1978 Maryland Senate election

1978 Maryland Senate election
All 47 seats in the Maryland Senate ; 24 seats needed for a majority
President before election; Steny Hoyer ; Democratic	Elected President ; James Clark Jr. ; Democratic

Last updated December 05, 2025

The 1978 Maryland Senate election was held on November 7, 1978, to determine which party would control the Maryland Senate for the following four years. All 47 seats were up for election and the primary was held on September 12, 1978. Prior to the election, 39 seats were held by Democrats and 8 seats were held by Republicans. The general election saw the Democrats expand their majority by a single seat.^[1]^[2]

Retirements

Democrats

District 7: Donald P. Hutchinson retired to run for Baltimore County Executive.
District 8: Roy N. Staten retired.
District 13: John C. Coolahan retired.
District 17: Charles W. Gilchrist retired to run for Montgomery County Executive.
District 22: Meyer M. Emanuel Jr. retired.
District 26: Steny Hoyer retired to run for lieutenant governor of Maryland alongside Blair Lee III.
District 32: Alfred J. Lipin retired.
District 34: Elroy G. Boyer retired.

Republicans

District 5: C. A. Porter Hopkins retired.
District 16: Newton I. Steers Jr. retired.

Incumbents defeated

In primary

Democrats

District 19: C. Lawrence Wiser lost renomination to Sidney Kramer.
District 36: E. Homer White Jr. lost renomination to Joseph J. Long Sr.

Closest races

Seats where the margin of victory was under 10%:

District 16, 0.78%
District 30, 3.22%
District 5, 9.48% (gain)

Results

District 1

District 1, 1978
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Republican	Edward J. Mason (incumbent)	13,981	55.27%
	Democratic	Philip T. Carolan	11,313	44.73%
Total votes			25,294	100.0%
	Republican hold

District 2

District 2, 1978
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Democratic	Victor Cushwa (incumbent)	15,338	100.0%
Total votes			15,338	100.0%
	Democratic hold

District 3

District 3, 1978
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Republican	Edward P. Thomas Jr. (incumbent)	11,281	100.0%
Total votes			11,281	100.0%
	Republican hold

District 4

District 4, 1978
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Democratic	Charles H. Smelser (incumbent)	16,453	100.0%
Total votes			16,453	100.0%
	Democratic hold

District 5

District 5, 1978
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Democratic	Francis X. Kelly	16,256	54.74%
	Republican	George A. Price	13,439	45.26%
Total votes			29,695	100.0%
	Democratic gain from Republican

District 6

District 6, 1978
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Democratic	Arthur Henry Helton Jr. (incumbent)	15,152	100.0%
Total votes			15,152	100.0%
	Democratic hold

District 7

District 7, 1978
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Democratic	Dennis F. Rasmussen	16,446	76.72%
	Republican	Leonard A. Kraus	4,991	23.28%
Total votes			21,437	100.0%
	Democratic hold

District 8

District 8, 1978
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Democratic	Patrick T. Welsh	15,295	87.35%
	Republican	Bob H. Estes	2,214	12.65%
Total votes			17,509	100.0%
	Democratic hold

District 9

District 9, 1978
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Democratic	Norman R. Stone Jr. (incumbent)	17,445	100.0%
Total votes			17,445	100.0%
	Democratic hold

District 10

District 10, 1978
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Republican	John J. Bishop Jr. (incumbent)	15,205	60.98%
	Democratic	David J. Preller	9,729	39.02%
Total votes			24,934	100.0%
	Republican hold

District 11

District 11, 1978
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Republican	Robert E. Stroble (incumbent)	14,112	61.24%
	Democratic	Roy E. Estes	8,931	38.76%
Total votes			23,043	100.0%
	Republican hold

District 12

District 12, 1978
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Democratic	Melvin Steinberg (incumbent)	22,223	82.01%
	Republican	Harvey T. Galonoy	4,874	17.99%
Total votes			27,097	100.0%
	Democratic hold

District 13

District 13, 1978
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Democratic	Timothy R. Hickman	15,803	100.0%
Total votes			15,803	100.0%
	Democratic hold

District 14

District 14, 1978
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Democratic	James Clark Jr. (incumbent)	28,909	100.0%
Total votes			28,909	100.0%
	Democratic hold

District 15

District 15, 1978
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Democratic	Laurence Levitan (incumbent)	16,507	48.00%
	Republican	John Henry Hiser Jr.	13,693	39.81%
	Independent	Bette Marshall	4,194	12.19%
Total votes			34,394	100.0%
	Democratic hold

District 16

District 16, 1978
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Republican	Howard A. Denis	13,558	50.39%
	Democratic	Joseph D. Gebhardt	13,347	49.61%
Total votes			26,905	100.0%
	Republican hold

District 17

District 17, 1978
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Democratic	S. Frank Shore	12,113	56.48%
	Republican	Albert E. Nunn	9,335	43.52%
Total votes			21,448	100.0%
	Democratic hold

District 18

District 18, 1978
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Democratic	Margaret Schweinhaut (incumbent)	16,359	71.94%
	Republican	Donald H. Dalton	6,382	28.06%
Total votes			22,741	100.0%
	Democratic hold

District 19

District 19, 1978
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Democratic	Sidney Kramer	17,332	100.0%
Total votes			17,332	100.0%
	Democratic hold

District 20

District 20, 1978
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Democratic	Victor L. Crawford (incumbent)	11,638	100.0%
Total votes			11,638	100.0%
	Democratic hold

