Maryland Del. Harry Bhandari to run for Congress following US Rep. Ruppersberger’s retirement announcement

The race to succeed outgoing U.S. Rep. C.A. Dutch Ruppersberger received its first Democratic primary challenger three days after Ruppersberger said he would not run for reelection.

Del. Harry Bhandari, a Baltimore County Democrat, told The Baltimore Sun in an exclusive interview that he would run to succeed the outgoing Democrat in the May 14 primary. Maryland’s 2nd Congressional District encompasses parts of Baltimore and Carroll counties, and part of Baltimore City.

Bhandari, a teacher who was born in Nepal, said he was called to run for higher office after five years in the House of Delegates as a “natural progression” to further his commitment to public service, deliver services for vulnerable people, and further Ruppersberger’s legacy of strong constituent service and working with Republicans.

One of his priorities would be to expand health care access, noting Maryland’s record as the state with the longest emergency room wait times in the country and his own experiences helping his sick father navigate the health care system. He currently serves on the Health and Government Operations Committee.

“Maryland has a wonderful hospital [system] and our health care system is excellent,” he said. “However, we are the worst, 50 out of 50 [states] in the ER wait time.”

Bhandari, a Nottingham resident and father of two, first came to the U.S. in 2005, and attended the Johns Hopkins University while working nights at a gas station. He touted his life as an example of the American dream, first growing up in a village without electricity, to later emigrating from Nepal and eventually earning a Ph.D. from the University of Maryland, Baltimore County.

He was first elected to represent eastern Baltimore County in 2018. Bhandari also chairs the Maryland Legislative Asian-American and Pacific-Islander Caucus.

Bhandari is a teacher at Mergenthaler Vocational-Technical High School in Baltimore City. Last year, he was spurred to introduce a bill that would require public schools to teach conflict resolution classes, after witnessing the fatal shooting of Mervo junior Jeremiah Brogden in September 2022.

Though the bill didn’t make it out of committee, Bhandari said his anger “has a purpose. We need to make sure we do something.”

Another bill he co-sponsored, which passed into law last year, requires that mental health treatment facilities ensure that people who are committed be discharged with a long-term treatment plan and an estimated length of time they must receive inpatient care before they are released to a less-intensive facility.

Bhandari said he was inspired to help draft the law after Everton Brown, a 56-year-old Woodlawn man, shot and killed Sagar Ghimire, a 24-year-old Nepali international student, and two others in 2021. Brown had for years displayed paranoid behavior and called authorities 120 times in 24 years to report being surveilled by law enforcement. Police shot and killed Brown while responding to the shooting.

Bhandari, though he has not yet filed with the Maryland State Board of Elections, filed a campaign last month with the Federal Election Commission. He had not raised any money as of Friday. Dave Wallace has filed to run as a Republican and Clinton Spellman Jr. and Jessica Sjoberg have filed as Democrats ahead of the state’s Feb. 9 deadline.

Baltimore County Executive Johnny Olszewski Jr., a Democrat and former state delegate from Dundalk, is believed to also be considering a run for the 2nd District seat.

Bhandari said he is unfazed at the prospect of running against Olszewski in the May 14 primary.

“I’m not running against anyone,” he said. “I’m running to serve the community that has given me such an opportunity.”

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