1982 Maryland Senate election

The 1982 Maryland Senate elections were held on November 2, 1982, as part of the 1982 United States elections, including the 1982 Maryland gubernatorial election. All 47 of Maryland's state senators were up for reelection.

1982 Maryland Senate election

← 1978 November 2, 1982 1986 →
All 47 seats of the Maryland Senate 24 seats needed for a majority
Majority party Minority party   Leader James Clark Jr. Edward J. Mason (lost renomination) Party Democratic Republican Leader since January 1979 1975 Leader's seat 11th district 9th district Last election 41 6 Seats won 42 5 Seat change 1 1
President before election James Clark Jr. Democratic President Melvin Steinberg Democratic

Leading up to the 1982 elections, Republicans were hopeful to gain seats in the legislature, citing Lawrence Hogan and Robert A. Pascal leading the party's ticket in the U.S. Senate and gubernatorial elections, and Ronald Reagan's strong performance in the state during the 1980 United States presidential election and subsequent legislative accomplishments. However, the elections provided to be a major setback for the party as Democrats were able to gain one seat from the Republicans in the state Senate, and Hogan and Pascal lost their elections in landslides.^[1]

Summary

Closest races

Seats where the margin of victory was under 10%:

1. State Senate district 16, 1.73%
2. State Senate district 9, 4.36%
3. State Senate district 30, 4.47%
4. State Senate district 15, 8.59%

Retiring incumbents

Democrats

1. District 22: Richard A. Palumbo retired to run for the Maryland House of Delegates.^[2]
2. District 24: Mary A. Conroy retired.^[3]
3. District 32: H. Erle Schafer retired to run for Harford County Executive.^[4]
4. District 37: Harry J. McGuirk retired to run for governor of Maryland.^[5]
5. District 43: J. Joseph Curran Jr. retired to run for lieutenant governor of Maryland alongside Harry Hughes.^[6]
6. District 44: Louise G. Murphy retired.^[7]

Republicans

1. District 11: Robert E. Stroble retired.^[8]

Incumbents defeated

In primary elections

Democrats

1. District 7: Patrick T. Welsh lost renomination to Norman R. Stone Jr.^[9]
2. District 12: Timothy R. Hickman lost renomination to John C. Coolahan.^[9]
3. District 34: Art Helton lost renomination to Catherine Riley.^[10]
4. District 40: Verda Welcome lost renomination to Troy Brailey.^[11]
5. District 45: Robert Douglass lost renomination to Nathan Irby.^[12]
6. District 45: Cornell N. Dypski lost renomination to Joseph S. Bonvegna.^[13]

Republicans

1. District 1: Edward J. Mason lost renomination to John N. Bambacus.^[12]

Detailed results

District 1 • District 2 • District 3 • District 4 • District 5 • District 6 • District 7 • District 8 • District 9 • District 10 • District 11 • District 12 • District 13 • District 14 • District 15 • District 16 • District 17 • District 18 • District 19 • District 20 • District 21 • District 22 • District 23 • District 24 • District 25 • District 26 • District 27 • District 28 • District 29 • District 30 • District 31 • District 32 • District 33 • District 34 • District 35 • District 36 • District 37 • District 38 • District 39 • District 40 • District 41 • District 42 • District 43 • District 44 • District 45 • District 46 • District 47

All election results are from the 1983-1984 edition of the Maryland Manual.^[14]

District 1

Maryland Senate District 1 election

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Republican	John N. Bambacus	19,173	74.2
	Democratic	Holmes R. Atkinson	6,667	25.8
	Republican hold

District 2

Maryland Senate District 2 election

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Democratic	Victor Cushwa (incumbent)	13,769	63.2
	Republican	Terrance Bache	8,026	36.8
	Democratic hold

District 3

Maryland Senate District 3 election

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Republican	Edward P. Thomas (incumbent)	14,914	64.0
	Democratic	Raymond W. Kline	8,401	36.0
	Republican hold

District 4

Maryland Senate District 4 election

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Democratic	Charles H. Smelser (incumbent)	12,945	100.0
	Democratic hold

District 5

Maryland Senate District 5 election

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Republican	Raymond E. Beck	13,567	57.1
	Democratic	Roger L. Mann	10,193	42.9
	Republican gain from Democratic

District 6

Maryland Senate District 6 election

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Democratic	Dennis F. Rasmussen (incumbent)	15,438	100.0
	Democratic hold

District 7

Maryland Senate District 7 election

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Democratic	Norman R. Stone Jr. (incumbent)	20,466	100.0
	Democratic hold

District 8

Maryland Senate District 8 election

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Democratic	Thomas L. Bromwell	16,483	66.2
	Republican	John P. Quinn	8,434	33.8
	Democratic hold

District 9

Maryland Senate District 9 election

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Republican	F. Vernon Boozer (incumbent)	16,128	52.2
	Democratic	Mark C. Medairy Jr.	14,781	47.8
	Republican hold

District 10

Maryland Senate District 10 election

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Democratic	Francis X. Kelly (incumbent)	16,958	64.0
	Republican	Kenneth W. Fowler	9,524	36.0
	Democratic hold

District 11

Maryland Senate District 11 election

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Democratic	Melvin Steinberg (incumbent)	24,109	100.0
	Democratic hold

District 12

Maryland Senate District 12 election

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Democratic	John C. Coolahan	17,948	74.0
	Republican	John J. Wazniak Jr.	6,290	26.0
	Democratic hold

District 13

Maryland Senate District 13 election

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Democratic	Thomas M. Yeager	15,167	100.0
	Democratic hold

