Posted on 05/15/2007 2:35:54 PM PDT by Abby4116
State Senator Considering Challenge To Gilchrest Tuesday, May 15, 2007 - WBAL Radio's Robert Lang
One of the two Republicans in Maryland's congressional delegation could face a challenge in next year's primary election.
State Senator Andrew Harris told WBAL News that he's going to use this weekend's spring Maryland State Republican Convention in Annapolis, to gauge support for a run against incumbent Congressman Wayne Gilchrest.
Harris says he will make a final decision on whether to run for Congress next week.
(Excerpt) Read more at wbal.com ...
Gilchrest needs to go. This is not a liberal district.
Best case would be a Harris Candidacy scares the 9-term Congressman to finally admit its time to give it up. No messy primary involved. Otherwise I hope Harris continues his campaign and takes out Gilchrest. Not only is he Pro-Surrender, he’s Pro-Abortion, Pro-Gay Agenda, part of the Global Warming Conspiracy and one of those “Main Street” RINOs. The Eastern Shore deserves better.
Alas, the last good-voting (albeit not good in the judgment department) member from MD-1 was Bob Bauman. Although gay, he was a solid Conservative. Had he not given into his baser instincts, he’d probably still be in Congress today. Were he a liberal rodent, he definitely would be.
It is not a liberal district, but it is a district that is very comfortable with Wayne Gilchrest. He has twice in recent years been challenged by a conservative, and twice has survived easily. One challenge was funded by the Club for Growth and the other came from one of the district's other state senators. His pointed opposition to the war may change things slightly this time around, but not enough.
BTW, the only reason Gilchrest runs as a Republican is because when he first decided to run the GOP did not have a candidate. One can presume that if it was the Democratic slot that was open instead, he would have filed to run as a Democrat.
Oh, I know he’s faced challengers before, but it doesn’t mean we should merely give up here. After all, we’re now down to 2 seats in MD. The other being Roscoe Bartlett, who will either be retiring or exiting feet-first (more likely the latter), and his voting record is excellent and State Sen. Alex Mooney seems to be the likely heir apparent, so no worries. Not having to concern ourselves greatly about Bartlett’s seat, we (or rather, the MD GOP) should concentrate its full resources to getting a better member for the 1st.
Again, this would be a different story if we were talking about Connie Morella holding a very liberal rodent district, but it isn’t.
Maybe while we’re at it, we can try to persuade fmr. Gov. Ehrlich to challenge Ruppersberger for his old seat.
“Maybe while we’re at it, we can try to persuade fmr. Gov. Ehrlich to challenge Ruppersberger for his old seat.”
I would prefer for Erlich to wait until 2010, then run to replace Barbara Mikulski (who’ll probably retire).
As for Andrew Harris, I wish him well.
If ya’ll are serious and want Gilchrest defeated shoot me an email at MDConservative@gmail.com . I would love to tell you why Andy can and will beat Wayne and what you can do to help.
He won by a little over 20 points in 2002 and 2004. A 60-40 election for an incumbent in the primary is a clear indication of vulnerability.
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