Senate President Mike Miller surprised many not by announcing his retirement but by announcing it before he was even sworn in for his last four-year term. Some might suspect that he does not plan to serve out his full term in order to annoint his successor. However, Miller told the Gazette that he plans to serve until the end of his term.
Miller still has four years left on what looks to be an impressive 24-year run as Maryland Senate President. However, potential successors are already jockeying for position. The Baltimore Sun has named practically every veteran Democratic senator with a pulse as a potential candidate for the leadership post:
The generally accepted front-runners in the race are the three veteran committee chairmen: Sen. Ulysses E. Currie of Prince George's County, Sen. Brian E. Frosh of Montgomery County and Sen. Thomas M. Middleton of Southern Maryland.Frosh is seen as the liberal in the race while Middleton, Hogan, and Kasemayer are seen as relatively moderate candidates. Currie and Conway are both members of the powerful group of African-American senators from Baltimore City.
Sen. Joan Carter Conway of Baltimore, who takes over the Education, Health and Environmental Affairs Committee in January, will also have a strong perch from which to position herself for the post over the next four years.
Other names that have been suggested by current members of the Senate include Sen. P.J. Hogan, a Montgomery County Republican-turned-Democrat who is vice chairman of the Budget and Taxation Committee; and Sen. Edward J. Kasemeyer, a Howard County Democrat who has been Miller's go-to guy on slot machines, BGE rates and other complex issues.
A dark horse possibility is Sen. Robert J. Garagiola, an attorney and Army veteran from Montgomery County who is well-liked and respected in the chamber but who has served only one term and has not held a leadership post.
While it is tempting to size up the race in terms of ideology, the race to fill Miller's big shoes may rest less on ideology and more on personality and regional alliances. For example, the Washington suburbs with 15 of the 33 Democratic senators could unite in an attempt to elect a leader from Montgomery or Prince George's. Alternatively, African-American senators from Prince George's and Baltimore could form a powerful bloc of ten senators.
All of the jockeying for position will make the upcoming session interesting. Sen. Lisa Gladden (Baltimore) had the most apt observation:
But in a chamber where the top job has been locked up for so long - Miller was elected Senate president in January 1987 and is the longest-serving Senate president in the United States right now - it will be all but impossible for the ambitious to contain themselves, said Sen. Lisa A. Gladden, a Baltimore Democrat. She, for one, is excited to watch the scramble.And don't forget an election will intervene before the Democratic Caucus chooses the next Senate President.
"Now all the chairmen are going to act right," Gladden said. "This might be the most congenial session in the history of the Senate because everyone is going to be so pleasant."
