Barack Obama secured Maryland’s 10 electoral votes on the way to winning the presidency in 2008, but his strongest support in the state was found outside Anne Arundel County.
Voters in the county actually supported Republican candidate Sen. John McCain by a narrow margin, with 129,682 votes for McCain and about 125,015 for Obama.
A review of the results shows that Obama garnered his strongest support in most of West Anne Arundel County and the Annapolis area, while McCain won the areas of Pasadena, Severna Park and south county. Obama earned very strong support in precincts in Brooklyn Park, Severn and Glen Burnie, but voting was generally split in other parts of north county.
The races for congress in 2008 showed different voter behavior, with four out of five Democratic candidates earning a majority of votes in Anne Arundel County. Democrats John Sarbanes (3rd District), C.A. “Dutch” Ruppersberger (2nd District) and Steny Hoyer (5th District) won handily in the county, while Republican Andy Harris (1st District) edged Democrat Frank Kratovil.
In the 2008 presidential election, Anne Arundel County proved to be more pro-McCain than neighboring counties. While Anne Arundel County was nearly an even split, voters in Howard County supported Obama by a 60/40 margin, while the spread was wider than 70/30 in Montgomery County. In Prince George’s County, nine out of every 10 voters supported Obama, while nearly 70 percent of voters in Baltimore County supported him.