Maryland DEMS Takes the Presidential Primary Center Stage

1 Million Democratic Voters Expected

Candidates, Energy and Relevance = Historic Democratic Turnout

Annapolis, MD – In 2007 the Maryland Democratic Party coordinated with our Democratic colleagues in Washington DC and Virginia to create a chronologically and geographically significant regional presidential nomination vote we call the “Chesapeake Primary.” Maryland’s Democratic leadership in the General Assembly and Governor Martin O’Malley took action and the result is the first relevant presidential primary for Maryland’s voters in decades and it will make history.

A Statement from Michael Cryor, Chair of the Maryland Democratic Party

“It has been a long time coming but right now the eyes of the nation and indeed the world are on Maryland. The presidential campaigns are already established in our state, they are buying ads on local television and radio stations, the candidates have energized the voters, the excitement is palpable and Maryland will see a presidential primary like we have never seen before – ever. This is going to be one for the history books.

We expect – and this is not a prediction – but given the tremendous popularity of our Democratic candidates, the timing and relevance of the Maryland Primary Election and the energy we’ve seen on the Democratic side of the ballot in virtually all other primaries, we expect that 1,000,000 Democrats will go to the polls in Maryland on February 12^th. 

That will be astounding. That would represent a 58% turnout among Democratic voters. The previous record was 596,000 Democratic voters in 1976, when Jerry Brown squeezed past Jimmy Carter in Maryland.

4 years ago 470,000 Democrats voted for John Kerry and John Edwards – Kerry won Maryland that year but the primary was all but over by March 2^nd, 2004.

We have other very important developments this year as well. Many of you have noted our efforts to reinstate the Primary Election vote to 17 Year-Olds who will be 18 and eligible to vote by November 4^th.  Since we sought and received a new ruling from the State Board of Elections in December we now have 15,200 more 17 year-old voters. Of those who are now eligible to vote in Maryland’s presidential primary next Tuesday, 68% have chosen to become Democrats.

We have not seen this type of energy and activity in a Maryland Presidential Primary in a very long time. The five previous primaries were all held in early March. Before that all primaries dating back to Woodrow Wilson in 1912 were held in May. If you must know, Woodrow didn’t carry Maryland that year.

How did we get here? Well you’re standing is the very offices where this idea was dreamed up and then proposed to our Democratic Legislative Leaders. They were excited by the prospects and took action.  When 22 states loaded up on what became Super Tuesday – held yesterday as you know - our hopes for relevancy were dashed a bit.

But along came a very exciting group of candidates - now down to two - and together they have energized more Democrats to go to the polls in Maryland than ever before. 

Maryland Now Matters. We are in the thick of choosing who will become the next President of the United States and we will do it, we expect, with a record breaking turnout next Tuesday.”

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