To the surprise of many on the Eastern Shore, the Congressional race for the 1st District in Maryland is off to a very early start. A month or so ago, Kent County’s Heather Mizeur announced her intention to run against incumbent Andy Harris in 2022. And just last week, another Democrat, Dave Harden, of Westminster jumped into the race, resulting in a contested primary election in late June next year.
While this can only be welcomed news for those who oppose Rep Harris’s policies and voting record, it needs to be pointed out that as it stands now, Maryland’s 1st District is one of the safest in the country for Republicans.
Designed explicitly by Democrats to limit the state’s representation to just one seat for the GOP out of eight, the last few elections have revealed how successful this form of gerrymandering has been for Dr. Harris, who won 63% of the vote in 2020.
This formula could change in 2022 as Republicans and Democrats are tasked again to redrawing the state’s congressional districts over the next several months. Still, most political observers predict that MD-1 will remain a bullet-proof Republican seat after the dust settles on the issue.
Nonetheless, this somewhat sobering analysis has not stopped these two well-qualified Democratic candidates in launching early campaigns to defeat Harris.
Last week, we introduced our Chestertown Spy readers to Heather Mizeur. This week, we offered the same platform to Dave Harden.
This video is approximately twelve minutes in length. For more information about John Harden please go here.
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