What matters more in Maryland's 6th Congressional District? Experience or endorsements

Maryland’s new congressional maps have made the Western Maryland congressional seat competitive again between Democrats and Republicans come November, according to pollsters. But first the July primary election will test what matters more to voters in the re-formed district: political experience or political endorsements.

The veteran state lawmaker who successfully sued to overturn an “extreme partisan” map favoring Democrats, Del. Neil Parrott, R-Washington, is one of six Republicans competing for the nomination. Meanwhile Democratic incumbent David Trone also has primary challengers. Parrott won the party’s nomination in 2020 and lost to Trone.

But in the GOP primary, Parrott’s experience in Annapolis is up against a young candidate with support from some of the biggest names in Republican politics, indicating the party sees an opportunity to take control of that seat in their broader pursuit of reclaiming control of the House.

Matthew Foldi, a 25-year-old former reporter, has been endorsed by Gov. Larry Hogan, whose name has been floated as a presidential candidate, and House Republican leaders Kevin McCarthy and Elise Stefanik. Other candidates in the Republican primary include a Latina military veteran, a licensed mortician, a former law enforcement officer, and a former Marine.

The 6th District primary is one of many elections on the ballot July 19 — including for the state attorney general, all the seats in the State House, comptroller and one U.S. senator's seat — ahead of a general election in which voters will decide who replaces Hogan after eight years.

Democrats have represented the 6^th Congressional District for nearly a decade since then-Democratic Gov. Martin O'Malley helped reshape the map for his party. But Parrott’s successful lawsuit in state court gives Maryland Republicans at least a fighting chance to double their representation in Washington, D.C., analysts said.

“Most of the redistricting in our country has led to polarization of political parties and left our democracy bereft of any sort of meaningful competition,” said Tim Magrath, executive director of the Beall Institute for Public Affairs at Frostburg State University.

But the 6th District is now “highly contested,” he said.

Seven of Maryland’s eight U.S. representatives are Democrats. The only Republican, Rep. Andy Harris, backs Parrott.

Magrath, a field representative for U.S. Sen. Paul Sarbanes in Western Maryland from 1995 to 2007, says the district, with its urban-rural dichotomy, is a “microcosm of the country.”

Voters in the district reflect the concerns of Americans throughout the country, with worries about inflation, safety, and far-right extremism.

“The economy is going to be really important in this election,” said Steven Clark, the chairman of the Frederick County Republican Central Committee, in a phone interview.

Frederick County, a D.C. suburb?

The new map for the 6th District includes the northern part of Montgomery County, a suburb of Washington, D.C., Frederick County, and the state’s three western most counties (Washington, Allegany, and Garrett).

More: As election approaches, what changes will you see at the polls?

Parrott, the state legislator behind the lawsuit, says he has a better chance in November because the new map no longer splits Frederick County.

“It becomes a toss-up district,” said Parrott, rattling off statistics from the Cook Political Report, showing a one point advantage to the Democrat, from 538.com, showing a one point advantage to the Republican, and from racetothewh.com, which shows him as the favorite in November with over a three-point lead against Trone, who is the front-runner in the primary against three challengers. But first, a primary, important to area voters.

Clark, who says the county is becoming a D.C. suburb, notes that infrastructure is also going to be important for the representative elected in November as the roads and rails carry more people west from the nation’s capital. But not all those in Frederick are pleased with the development.

“Frederick is definitely starting to become ‘Montgomery County North,’” said Mariela Roca, one of the six candidates competing in the Republican primary for the District 6 seat and one of three attending a Republican “Voices for Freedom” event on June 28 at the Elks Lodge in Frederick. “Things need to change.”

Vietnam War veteran John Fer, a candidate for Frederick County Council attending the event, said he doesn’t think his concerns have been addressed adequately by the current representative.

“Urban sprawl is my biggest thing,” said Fer, who has lived in Frederick since 2012, noting the county’s development has not been, what he called, “controlled growth.”

Karen Araujo, a high school Spanish teacher attending the event with her husband, Tony, said the issues facing the district are the issues facing the country: inflation, supply shortages, and high gas prices.

Araujo, a Frederick County resident since 2003, said she likes Parrott, as a conservative for low taxes. “I know what I’m looking for in candidates, but I need to find out more,” she said.

While staffing a signup table for Republican door knockers and poll watchers at the event, Connie Parsons, a Frederick resident of 14 years, said Parrott is the candidate who best represents her views.

“He just seems to be a candidate who’s going to speak for us, for Second Amendment rights, for pro-life,” Parsons said.

'The conflict between the far right and the rest of us'

Frederick County resident Cheryl Pryor voiced a different top concern for the district, namely: “The conflict between the far right and the rest of us.”

