With all 118 state legislative districts in Maryland up for election this year, there are 236 possible primaries. Of that total, 36.4%, or 86, are contested, similar to recent cycles in 2014 and 2018, which had 84 and 89 contested primaries, respectively.
A primary is contested when more candidates file to run than there are nominations available, meaning at least one candidate must lose.
The 86 contested primaries this year include 51 Democratic primaries and 35 for Republicans. For Democrats, this is down from 64 in 2018, a 20% decrease. For Republicans, that number increased 40% from 25 in 2018 to 35 in 2022.
