- Lead
- 98,027
- Total
- 416,689
- vs nation
- D+25.0
Maryland 3rd Congressional District
▦ precinct · ▥ counties · ▢ no spatial detail
President margin by year
Place winner margin
President results by year
Modeled candidate-vote estimate on current district boundaries
- Lead
- 105,345
- Total
- 416,973
- vs nation
- D+20.8
- Lead
- 50,669
- Total
- 363,924
- vs nation
- D+11.8
- Lead
- 24,973
- Total
- 355,040
- vs nation
- D+3.2
- Lead
- 20,021
- Total
- 346,481
- vs nation
- R+1.5
- Lead
- 18,119
- Total
- 320,159
- vs nation
- R+3.2
- Lead
- 8,482
- Total
- 268,263
- vs nation
- R+3.7
- Lead
- 6,406
- Total
- 228,210
- vs nation
- R+11.3
Key facts
- 2024 presidential margin
- D+23.5MIT Election Lab
- Population
- 771,7412024 5-year
- Population density
- 1,542 / sq mi2024 5-year · TIGER/Line
- Land area
- 501 sq miTIGER/Line
- Median household income
- $133,0462024 5-year
- White (non-Hispanic)
- 57.0%2024 5-year
- Black
- 17.2%2024 5-year
- Hispanic / Latino
- 9.0%2024 5-year
- Peak Democratic margin
- D+25.4 in 1932MIT Election Lab
- Peak Republican margin
- R+42.7 in 1972MIT Election Lab
- Most similar
- Congressional District 11, VA · twin score 88.1
presidential history
Party record book
Maryland 3rd Congressional District · the strongest Democratic and Republican presidential performances recorded here, measured three ways.
1892–2024 (partial returns from 1876) · 38 presidential cycles · 38 with a vote-share denominator · 34 with a national benchmark
Highest vote share
Largest share of the presidential candidate vote cast here.
Democratic
Franklin D. Roosevelt1932
61.8%
11,944 votes · D+25.4 · modeled estimate
Runner-up · Joe Biden, 2020 · 61.2%
Republican
Richard Nixon1972
70.7%
75,437 votes · R+42.7 · modeled estimate
Runner-up · Dwight D. Eisenhower, 1956 · 65.6%
Most votes
Largest number of votes cast for the party’s presidential nominee here.
Democratic
Joe Biden2020
255,065votes
61.2% of the vote · D+25.3 · modeled estimate
Runner-up · Kamala Harris, 2024 · 249,366 votes
Republican
George W. Bush2004
167,058votes
52.2% of the vote · R+5.7 · modeled estimate
Runner-up · Mitt Romney, 2012 · 160,455 votes
Best relative to the U.S.
This Place’s margin against the national margin in the same election — positive when it leaned toward the party more than the country did.
Democratic
John W. Davis1924
+30.3pts D vs U.S.
Place D+5.1 · U.S. R+25.2 · modeled estimate
Runner-up · Alton B. Parker, 1904 · +27.6 pts
Republican
Richard Nixon1972
+19.6pts R vs U.S.
Place R+42.7 · U.S. R+23.2 · modeled estimate
Runner-up · Richard Nixon, 1968 · +17.9 pts
Current officeholders
Federal officeholders only. State and local officeholders are planned for the next data pass.
On the ballot
Democrat Sarah Elfreth holds the seat and is contesting it.
Primary held June 23, 2026. Akashic does not yet carry the nominees for this contest.
How the seat has run
| Year | U.S. House | President | Ran ahead |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2024 | D+21.4Sarah Elfreth | D+23.5 | −2.1 |
| 2022 | D+20.5John P Sarbanes | — | — |
| 2020 | D+39.7John P Sarbanes | D+25.3 | — |
| 2018 | D+40.8John Sarbanes | — | — |
“Ran ahead” is how far the winning party’s House candidate ran ahead of that party’s presidential margin in the same district. A dash means the House race and the presidential figure were measured on different district lines, so the two cannot be subtracted — both are still shown unchanged.
Senate and governor results are in the Office selector at the top of this page.
U.S. House
Each result reflects the U.S. House district as it was drawn for that election; redistricting has redrawn these lines over time, so they can differ from the current 120th-Congress district shown on the map above.
Maryland's 3rd stretches from Baltimore's inner neighborhoods through heavily educated suburbs into Anne Arundel County, producing presidential margins that rank among the widest of any congressional district nationally.
Across the recorded series it reached a Democratic high of 25.4 points in 1932 and a Republican high of 42.7 points in 1972. Between 2020 and 2024 the district moved 1.7 points toward the Republican candidate; the 2024 margin was 23.5 points.
A population of 771,741, a 57% non-Hispanic-white share, and a median household income of $133,046 describe the district. The district's voting pattern over the last decade is most similar to that of Congressional District 11 and Congressional District 2.
The congressional districts whose fingerprint — 2000–2024 trajectory, demographics, ancestry, religion — sits closest to this one, and why.
Twin score (0–100) = weighted cosine between tier-standardized fingerprints: presidential margins 2000–2024 with 12-yr trend and elasticity, ACS income, age, education, population and race, top reported ancestries, and religious adherence — chips name the closest-shared dimensions and the widest gap. Re-weight the groups in the twins explorer.
Compare two places, side by side
Twelve curated comparisons line up election history, demographics, and the divergence story for two places at a glance. Browse all comparisons → · Or open the source-auditable district brief for electoral baseline, electorate, current-cycle coverage, geography, official dates, and methodology. Open campaign intelligence report →
Maryland 3rd Congressional District. Akashic. https://akashic.app/cd/2403/. Accessed May 20, 2026. License: CC BY 4.0.