The Democratic senators assembled in the Senate chambers yesterday cast the identical vote made every year since 1986.
Thomas V. Mike Miller was unanimously selected as Senate president by the Democratic caucus, making it all but certain he will serve as leader for the 17th consecutive year. The full Senate will cast its vote in January.
"I appreciate the trust you've placed in me," Miller told a chamber loaded with newly elected faces. "I won't let you down."
The waves of change cascading through the State House since this month's elections have stopped at the dais where Miller, 59, wields his gavel.
The man who became a top target in the Republican Party's campaign against the arrogance of power in Annapolis, who was reprimanded by fellow senators for telephoning judges presiding over redistricting cases, who has a grievance against his law license pending, remains standing.
Gov. Parris N. Glendening is leaving office after two terms. Lt. Gov. Kathleen Kennedy Townsend was defeated in her bid to succeed him. House Speaker Casper R. Taylor Jr. lost his Western Maryland district in an upset.
But Miller has kept his grip on one of the three most powerful jobs in state government, fending off a series of challenges and bad publicity that began two years ago.
"He is a survivor," said Sen. Paula C. Hollinger of Baltimore County.
With broad shoulders, wavy reddish hair, deep creases around his eyes and a passion for Democratic politics, Miller inspires a mixture of fear and respect from colleagues.
Sen. Brian Frosh of Montgomery County recalled a meeting with the Senate president more than a decade ago, when, as a new delegate, he was trying to get a House-approved bill assigned to the Senate's environmental committee.
Miller sent it to the judicial committee instead, dooming its chances. But as he escorted Frosh out, Miller draped his arm around him, and said, "It sounds like you've got a great bill. Let me know if there's anything I can do to help."
"I walked out of his office saying, 'That guy just killed my bill, but what a great guy,'" Frosh said.
Miller cemented his standing two weeks ago, when he named a fresh slate of committee chairmen and vice chairmen, handing out powerful positions to colleagues who returned the favor yesterday by naming him as their leader.
He also used money to achieve his goals. A campaign committee he created, the Maryland Democratic Senatorial Committee, spent $263,000 through October on selected races. As a result, Republicans gained only one seat in the Senate, compared with eight in the House of Delegates.
"This size of our Democratic majority is due in large part to him," Frosh said.
To be sure, Miller has his detractors. Two years ago, Republicans and insurgent Democrats plotted a coup against his leadership, picking former Sen. Thomas L. Bromwell as a successor. Gov.-elect Robert L. Ehrlich Jr., then in Congress, was involved in the talks.
The plan failed, but Bromwell remained chairman of the Finance Committee, until resigning to take a job with the Injured Workers Insurance Fund.
Miller was also one of the chief architects of last year's legislative redistricting plan, which earned him many enemies.
When Republicans and other groups sued to have the plan overturned, Miller telephoned the Court of Appeals judges presiding over the case, berating them over an interim decision. The judges disclosed the inappropriate contact, tossed out the map and drew their own.
The resulting districts contributed to Taylor's loss, and Miller's actions gave credence to the GOP's claim that Democrats in Annapolis have been corrupted by power.
The accusation was leveled most vocally by party Chairman Michael S. Steele, later picked by Ehrlich as a running mate.
That message helped Ehrlich become the first Republican governor chosen in 36 years. But it did not work in Miller's home district in Prince George's and Calvert counties, where he was re-elected easily.
"Unfortunately, on the Senate side, not a lot has changed," said Paul Ellington, executive director of the state Republican Party. "He's still there. We took our best shot. You have to respect the man. He's the longest-serving Senate president in [Maryland] history. But at the same time, it's a new day."