Maryland: A lonely state for Republicans

The Washington Times ^ | November 8, 2012 | David Hill

[Tolerance Sucks Rocks]

Fresh from decisive losses in seven of Maryland’s eight congressional districts and its worst performance ever in a U.S. Senate race, the Maryland Republican Party is searching for answers to stop its slide into irrelevance in the increasingly deep-blue state.

The party lost one of its two congressional incumbents Tuesday when Rep. Roscoe G. Bartlett was defeated in a heavily gerrymandered district, leaving incumbent Rep. Andy Harris as the party’s sole representative in Congress.

Also Tuesday, voters approved ballot initiatives to legalize same-sex marriage and give in-state tuition to some illegal immigrants, despite heavy opposition from conservatives.

Acknowledging that they are heavily outnumbered in the D.C. suburbs and Baltimore, prominent Republicans say their best bet going forward is to build from the ground up in the rest of the state — strengthening support and fundraising in conservative areas, cultivating county leaders and working to topple Democrats in moderate districts of the General Assembly.

“With these demographics, it’s a very difficult sell for any GOP candidate,” former Gov. Robert L. Ehrlich Jr. — the state’s only Republican governor since Spiro Agnew held the office in 1969 — said Thursday. “It’s about being smart and running good races where you can win. There’s not much that can be done with the congressional districts; [Democrats] have them pinned.”

In Maryland, Republicans make up 26 percent of registered voters, compared with 56 percent who are Democrats. Seventeen percent of voters are unaffiliated.

Democrats hold a 98-43 advantage in the House of Delegates and a 35-12 edge in the state Senate. Its congressional delegation will have a 7-1 edge in the House of Representatives next year. As recently as 2003, the split was 4-4.

[Tolerance Sucks Rocks]

Maryland “Freak State” PING!

[tickedoffnow]

Time to leave if you live there. There’s no coming back.

[Morris70]

Better off in lower PA or south Jersey
If you need to stay close to family.

[Daveinyork]

Good luck. Baltimore will never go Republican, and the DC burbs in southern MD will vote for whoever is going to keep paying them with taxpayer money, ie democrats.

[Gaffer]

I agree. It is time for the faithful to come home, so to speak - move, come hook or crook! They’ll eventually learn they can’t redistribute the redistributed money they stole from us.

There is no point in paying taxes,etc. in a state lost to Democrat diversity and oppression.

[muawiyah]

no surprise. the state legislature in maryland is literally evil, and inclined to foster vice, homosexuality and theft. their big item was to foster building a casino in p.g. county, create homosexual marriage and take the public purse and give the money away to anti-American foreigners.

Next big hurricane up could change all that.

[Perdogg]

What I find amusing is that with all of the ads Sobhani ran and all of the money he spent relative to Bongino, Sobhani got only 17% of the vote, Bongino 26%.

[Vision]

You need to think of Maryland as a colony of the federal government.

[zerosix]

I don't live in Maryland but if I did, I'd certainly look to purchase some property across the state line in VA or even consider PA, if living in the northern part of the state.

Better yet, I'd look to WVA, which seems to be moving Red.

Of course, it's easy for me to say as I live in KS, fast becoming the Redest of Red States!!!

Hoo-Rah!

[Heartland Mom]

I was raised in Western Maryland and it was a very Republican area then. No idea what has happened to it now. I would think the GOP leadership needs to get together nationwide and come up with a real plan of action addressing this issue. They absolutely need to demand voter ids (to prevent fraud in the next election), but just as important, use some of the entrepreneurial excellence which businessmen posses to come up with a real, meaningful marketing strategy to sell themselves to Libertarians and legal immigrants and hardworking minorities, etc. Sell ourselves as the party who believes in the American Dream and teaching people how to fish as opposed to giving them a fish. Get back to basics and stop focusing on issues that divide us. One thing with the Democrats is they are all things to all people. They want to include absolutely everyone in getting them to vote for their candidates - they don't focus on their own internal differences, but rather gloss them over in the quest for votes.

[lookout88]

Go political galt. Don’t even run anyone. Leave asap, it’s coming to that.

[momtothree]

“I was raised in Western Maryland and it was a very Republican state then..”

It still is and so is the Eastern Shore. However, Baltimore, Montgomery, P.G. counties are strictly libtard. Montgomery (for example) is one of the most welcoming counties in a welcoming state for illegals. Although it is the state of my birth... I hope to G*d that I can leave it and soon.

[Tonytitan]

... I live in KS, fast becoming the Redest of Red States!!!

That distinction may belong to Tennessee. Both houses of the State Legislature ended Tuesday having Republican super majorities. Add that to a Republican Governor and the Dems are nothing more than an echo in this state.

[biss5577]

Believe me, we live on the eastern shore (originally from blue CT, moved to Annapolis area 30 years ago) and are ready to pick up everything in the next few years when we retire. I voted NO on every question on Tuesday, but the majority voted YES. Ah, same sex marriage and casinos....what a great state we live in. Shame on us.

[biss5577]

Oh yeah, forgot about in-state tuition for illegal aliens. Hmmmm, so much “great” stuff happening in this “great” state, I left it out in my last post.

[wideawake]

Maryland is less than 55% white.

And probably one third of that demographic works directly or indirectly for the federal government.

[imemyself]

I was raised in Maryland as well . . . left in my early 20’s. Last visit was about 8 years ago. It’s not the Maryland I knew. I’ll never go back again.

In a huge red state now now and love it !

[tflabo]

Give western MD.to Virginia where it belongs. Let the eastern half of dopes be ruled by their tyrants.

[tflabo]

Does anyone know what the percentage of MD black voters approving same sex marriage?