The Potomac primary (named after the river that splits the region), also called Chesapeake Tuesday, the

Beltway A ring road (also known as circular road, beltline, beltway, circumferential (high)way, loop or orbital) is a road or a series of connected roads encircling a town, city or country. The most common purpose of a ring road is to assist in reducin ...

primary, and the Crabcake primary, is the confluence of three Democratic presidential primaries and three Republican presidential primaries that takes place after

Super Tuesday Super Tuesday is the United States presidential primary election day in February or March when the greatest number of U.S. states hold primary elections and caucuses. Approximately one-third of all delegates to the presidential nominatin ...

in the states of

Maryland Maryland ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic region of the United States. It borders the states of Virginia to its south, West Virginia to its west, Pennsylvania to its north, and Delaware to its east ...

and

Virginia Virginia, officially the Commonwealth of Virginia, is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern and Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic regions of the United States between the East Coast of the United States ...

as well as in the

District of Columbia Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly known as Washington or D.C., is the capital city and Federal district of the United States, federal district of the United States. The city is on the Potomac River, across from ...

2008

Republican primaries

* 2008 District of Columbia Republican presidential primary * 2008 Maryland Republican presidential primary * 2008 Virginia Republican presidential primary

Democratic primaries

* 2008 District of Columbia Democratic presidential primary * 2008 Maryland Democratic presidential primary * 2008 Virginia Democratic presidential primary

Results

The results on both sides were fairly unsurprising according to

opinion poll An opinion poll, often simply referred to as a survey or a poll, is a human research survey of public opinion from a particular sample. Opinion polls are usually designed to represent the opinions of a population by conducting a series of qu ...

ing, with both

John McCain John Sidney McCain III (August 29, 1936 – August 25, 2018) was an American statesman and United States Navy, naval officer who represented the Arizona, state of Arizona in United States Congress, Congress for over 35 years, first as ...

and

Barack Obama Barack Hussein Obama II (born August 4, 1961) is an American politician who was the 44th president of the United States from 2009 to 2017. A member of the Democratic Party, he was the first African American president in American history. O ...

winning by substantial margins. For Obama, however, the race had been significant as a major source of delegates in the close Democratic race, with him garnering a net gain of 50 delegates.

2012

Republican primaries

* 2012 District of Columbia Republican presidential primary * 2012 United States presidential election in Maryland

Democratic primaries

President

ran unopposed.

Results

2016

In the 2016 election, on both the Republican and Democratic sides, Maryland, Virginia and the District of Columbia held their primaries on three separate days. Virginia's 2016 primaries were part of Super Tuesday, while Maryland's took place on April 26. The Democrats of the District of Columbia held their primary on June 14, while the District's Republicans instead opted for a caucus, which took place on March 12.

References

External links

Reuters FACTBOX-The Feb. 12 "Potomac Primary" presidential contest
{{2008Repprimaries United States presidential primaries Washington, D.C., presidential primaries Maryland presidential primaries Virginia presidential primaries