Ben Cardin

Benjamin Louis Cardin (born October 5, 1943) is an American lawyer and politician serving as the senior United States senator from Maryland, a seat he has held since 2007. A member of the Democratic Party, he was the U.S. representative for from 1987 to 2007. Cardin served in the Maryland House of Delegates from 1967 to 1987 and as its speaker from 1979 to 1987, the youngest person to ever hold the position. In his half-century career as an elected official, he had never lost an election. Cardin was elected as U.S. Senator to succeed Paul Sarbanes in 2006, defeating Republican Michael Steele, the Lieutenant Governor of Maryland, by a margin of 54% to 44%. He was reelected in 2012 taking 56% of the vote. He became Maryland's senior U.S. senator on January 3, 2017, upon Barbara Mikulski's retirement. Cardin won reelection to a third term in 2018, taking 65% of the vote. On May 1, 2023, he announced that he would retire and not seek re-election in 2024. Early life and career Benjamin Louis Cardin was born in Baltimore, Maryland. The family name was originally "Kardonsky", before it was changed to "Cardin". Cardin's grandparents were Russian Jewish immigrants. His maternal grandfather, Benjamin Green, operated a neighborhood grocery store that later turned into a wholesale food distribution company. His mother Dora was a schoolteacher and his father, Meyer Cardin, served in the Maryland House of Delegates (1935–1937) and later sat on the Baltimore City Supreme Bench (1961–1977). Cardin and his family attended the Modern Orthodox Beth Tfiloh Congregation near their home, with which the family had been affiliated for three generations. Cardin attended City College High School, graduating in 1961. In 1964, he earned a Bachelor of Arts degree cum laude from the University of Pittsburgh, where he was a member of the Pi Lambda Phi fraternity. He earned a Juris Doctor from the University of Maryland School of Law in 1967, graduating first in his class. Cardin was admitted to the Maryland Bar that same year, and joined the private practice of Rosen and Esterson until 1978.