Jerome Segal, activist, philosopher, president of the Jewish Peace Society and founder of the socialist "Bread and Roses" party, is entering the race for the U.S. Senate seat left vacant by Sen. Ben Cardin's (D-Md.) retirement.
Segal confirmed his entry into Maryland's Democratic primary in a one-line email to News4.
"Yes, I'm running in the Maryland Primary of the Democratic Party for the 2024 Senate nomination," the email read.
He is ending his 2024 presidential campaign to instead run for the Maryland Senate seat.
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He joins a slowly growing list of candidates that also includes Maryland Rep. David Trone and Montgomery County Councilmember Will Jawando.
As of Saturday afternoon, Segal does not appear to have launched a website for his 2024 Senate run.
According to the bio posted on Segal's 2024 presidential campaign website, Segal was born in the Bronx in New York in 1943, to Jewish parents. His father immigrated from Poland, and Segal cites his father's union activism as a formative part of his political views.
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He received a undergraduate degree in economics and philosophy from City College of New York and doctorate in philosophy from University of Michigan, where protests against the Vietnam War drew him into electoral politics. He also received a master's degree from University of Minnesota.
He worked on the staff for Congressman Donald M. Fraser (D-Minn.) in the 1970s, and later worked for USAID. He was also a professor at the University of Maryland until his retirement in 2019.
In the 1989, Segal founded the Jewish Peace Lobby, which according to its website is "an American Jewish organization which seeks to promote a just and lasting resolution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict."
He also founded the Bread and Roses party in 2019, after an unsuccessful Senate run against Cardin in 2018. That party advertises itself on its website as "A Humanist Organization with a Strong Utopian and International Orientation, One in Pursuit of a New American Dream and a World of Peace and Justice."
"Bread and Roses Humanism is utopian," the website says, espousing values that align with many other progressive Democrat candidates and focus on labor rights -- but few hardline policy positions. "We aspire to a society and a culture which is vastly superior to the present day."
In 2020, Segal ran for U.S. President in the state of Maryland. He said in an interview with the Washington Post at the time that he did not expect to win the race, but wanted third parties to have a larger role in American politics. He added that he did not plan to campaign for president in swing states, "where it might cut into votes for Trump’s opponent," the Post reported.
Whoever wins the Democratic primary will be a heavy favorite to win the seat in a state where Democrats outnumber Republicans 2-1. Maryland has not elected a Republican to the U.S. Senate since 1980. The state’s eight-member House delegation has only one Republican.
Cardin, 79, has been a longtime fixture in Maryland politics. His retirement will open up his seat for the first time since 2006, when he was elected to the Senate after spending 20 years in the U.S. House representing a large part of Baltimore and several nearby suburbs.
Cardin is the third Democratic senator to decide not to run for reelection next year, following Sen. Dianne Feinstein of California and Sen. Debbie Stabenow of Michigan. On the Republican side, Sen. Mike Braun of Indiana is eschewing a second term and will run for governor instead.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