District 14

Maryland Senate District 14 election

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Democratic	James Clark Jr. (incumbent)	20,809	100.0
	Democratic hold

District 15

Maryland Senate District 15 election

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Democratic	Laurence Levitan (incumbent)	15,170	51.9
	Republican	Allan C. Levey	12,661	43.3
	Write-in		1,386	4.7
	Democratic hold

District 16

Maryland Senate District 16 election

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Republican	Howard A. Denis (incumbent)	17,502	50.9
	Democratic	Brian Frosh	16,906	49.1
	Republican hold

District 17

Maryland Senate District 18 election

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Democratic	S. Frank Shore (incumbent)
	Republican	Phyllis B. Fordham
	Democratic hold

District 18

Maryland Senate District 18 election

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Democratic	Margaret Schweinhaut (incumbent)	20,283	73.8
	Republican	Donald H. Dalton	7,192	26.2
	Democratic hold

District 19

Maryland Senate District 19 election

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Democratic	Sidney Kramer (incumbent)	21,812	100.0
	Democratic hold

District 20

Maryland Senate District 20 election

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Democratic	Stewart W. Bainum Jr.	18,561	71.3
	Republican	Stephen R. Leventhal	7,466	28.7
	Democratic hold

District 21

Maryland Senate District 21 election

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Democratic	Arthur Dorman (incumbent)	14,042	100.0
	Democratic hold

District 22

Maryland Senate District 22 election

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Democratic	Thomas Patrick O'Reilly (incumbent)	13,331	100.0
	Democratic hold

District 23

Maryland Senate District 23 election

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Democratic	Leo E. Green	16,429	70.4
	Republican	Burton W. Oliver	6,915	29.6
	Democratic hold

District 24

Maryland Senate District 24 election

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Democratic	Tommie Broadwater (incumbent)	12,203	100.0
	Democratic hold

District 25

Maryland Senate District 25 election

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Democratic	B. W. Mike Donovan (incumbent)	9,951	73.4
	Republican	James Whitehead	2,948	21.7
	Write-in		658	4.9
	Democratic hold

District 26

Maryland Senate District 26 election

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Democratic	Frank J. Komenda	13,491	80.2
	Republican	George L. Price	3,330	19.8
	Democratic hold

District 27

Maryland Senate District 27 election

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Democratic	Thomas V. Miller Jr. (incumbent)	14,456	100.0
	Democratic hold

District 28

Maryland Senate District 28 election

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Democratic	James C. Simpson (incumbent)	14,943	80.7
	Republican	Saad Kassem	3,567	19.3
	Democratic hold

District 29

Maryland Senate District 29 election

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Democratic	Bernie Fowler	14,449	70.3
	Republican	David M. King (incumbent)	6,114	29.7
	Democratic hold

District 30

Maryland Senate District 30 election

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Democratic	Gerald W. Winegard	12,972	52.2
	Republican	P. Tyson Bennett	11,861	47.8
	Democratic gain from Republican

District 31

Maryland Senate District 31 election

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Democratic	Jerome F. Connell Sr. (incumbent)	14,505	61.9
	Republican	Thomas J. Harden III	8,913	38.1
	Democratic hold

District 32

Maryland Senate District 32 election

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Democratic	Michael J. Wagner	13,546	100.0
	Democratic hold

District 33

Maryland Senate District 33 election

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Republican	John A. Cade (incumbent)	12,803	100.0
	Republican hold

District 34

Maryland Senate District 34 election

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Democratic	Catherine Riley	16,818	78.9
	Republican	Dorothy A. Wilson	4,508	21.1
	Democratic hold

District 35

Maryland Senate District 35 election

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Democratic	William H. Amoss	18,682	100.0
	Democratic hold

District 36

Maryland Senate District 36 election

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Democratic	Walter M. Baker (incumbent)	12,459	58.9
	Republican	Bernard M. Hopkins	8,703	41.1
	Democratic hold

District 37

Maryland Senate District 37 election

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Democratic	Frederick Malkus (incumbent)	16,101	70.3
	Republican	Rose Marie Spanagel	6,810	29.7
	Democratic hold

District 38

Maryland Senate District 38 election

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Democratic	Joseph J. Long Sr. (incumbent)	18,575	100.0
	Democratic hold

District 39

Maryland Senate District 39 election

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Democratic	Clarence Mitchell III (incumbent)	13,973	91.3
	Republican	Leana B. Thomas	1,328	8.7
	Democratic hold

District 40

Maryland Senate District 40 election

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Democratic	Troy Brailey	15,278	100.0
	Democratic hold

District 41

Maryland Senate District 41 election

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Democratic	Clarence W. Blount (incumbent)	18,250	94.7
	Republican	Otis E. Lee Sr.	1,027	5.3
	Democratic hold

District 42

Maryland Senate District 42 election

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Democratic	Rosalie Silber Abrams (incumbent)	19,673	100.0
	Democratic hold

District 43

Maryland Senate District 43 election

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Democratic	John A. Pica Jr.	17,025	68.0
	Republican	Richard D. Bennett	7,995	32.0
	Democratic hold

District 44

Maryland Senate District 44 election

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Democratic	Julian L. Lapides (incumbent)	17,827	87.7
	Republican	John T. Smith	2,491	12.3
	Democratic hold

District 45

Maryland Senate District 45 election

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Democratic	Nathan Irby	14,756	93.9
	Republican	James D. David	951	6.1
	Democratic hold

District 46

Maryland Senate District 46 election

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Democratic	Joseph S. Bonvegna (incumbent)	18,066	100.0
	Democratic hold

District 47

Maryland Senate District 47 election

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Democratic	George W. Della Jr.	12,321	100.0
	Democratic hold