Posted on 02/12/2008 8:20:44 PM PST by icwhatudo
For those not familiar with Maryland, we are like that that red/blue map of America. Most of the state is conservative but is overwhelmed by the liberals concentrated in Baltimore City and the DC suburbs.
Until recently Maryland was divided 4/4 in its congressional representation until the dems redistricted (gerrymandered) Republicans into two main congressional districts. This pretty much guarantees republican wins for these two congressional seats but the problem is that one of these seats is held by a "RINO"-Wayne Gilchrest.
Gilcrest voted with Nancy Pelosi more than any other (r)epublican in congress. He is the poster boy for the word RINO. The way he stayed in power for so long is that he is a veteran who is great on farm/bay issues. The district includes all of Maryland's Eastern Shore which is farm and Chesapeake Bay country.
When the dems gerrymandered the district to include more republicans, (thus emptying two other districts of republicans to ensure a dem pick up of 2 seats), they added large numbers of "western shore" republicans in Baltimore's northern suburbs and areas near the states capital in Annapolis.
This opened up the chance for Conservative Republican State Senator Andy Harris to challenge the (r)epublican incumbent Gilcrest. Harris has the support of the former republican governor Bob Ehrlich and every republican state senator...
except one...
On the last day to declare for the race, out of nowhere republican state senator E.J. Pipkin decided to run- dividing the conservative anti-Gilcrest vote.
Had he stayed out of the race, the defeat of the RINO Gilcrest would have been assured. As of now here are the returns:
Maryland Primary Election Results
House of Representatives - District 1
U.S. House - District 1 - GOP Primary
Maryland - 91 of 277 Precincts Reporting - 33%
Harris , Andy GOP 9,648 41%
Gilchrest , Wayne (i) 8,205 34%
Pipkin , E.J. GOP 5,283 22%
Arminio , Joe GOP 365 2%
Banks , Robert GOP 300 1%
Beat me by 13 seconds. :)
sorry bud but great news goes quick here!
Awesome!!!
Good news, especially if Pipkin endorses Harris for the general election.
Lots of bad feelings towards Pipkin, he needs to endorse Harris quickly.
Do you know if Harris had any Club for Growth or other Conservative backing, or was this grassroots?
The Club endorsed Harris and has been running ads against Gilchrest.
Had Club for Growth but had a lot of Grassroots working for him. He had 4 call centers for 72hour and made 20,000 calls in those 4 days. Also he was able to get 11,000 of his know supporters to the polls on election day.
This is a small glimmer of happiness in this otherwise dismal election year. Good bye Liberal Wayne, don’t let the door hit you in the ass on the way out.
Congratulations.
I wish we could knock Hoyer out of the 5th down here in Southern Maryland.
Thanks. Looks like this is the way to do it, a seat at a time, but I’m so glad. Unfortunately, I live in Montgomery Co. With Gilchrist, I saw no reason to move East.
If I heard “house painter” one more time i was going to puke.
U.S. House - District 1 - GOP Primary
217 of 277 Precincts Reporting - 78%
Name Party Votes Vote %
Harris, Andy GOP 21,010 41%
Gilchrest, Wayne (i) GOP 17,699 34%
Pipkin, E.J. GOP 11,053 22%
Arminio, Joe GOP 860 2%
Banks, Robert GOP 774 2%
Gilchrest’s opposition to the war grabbed most of the headlines in this race and started the ball rolling, but I have gathered that in the end Bob Ehrlich’s endorsement and the issues of immigration and taxes/spending had a much larger role in this result. I think the invasion and occupation of Iraq was and is a mistake, and yet I made GOTV phone calls for the pro-war Harris this past weekend.
Gilchrest is not only liberal, but sleazy and arrogant. Harris is not only an authentic conservative, but a good man. I didn’t think he could pull it off, but I’m quite happy to be proven wrong.
Another member of Congress from Maryland (Democrat Al Wynn) was also unseated in the primary.
Maryland “Freak State” PING!
This was great to see. Last night on the train ride home I was reading my National Review magazine and they had an article on this Harris fellow and the attempt to defeat Gilcrest. Great to see.
I’m planning to send Harris donations this year. I just found out about him and signed up for his newsletter. I am so glad he won, and so glad to hear the good things you and others have said about him on this thread.
I’m planning to send Harris donations this year. I just found out about him and signed up for his newsletter. I am so glad he won, and so glad to hear the good things you and others have said about him on this thread.
“For those not familiar with Maryland, we are like that that red/blue map of America. Most of the state is conservative but is overwhelmed by the liberals concentrated in Baltimore City and the DC suburbs.”
AND THIS IS EXACTLY WHY THE ELECTORAL COLLEGE EXISTS.
Never mind MD has circumvented the wisdom of the Founders by throwing all our electoral votes to the “national popular winner”.
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