2008 Maryland's 4th congressional district special election

Maryland's 4th congressional district special election of 2008 took place on June 17, 2008, to fill the seat in the United States House of Representatives left vacant by the resignation of Maryland congressman Albert Wynn. Democrat Donna Edwards won the election by a large margin.

2008 Maryland's 4th congressional district special election

← 2006 June 17, 2008 2008 (Nov.) →
 
Candidate Donna Edwards Peter James
Party Democratic Republican
Popular vote 16,481 3,638
Percentage 80.54% 17.78%


Representative before election

Albert Wynn
Democratic

Elected Representative

Donna Edwards
Democratic

Background

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Maryland's 4th congressional district seat was vacant after Congressman Albert Wynn resigned on May 31, 2008.[1] Maryland Governor Martin O'Malley announced that a special election would be held on June 17, 2008, to fill the seat for the remainder of the 110th Congress.[2] In order to save time and money, O'Malley signed legislation to allow the Democratic and Republican parties to choose candidates by committee instead of holding primaries. As expected, both parties chose the November general election nominees (who had already been nominated in primaries for that election) as their respective June special election candidates so that either winner would be positioned to run as the party incumbent in November.

Election officials estimated the cost for holding the special election ranged from $1.05 to $1.25 million, which was borne by the taxpayers of the 4th District.[3]

Candidates

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  • Donna Edwards (D), attorney, Democratic general election nominee, 2006 Democratic candidate for Congress
  • Peter James (R), public Advocate, Republican general election nominee
  • Thibeaux Lincecum (L)

Results

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Marylands's 4th congressional district special election, 2008[4]
Party Candidate Votes %
Democratic Donna Edwards 16,481 80.54
Republican Peter James 3,638 17.78
Libertarian Thibeaux Lincecum 216 1.06
Write-ins 127 0.62
Total votes 20,462 100.00
Democratic hold

See also

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References

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  1. ^ Teitelbaum, Michael (April 25, 2008). "Maryland's Edwards Gets Nod for House Special to Succeed Primary Rival". CQ Politics. Archived from the original on September 18, 2008. Donna Edwards... will be the Democratic nominee, and the almost certain winner...
  2. ^ "MARYLAND BRIEFING", The Washington Post, April 18, 2008.
  3. ^ Rosalind S. Helderman and James Hohmann (June 17, 2008). "Edwards Wins Congressional Seat". The Washington Post. Retrieved June 18, 2008.
  4. ^ "2008 Special 4th Congressional General Election Official Results".