What Went Down In The April 26 Primary Elections

Rep. Chris Van Hollen looks like he’s won the Democratic primary and will almost certainly be the next senator from Maryland. In fact, CNN just called it. Van Hollen is doing far better in his base (Montgomery County) than Rep. Donna Edwards is doing in hers (Prince George’s County), and he’s ahead by more than 40,000 votes statewide. This is a convincing victory for the “pragmatist” wing of the Democratic party and a bitter defeat to progressives and EMILY’s List.

“That is how progress gets made — by dreamers and doers,” Clinton said to supporters tonight in a speech focusing on economic themes. The line was also a not-so-veiled dig at Sanders (she strongly suggested that between the two, she was the doer), although she also complimented him on bringing up important issues in the race. The tension between criticizing Sanders and trying not to alienate his voters is part of a hot-and-cold rhetorical war between the two Democratic candidates. Clinton later turned her attention to attacking Trump. If front-runners Clinton and Trump take the nominations, we might see some interesting cross-party gymnastics. A recent Suffolk University poll found that 19 percent of Republicans who wouldn’t vote for Trump would choose Clinton instead. And a poll last month from NBC News/Wall Street Journal found 7 percent of Sanders voters might choose Trump if their candidate didn’t win.

We thought Maryland would be among Clinton’s best states outside the South. Why? The state has wealthy white voters and a lot of black voters. Right now, Clinton is winning black voters by 48 percentage points and winning those making more than $200,000 by 52 percentage points.