Rep. Jamie Raskin won’t run for open Maryland Senate seat in 2024

Rep. Jamie Raskin announced Friday that he will not run for outgoing Sen. Ben Cardin’s open Senate seat in Maryland in 2024 and will instead seek re-election to his current House seat.

“At this moment, I believe the best way for me to make the greatest difference in American politics in 2024 and beyond is this: to run for reelection to the House of Representatives in Maryland’s extraordinary 8th District,” Raskin (D-Md.) said in a lengthy statement on Friday. 

Cardin (D-Md.) announced in May that would not seek re-election in 2024, setting up what could be a heated primary fight in the deep-blue state.

Raskin, who rose to prominence for his role on the House select committee investigating last year’s Capitol riot and as the ranking member of the House Oversight Committee, was considered a top candidate to replace Cardin. 

The Maryland progressive announced in December that he was diagnosed with lymphoma, and has taken to wearing a bandanna on Capitol Hill as he endures chemotherapy that has resulted in the loss of his hair. 

In April, Raskin announced that he was in remission from the disease. 

“Nothing matters to me more in the 2024 cycle than winning a blowout victory for the party of democracy and freedom,” Raskin, 60, said in his statement Friday. “We Democrats may not be perfect but we fight hard every day for the Constitution and the common good of the people.” 

Raskin also vowed to back the eventual Democratic nominee for Cardin’s seat. 

Rep. David Trone (D-Md.) and Democratic Prince George County Executive Angela Alsobrook are among the candidates who have already announced they will run for the open seat in the Old Line State.

“I am profoundly grateful not only to those who have encouraged me on this exciting path but also to those from all over Maryland who have strongly encouraged me to run for the U.S. Senate seat being left vacant by Senator Ben Cardin,” Raskin said.  “If these were normal times, I am pretty sure that this is what I would be announcing now.”

“But these are not normal times and we are still in the fight of our lives for democratic institutions, freedom and basic social progress in America as well as human rights and opportunity for people all over the world,” he added.