Jamie Raskin Wins Re-election, Talks Medicaid, ACA Tax Credits and Patents on Election Night

Rep. Jamie Raskin, a Democrat, won re-election in Maryland’s 8th Congressional District with 82.50% of the vote, according to unofficial results. Moderately MOCO talked with Raskin on election night about his priorities, from health care to the House Judiciary Committee.

The interview is also on Facebook and Instagram. Interview by Jason Makstein for Moderately MOCO.

How Raskin described the night

Raskin described the national results in sweeping terms. He called the night “a landslide repudiation of all the authoritarianism, all the corruption” and “a decisive national repudiation of Donald Trump and what’s left of the Republican Party.”

“It’s too early to tell, but it might go down in history as a moment of partisan realignment,” Raskin said.

Medicaid, the ACA and SNAP

Asked about his priorities, Raskin said Democrats’ priorities “have got to be to start with the current victims.” He listed health care first. “We’ve got to reinstate Medicaid for millions of people thrown off Medicaid,” he said. “We’ve got to reinstate the Affordable Care Act tax credits.”

“We need to restore the billions of dollars cut out of the SNAP program,” Raskin said. “People depend on that to feed their families.”

In Montgomery County, health officials told a County Council committee on Oct. 29 that 1,082 residents no longer have Medicaid after a federal law narrowed eligibility for noncitizens starting Oct. 1, Moderately MOCO reported.

Pardons, contracts and federal workers

Raskin also said Democrats must “move very quickly to shut down pay to play coin operated government in America.” “We should not be selling pardons in America,” he said, adding, “we’ve got to stop the onslaught against federal workers.”

Patents and the Judiciary Committee

Raskin is the ranking member, the top Democrat, on the House Committee on the Judiciary, according to his congressional website. Asked whether patent reform could be on the agenda for GLP-1 drugs, Raskin said, “intellectual property patents and trademarks and copyright are all under the jurisdiction of the Judiciary Committee. And we’re going to be looking at all of that.”

The district

Raskin was first elected to Congress in 2016 and was sworn in to his fifth term in January 2025, according to his congressional website. Before Congress, he served three terms in the Maryland Senate. Results for the other Montgomery County races are on our live results page, including the races for County Executive and the County Council’s at-large seats.

The results

Across the district, Raskin had 199,583 votes (82.50%) to 37,787 (15.62%) for Republican Cheryl Riley and 4,107 (1.70%) for Green Party candidate Nancy Wallace, according to the State Board of Elections’ 8th District results page, last refreshed at 10:35 a.m. Thursday, Nov. 5.

Moderately MOCO called the race on election night. All 199 of the district’s Election Day precincts have reported, and mail-in ballots are still being counted. Results are unofficial until every ballot is counted and certified. The latest numbers are on our live results page.

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