Jean Hay Bright narrowly won the Democratic nod with 50.7% of the vote against Eric Mehnert. Hay Bright announced her candidacy in May 2005. Hay Bright was previously an unsuccessful candidate for the Democratic nomination to the House in 1994 and the Senate in 1996. The race had been called by FOX News for Snowe 23 minutes after the polls had closed. Snowe won re-election by a greater margin than any U.S. Senator that cycle except Indiana's Richard Lugar, who faced only a Libertarian opponent. Snowe won in all of Maine's counties, taking at least 60% of the vote in each region. Maryland Incumbent Democrat Paul Sarbanes, Maryland's longest serving United States senator, decided to retire instead of seeking a sixth term. Democratic nominee Ben Cardin won the open seat. Kweisi Mfume, a former congressman and NAACP President, was the first to announce for the position, in March 2005. Ben Cardin, then a congressman since 1987, was the only other major candidate until September 2005, when Dennis F. Rasmussen, a former Baltimore County Executive, American University professor Allan Lichtman, and wealthy Potomac businessman Josh Rales entered the contest. Thirteen other candidates subsequently also entered the primary. As of August 2006, Cardin had raised more than $4.8 million and collected endorsements from a number of Democratic politicians, the AFL–CIO, and The Washington Post; Mfume had raised over $1.2 million and collected endorsements from the Maryland State Teachers Association, Progressive Maryland, former Maryland Governor Parris Glendening, the National Organization for Women, and Maryland Congressmen Elijah Cummings and Al Wynn. Michael S. Steele, Lieutenant Governor and former Chairman of the Maryland Republican Party, was expected to win the Republican primary, and the Baltimore Sun wrote the month before that he faced "only nominal opposition". Among a field of nine other candidates, the only Republican receiving significant media coverage was Daniel Vovak. This was Maryland's first open Senate seat since 1986, when Senator Barbara Mikulski was first elected. Kevin Zeese, the nominee for the Green, Populist and Libertarian Parties, was also on the ballot. Though Steele lost the general election by 10% of the vote, a much wider margin than predicted, his was and remains the best showing for a Republican in a Senate race in Maryland since Charles Mathias, Jr. was re-elected in 1980 with 66% of the vote. Both Steele and Cardin made controversial statements and advertising throughout the campaign. Cardin primarily