Wynn, Gilchrest Lose Primaries

Voters in Maryland ousted two longtime members of Congress Tuesday, serving as a warning sign to other vulnerable incumbents throughout the country.

Reps. Al Wynn (D-Md.) and Wayne Gilchrest (R-Md.) each lost to primary challengers who catered to their party’s base.

Wynn overwhelmingly lost by a double-digit margin to non-profit executive Donna Edwards by a 25-point margin – 60 to 35 percent.

Edwards’ progressive profile – she has been an activist for various liberal causes – played very well among the affluent, well-educated white Democrats in Montgomery County. She is overwhelmingly carrying the county – by an even larger margin than her 25-point victory over Wynn in Montgomery County in 2006.

But even more impressively, she is defeating Wynn in his home base of Prince George’s County by a 12-point margin, suggesting that Edwards’ criticism of his ties to corporate interests and his initial support for the Iraq war resonated throughout the district.

Edwards and her campaign’s allies – including the SEIU, the League of Conservation Voters and EMILY’s List – swarmed the airwaves with anti-Wynn messages, spending over $1 million combined in their advertising blitz.

Meanwhile, Rep. Wayne Gilchrest (R-Md.) lost badly to conservative state senator Andrew Harris, who attacked Gilchrest for his moderate voting record in the House.

With 95 percent of precincts reporting, Harris won with 44 percent of the vote, while Gilchrest only won 32 percent. State senator EJ Pipkin, who took some of the Eastern Shore vote away from Gilchrest, finished third with 21 percent.

Harris had significant help from the anti-tax Club for Growth. which spent hundreds of thousands of dollars on advertisements portraying Gilchrest as a tax-and-spend liberal.

Harris racked up significant margins of victory in the suburban Baltimore base of Baltimore and Harford Counties, while running competitively in Gilchrest’s home on the Eastern Shore.