Sitting on a bench with her mother in Hagerstown’s City Park, Pryor said she’s lived through periods with rising gas prices, but the extreme element in the political climate of the country is a new worry.

“I know people who refuse to even watch the (Jan. 6) hearings, when there are people of their political party that are doing the talking, telling what’s happened,” said Pryor, watching swans and ducks swim in the lake about a mile from Washington County’s municipal government buildings during the late afternoon.

While Pryor was not yet familiar with the candidates, the direction of the country concerns her. Especially Washington County and westward, she said there are many on “the radical right.”

“It does filter down to everybody and it frightens me, because I know people who didn’t previously own guns who purchased guns, and I’m wondering, should we be going out and buying guns now, too?”

Endorsements in the Western Maryland district

Parrott, who lives in the Hagerstown area, contrasts himself with his primary opponents as someone with political experience, having served as a state delegate since 2011 and a member of the Tri-County Council for Western Maryland since 2015.

He also has raised the most money — $328,220 — of any of the candidates in the Republican field by the June 29 filing deadline, according to Federal Election Commission reports. His opponents raised a combined $312,663.

But Foldi, who, if elected, would be the state’s youngest member of Congress, has gained high profile endorsements, including from Governor Hogan after Republicans in Washington backed the campaign. His previous experience in office came as a Republican committeeman while in Chicago as a college student.

West Virginia Rep. Carol Miller, the National Republican Congressional Committee’s recruitment chair, was one of the first members of Congress to back the former reporter for the Washington Free Beacon, a conservative political journalism website launched in 2012.

House Republican Leader Kevin McCarthy, of California, and the third-highest ranking House Republican, Rep. Elise Stefanik, of New York, who rose to the position after ousting anti-Trump Republican Rep. Liz Cheney, of Wyoming, have also backed Foldi.

“Matthew Foldi’s campaign for Congress is critical to taking back the Republican Majority,” McCarthy said.

After the GOP congressional leaders had already endorsed Foldi, Hogan also put his approval behind him.

"It’s time for all Republicans to unite behind Matthew and focus on defeating David Trone in November," Hogan said.

Parrott has endorsements from Congressman Harris, the group Maryland Right to Life and the Western Maryland Sportsmen’s Coalition, along with backing from the Conservative Political Action Committee. The Washington Post also endorsed Parrott in the primary, praising his “integrity" and the "authenticity of his convictions.”

As for what the national level endorsements mean for Frederick County voters, Clark, who worked with Foldi as a state chair of the college Republicans, isn’t sure.

“Districtwide, it shows that this is an important race to Republican leadership, and I think that’s going to get people energized to come out and vote,” he said.

'I don’t feel safe working here'

Nearly another 90 miles west of Frederick and an hour’s drive west of Hagerstown is the city of Cumberland, nestled in the Allegheny Mountains, where recent high school graduate Gabriel Fisher works as a janitor.

Sitting at a table outside the Western Maryland Railway Station nearby his work, Fisher said he wants the epidemic drug use addressed, especially in Cumberland. Recounting a recent incident of drug-related abuse that he witnessed while cleaning the bathrooms at work, Fisher said that drug use is a big problem for the area.

“I don’t feel safe working here,” said Fisher, a resident of nearby Mount Savage, a town of less than a 1,000 in Allegany County, the state’s second-most-western jurisdiction.

Cumberland, once the second largest city in Maryland thanks to the railroad at the turn of the 20^th century, had 29 factories and mills. But the region has seen “incredible job loss” over many years, says Frostburg’s Magrath. Now, the city has fewer residents than it did in 1910.

“The tragedy of this region is our best and brightest young people basically have to move out of this region in order to find livable wages,” said Magrath, an instructor of political science, noting the city’s high poverty.

Fisher, the young janitor, fits that description.

“Since I just graduated, I don’t really have much ability to go get a new job,” he said.

The area’s current representative, Trone, has an office in Cumberland that overlooks the downtown area situated on the Potomac River’s northern branch and the old Chesapeake and Ohio Canal, but Fisher said he doesn’t feel represented by the current officeholder, less than a mile away.

The individual elected to Congress in November will represent Cumberland and counties like Frederick and Montgomery. Voting in his first election, Fisher's vote counts for Cumberland and could matter for the country, too, as Republicans seek the House majority necessary for control.

"The Democratic majority is holding on with their fingernails right now," Magrath said.

Early voting began on July 7 and goes until July 14. Election day is Tuesday, July 19.

Dwight A. Weingarten is an investigative reporter, covering the Maryland State House and state issues. He can be reached at dweingarten@gannett.com or on Twitter at @DwightWeingart2.

This article originally appeared on The Herald-Mail: The race to represent the 6th Congressional District in MD