A neck-and-neck Senate race in Maryland is causing big problems for Democrats

A race for US Senate in deep-blue Maryland remains in a dead heat thanks to the persistence of a well-known Republican candidate, complicating the electoral map for Democrats this fall.

Larry Hogan’s campaign for the state’s open Senate seat held by retiring Senator Ben Cardin is tied with his opponent, Angela Alsobrooks, according to an AARP poll of likely voters, with both candidates sitting at 46 percent in the race.

The hotly contested race comes as little surprise to Marylanders, who know Hogan from his two terms as governor where he enjoyed some of the highest popularity ratings of any state leader in the country. He was widely viewed as the only Republican with a serious chance of winning the seat before the governor announced his candidacy.

Alsobrooks, meanwhile, remains a relatively lower-profile politician for voters outside of Prince George’s County where she has served as executive. What she lacks in statewide recognition, however, she makes up with strong ties to the national Democratic Party as well the Maryland Democratic political machine. She has allies in not just Kamala Harris, the top of her party’s ticket, but also incumbent Maryland Governor Wes Moore, who is popular in his own right and has been eyed as a possible national candidate too.

Aside from the hand-wringing it will inevitably cause at DNC headquarters, the poll lays out a picture of a race which is clearly winnable for either candidate, though they will have to pursue markedly different goals to do so. But it does mean one thing for sure: Democrats will have to spend money to protect a Senate seat they otherwise would have been able to write off as a safe hold.

Hogan, as a well-known former governor representing a party which has become