Barbara Mikulski, Maryland senator, will not seek re-election

Sen. Barbara Mikulski announced Monday that she will retire at the end of her term in 2016, closing a trailblazing 30-year career in the U.S. Senate and setting off a mad scramble among Democratic politicians for the rare open seat she’ll leave in deep-blue Maryland.

Her unexpected announcement sent shock waves through the Democratic ranks in the Old Line State. None, however, was more shaken than former Gov. Martin O’Malley, who has been positioning himself for a White House run in which he is rated a long shot, at best. He now must consider a Senate race that he might actually be able to win.

Mr. O’Malley, 56, who served two terms as Baltimore mayor and two terms as governor, has often remarked that he’s more attuned to the role of executive than legislator. But with the plum job of U.S. senator up for grabs, he’s now forced to re-examine his lawmaker qualities and re-evaluate his political future.

Some of the same factors that have hobbled his early jockeying for a presidential run likely will frustrate his Senate campaign, including that he has been blamed for the state’s wildly unpopular “rain tax” and that his hand-picked successor for governor lost to a Republican in the heavily Democratic state.

Team O’Malley didn’t want to talk about the decision facing the former governor.

“Today is a day to reflect on Senator Mikulski’s service to the people of Maryland, not engage in political speculation,” O’Malley spokeswoman Liz Smith said.

A deep bench of Democrats also are eyeing the seat, including:

⦁ Rep. Donna Edwards, a rising star who represents voter-rich Prince George’s County.

⦁ Comptroller Peter Franchot, a formidable player who made an unsuccessful bid for the gubernatorial nomination last year.

⦁ Del. Heather R. Mizeur, a gay lawmaker from Montgomery County who made an unsuccessful run for the party’s nomination for governor last year.

⦁ Baltimore Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake, who has a deep reservoir of support in the state’s largest city.

⦁ Rep. Chris Van Hollen, a Montgomery County congressman who is a prominent member of the Democratic leadership team on Capitol Hill.

What’s more, the open seat will attract attention from the state’s usually downtrodden Republicans, who have a new spring in their step after Larry Hogan’s upset win last year for governor. Mr. Hogan defeated Lt. Gov. Anthony Brown, a Democrat who served two terms alongside Mr. O’Malley, to become only the second GOP governor in Maryland since 1969.

That’s enough to encourage potential Senate candidates such as Rep. Andy Harris, the only Republican member of the state’s congressional delegation. It also could lure longtime Maryland resident Ben Carson, a famed neurosurgeon who has been angling for a GOP presidential run in 2016.

In announcing her retirement, Ms. Mikulski said she isn’t ready to pick a favorite to replace her but would support the Democratic nominee.

“Maryland has a lot of talent and they’ll be telling you about it in the next 10 minutes,” she quipped at a press conference.

There was a time not long ago when Mr. O’Malley was top dog in state Democratic politics and likely would have been able to muscle out some of the tougher competition. Not any more.

“If these Democrats want to yield to an ex-two term governor, he’d be right back in the game. But it appears he needs a lot of cooperation from a lot of people who have no reason to knuckle under,” said Towson University professor Richard E. Vatz, a longtime political commentator in Maryland.

“He’s no longer intimidating,” Mr. Vatz said. “It doesn’t appear that there is a big price to be paid for not supporting Martin O’Malley.”

Ms. Mikulski, 78, the longest-serving woman in Congress, said she decided to retire because she wanted to spend the next two years fighting for the “little guy” and not for her job.

“I had to decide whether to spend my time fighting to keep my job or fighting for your job. Do I spend my time raising money or raising hell to meet your day-to-day needs?” she said at a press conference in at a waterfront hotel in Fells Point, not far from where the Maryland Democrat got her start as a social worker and community activist in East Baltimore.

“The more I thought about it, the more the answer became really clear — I want to campaign for you. Because every day, I want to wake up thinking about you — the little guys and gals, the watermen, automobile workers, researchers, small business owners and families,” said Ms. Mikulski, a feisty politician known for championing liberal causes.

Ms. Mikulski, who previously served as chairwoman of the Senate Committee on Appropriations, was not the first woman elected to the Senate. But, as she says, she was the first woman “elected in her own right,” because back then most female senators were elected to fill the seats of their deceased husbands.

She was the only woman in the Senate when she was took office in 1987, after having served in the House. She now is among 20 female senators.

Her retirement announcement was met with an outpouring of tributes and farewell wishes from her colleagues.

House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, California Democrat, called Ms. Mikulski “a pioneer who has forged the path for the generations of women.”

Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid, Nevada Democrat, said he has “no better friend” in the chamber than Ms. Mikulski.

“I will always remember her strength on September 11th and the days that followed,” he said. “As members of Congress returned to the Capitol and met on the steps that terrible day, Senator Mikulski’s voice rose above us all as she said, ’We’ll sing “God Bless America.”’ And we did. It was a poignant moment that I will never forget.”

At the press conference, Ms. Mikulski said she had not made plans for life after the Senate.

“I haven’t thought that far. This was a very big decision,” she said, stressing how much she enjoys being a senator and working for her constituents. “I like going into the Senate to mix it up, to advance an agenda.”