The retirement of Democratic Sen. Philip Jimeno has Republicans salivating over the possibility of increasing their presence in the Senate, but Democrats said the seat may not be such an easy win.
“We?ve had a shot at it before, and now I think it?s our race to lose,” said Chuck Gast, chairman of the Anne Arundel County Republican Party.
Jimeno, who represents District 31 in Anne Arundel County, announced the end of his 20-year-plus career in the state legislature Monday night in Brooklyn Park.
“I?ve struggled with this decision since November and through the session I hoped something would come up to make me change my mind,” Jimeno said. “But nothing came up. I wanted to leave the General Assembly on my own terms.”
First elected to the Senate in 1985, Jimeno was a member of the Judicial Proceedings Committee and chaired the Anne Arundel County delegation for three years. He was first elected to the House of Delegates in 1979.
Jimeno said he plans to spend more time with his family and grandchildren.
District 31, which covers Glen Burnie and other communities in the northeastern part of Anne Arundel County, was once a Democratic stronghold. But the district?s representation is now evenly split between Democrats and Republicans. Republican Gov. Robert Ehrlich and President George Bush both did well in the district in previous elections.
“People are sick of partisan politics and want people who?ll work for their districts,” Gast said.
But Ann Marie Remillard, chairwoman of the Anne Arundel County Democratic Party, said Republicans won?t have the momentum of an incumbent president to draw on, and said single-issue candidates may have backfired for some constituents.
“I think people have been burned,” she said. “To campaign on one issue, I think is a lazy excuse. Either you have a philosophy of government or you don?t. I think this election will show whether people are really serious.”
Neither party has officially announced who will run for Jimeno?s seat, but the Anne Arundel County delegation is already losing four members. Republican Dels. John Leopold and David Boschert are both running for Anne Arundel County executive, and Democrat Del. Pauline Menes, the longest-serving woman in the House of Delegates, announced her retirement this year.
