01%
Total votes			1,946,898	100.0%
	Democratic hold

Results by county

County	Paul S. Sarbanes Democratic		Paul H. Rappaport Republican		Corrogan R. Vaughn Independent		Write-ins Independent		Margin		Total Votes Cast
	#	%	#	%	#	%	#	%	#	%
Allegany	12638	59.03%	8768	40.96%	0	0.00%	2	0.01%	3870	18.08%	21408
Anne Arundel	101627	51.44%	95737	48.46%	17	0.01%	177	0.09%	5890	2.98%	197558
Baltimore (City)	158260	86.75%	24019	13.17%	5	0.00%	157	0.09%	134241	73.58%	182441
Baltimore (County)	175551	58.82%	122601	41.08%	0	0.00%	302	0.10%	52950	17.74%	298454
Calvert	15305	52.87%	13618	47.04%	4	0.01%	24	0.08%	1687	5.83%	28951
Caroline	4239	48.62%	4472	51.29%	1	0.01%	7	0.08%	-233	-2.67%	8719
Carroll	23781	37.97%	38790	61.94%	0	0.00%	59	0.09%	-15009	-23.96%	62630
Cecil	14168	50.33%	13955	49.58%	1	0.00%	24	0.09%	213	0.76%	28148
Charles	25278	57.95%	18321	42.00%	1	0.00%	24	0.06%	6957	15.95%	43624
Dorchester	5724	57.24%	4276	42.76%	0	0.00%	0	0.00%	1448	14.48%	10000
Frederick	37315	48.83%	39031	51.07%	3	0.00%	76	0.10%	-1716	-2.25%	76425
Garrett	4319	42.44%	5858	57.56%	0	0.00%	0	0.00%	-1539	-15.12%	10177
Harford	41679	46.27%	48322	53.65%	8	0.01%	68	0.08%	-6643	-7.37%	90077
Howard	62636	56.66%	47786	43.23%	22	0.02%	97	0.09%	14850	13.43%	110541
Kent	4346	55.50%	3481	44.45%	0	0.00%	4	0.05%	865	11.05%	7831
Montgomery	250664	69.42%	109911	30.44%	41	0.01%	447	0.12%	140753	38.98%	361063
Prince George's	204622	83.63%	40033	16.36%	5	0.00%	13	0.01%	164589	67.27%	244673
Queen Anne's	7539	46.19%	8775	53.76%	2	0.01%	7	0.04%	-1236	-7.57%	16323
St. Mary's	4681	64.84%	2536	35.13%	0	0.00%	2	0.03%	2145	29.71%	7219
Somerset	15273	53.31%	13357	46.62%	0	0.00%	21	0.07%	1916	6.69%	28651
Talbot	6996	47.14%	7820	52.70%	1	0.01%	23	0.15%	-824	-5.55%	14840
Washington	22362	48.94%	23291	50.98%	2	0.00%	35	0.08%	-929	-2.03%	45690
Wicomico	18946	60.74%	12234	39.22%	0	0.00%	14	0.04%	6712	21.52%	31194
Worcester	12064	59.54%	8186	40.40%	0	0.00%	11	0.05%	3878	19.14%	20261
Total	1230013	63.18%	715178	36.73%	113	0.01%	1594	0.08%	514835	26.44%	1946898

Counties that flipped from Republican to Democratic

• Anne Arundel (largest municipality: Annapolis)

Counties that flipped from Democratic to Republican

• Harford (largest municipality: Aberdeen)

See also

• 2000 United States Senate elections
• 2000 United States elections