District 21

District 21, 1978
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Democratic	Arthur Dorman (incumbent)	10,315	61.45%
	Republican	Julia Brown	6,470	38.55%
Total votes			16,785	100.0%
	Democratic hold

District 22

District 22, 1978
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Democratic	John J. Garrity	9,938	100.0%
Total votes			9,938	100.0%
	Democratic hold

District 23

District 23, 1978
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Democratic	Thomas Patrick O'Reilly (incumbent)	9,192	70.08%
	Republican	Richard Anthony Blancato	3,924	29.92%
Total votes			13,116	100.0%
	Democratic hold

District 24

District 24, 1978
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Democratic	Edward T. Conroy (incumbent)	15,072	100.0%
Total votes			15,072	100.0%
	Democratic hold

District 25

District 25, 1978
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Democratic	Tommie Broadwater (incumbent)	5,542	62.07%
	Republican	Joseph M. Parker	3,386	37.93%
Total votes			8,928	100.0%
	Democratic hold

District 26

District 26, 1978
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Democratic	B. W. Mike Donovan	7,362	100.0%
Total votes			7,362	100.0%
	Democratic hold

District 27

District 27, 1978
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Democratic	Peter A. Bozick (incumbent)	9,150	100.0%
Total votes			9,150	100.0%
	Democratic hold

District 28

District 28, 1978
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Democratic	Thomas V. Miller Jr. (incumbent)	11,846	72.44%
	Republican	Ray Velasquez	4,506	27.56%
Total votes			16,352	100.0%
	Democratic hold

District 29

District 29, 1978
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Democratic	James C. Simpson (incumbent)	15,433	100.0%
Total votes			15,433	100.0%
	Democratic hold

District 30

District 30, 1978
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Republican	Edward T. Hall (incumbent)	11,639	51.61%
	Democratic	George M. Nutwell	10,913	48.39%
Total votes			22,552	100.0%
	Republican hold

District 31

District 31, 1978
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Democratic	Jerome F. Connell Sr. (incumbent)	11,413	56.64%
	Republican	Gary Q. Green	8,737	43.36%
Total votes			20,150	100.0%
	Democratic hold

District 32

District 32, 1978
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Democratic	H. Erle Schafer	12,332	67.75%
	Republican	Richard L. Stack	5,871	32.25%
Total votes			18,203	100.0%
	Democratic hold

District 33

District 33, 1978
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Republican	John A. Cade (incumbent)	14,179	65.73%
	Democratic	Darrell L. Henry	7,392	34.27%
Total votes			21,571	100.0%
	Republican hold

District 34

District 34, 1978
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Democratic	Walter M. Baker	12,519	57.24%
	Republican	Peter K. Monk	9,352	42.76%
Total votes			21,871	100.0%
	Democratic hold

District 35

District 35, 1978
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Democratic	Frederick Malkus (incumbent)	15,209	100.0%
Total votes			15,209	100.0%
	Democratic hold

District 36

District 36, 1978
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Democratic	Joseph J. Long Sr.	17,952	75.05%
	Republican	Noah Ames Pennewell	5,968	24.95%
Total votes			23,920	100.0%
	Democratic hold

District 37

District 37, 1978
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Democratic	Harry J. McGuirk (incumbent)	7,930	100.0%
Total votes			7,930	100.0%
	Democratic hold

District 38

District 38, 1978
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Democratic	Clarence Mitchell III (incumbent)	7,150	100.0%
Total votes			7,150	100.0%
	Democratic hold

District 39

District 39, 1978
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Democratic	Julian L. Lapides (incumbent)	10,625	100.0%
Total votes			10,625	100.0%
	Democratic hold

District 40

District 40, 1978
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Democratic	Verda Welcome (incumbent)	9,389	100.0%
Total votes			9,389	100.0%
	Democratic hold

District 41

District 41, 1978
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Democratic	Clarence W. Blount (incumbent)	9,849	100.0%
Total votes			9,849	100.0%
	Democratic hold

District 42

District 42, 1978
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Democratic	Rosalie Silber Abrams (incumbent)	16,617	100.0%
Total votes			16,617	100.0%
	Democratic hold

District 43

District 43, 1978
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Democratic	J. Joseph Curran Jr. (incumbent)	15,431	100.0%
Total votes			15,431	100.0%
	Democratic hold

District 44

District 44, 1978
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Democratic	John Carroll Byrnes (incumbent)	14,898	100.0%
Total votes			14,898	100.0%
	Democratic hold

District 45

District 45, 1978
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Democratic	Robert Douglass (incumbent)	6,893	100.0%
Total votes			6,893	100.0%
	Democratic hold

District 46

District 46, 1978
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Democratic	Joseph S. Bonvegna (incumbent)	13,034	100.0%
Total votes			13,034	100.0%
	Democratic hold

District 47

District 47, 1978
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Democratic	Cornell N. Dypski (incumbent)	11,872	100.0%
Total votes			11,872	100.0%
	Democratic hold

References

↑ "Maryland manual 1979-1980" (PDF). maryland.gov. 1980. Retrieved 2025-11-27.
↑ "Archives of Maryland Historical List Senate, 1777-". maryland.gov. March 15, 2000. Retrieved 2025-11-27.

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[QWS-1] "Maryland manual 1979-1980" (PDF). maryland.gov. 1980. Retrieved 2025-11-27.

[SCF-2] "Archives of Maryland Historical List Senate, 1777-". maryland.gov. March 15, 2000. Retrieved 2025-11-27.

[1]

[2]

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1978 Maryland Senate election

Contents

Retirements

Democrats

Republicans

Incumbents defeated

In primary

Democrats

Closest races

Results

References