Cardin Wins Maryland Senate Race

Democratic Sen. Ben Cardin won re-election to the U.S. Senate, defeating Republican Dan Bongino and independent Rob Sobhani.

Cardin received 53 percent of the vote, while Bongino had 28 percent and Sobhani had 17 percent just before midnight on Tuesday.

Cardin celebrated his re-election with other prominent Democrats at a lounge in M&T Bank Stadium in Baltimore. In his victory speech, Cardin praised GOP candidate Bongino for running a clean campaign, while saying Sobhani did not.

Sobhani, who had previously run as a Republican, reportedly spent more than $4 million to run as an independent and was criticized recently for his last-minute robocalls to potential voters.

“I gained a great deal of respect for Dan Bongino,” Cardin said. 

Bongino, the former secret service agent from Severna Park, also said the Cardin campaign was a "class act." He spoke to Cardin as the results came in, and congratulated him on the victory.

"He has been a gentleman, he has been a class act," Bongino said. "We may have political differences, we have from the beginning, but we actually became close friends toward the end."

In an interview following his victory speech, Cardin said he is looking forward to getting back to work and was hopeful the Senate would address pressing issues in the coming lame duck session.

He also expressed enthusiasm for returning to work with his party still in the majority.    

“I think we had great candidates who ran fantastic campaigns that really connected with the voters," Cardin said.