Maryland lawmakers Reps. Wayne Gilchrest and Albert Wynn became the first incumbents to lose this primary season when voters elected rivals from within the same party on Tuesday.

Rep. Gilchrest lost to Republican Senator Andy Harris in a five-way race in Maryland's 1st Congressional District. Rep. Albert Wynn was beaten by Democrat Donna Edwards in Maryland's 4th Congressional district.

Two incumbent congressmen have not lost in a Maryland primary since 1970. Maryland and Illinois have been the only states to include congressional races in their presidential primaries.

Gilchrest, a moderate Republican, was beaten by Harris, who is described as a "more conservative" candidate. "The Republican Party is a right-of-center party, and they decided that the right-of-center candidate would be their nominee," Harris said.

Edwards won by capitalizing on voter dissatisfaction with Wynn's Congressional voting record, which included controversial decisions to support the war in Iraq and a failure to help avert the current home lending crisis. In a previous election Edwards lost 2-years-ago to Wynn by only 3 percentage points.