Meet The Candidates: Maryland’s Eastern Shore Congressional Race
Crisfield, Md. – Despite the attention garnered at the only debate between Maryland’s First Congressional District candidates, challenger Dan Schwartz still has a ways to go if he’s going to turn a seat tightly held by Republicans into a competitive race.
Running for his ninth term as congressman, Republican Rep. Andy Harris previously served as a Maryland state senator and an anesthesiologist in the Naval Reserve during the Reagan administration.
As a congressman, Harris has touted the $158 million he helped secure on water and wastewater infrastructure, first responder resources, health care services and transportation.
According to Harris, his top three priorities are reducing government spending while using federal dollars to strengthen Eastern Shore infrastructure, health care services and the Shore’s economy.
“Let’s make sure that our communities get what they need from the, the federal rural programs, as they’ve been doing for the past few years,” Harris said. “It’s making sure we have enough temporary foreign workers for our very important industries. Make sure with the poultry industry is stays vital, because it’s the basis of what we do on the Eastern Shore.”
Harris is also strongly against the Question 3 ballot question, which could allow legislators to redraw districts and he says get rid of the only historically GOP held district.
“I think the Eastern Shore needs representation. I’m going to disagree with the governor,” Harris said. “He obviously thinks we don’t. He wants to break it up through gerrymandering. But look, I’m just going to continue doing what I’ve been doing.”
Challenger Dan Schwartz won the Democratic nomination but has run his campaign on bipartisanship.
A newcomer on the political scene, Schwartz has served as a consumer watchdog working with the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau.
His top priorities are supporting small businesses, repealing cuts to Medicaid and Medicare and banning elected officials from actively trading equities and cryptocurrency.
“I really think this election cycle is not about what party we’re in. We’re all Americans. And everybody that I talk to, it doesn’t matter what party they’re in. They all want to be able to afford their groceries right now,” Schwartz said. “They’re having to choose between paying these crazy utility bills or sometimes paying for their prescription medication.”
However, Schwartz is also notably opposed to Question 3 on Maryland ballots.
“The Democrats in Annapolis seem to think that the only way that we can win out here in a tough district is to redraw the lines,” Schwartz said. “I really think if they wanted to preserve our democracy, they’d focus on having open primaries instead. I don’t like the fact that our independent voters are disenfranchised from participating in our primary elections, and I think if they could participate, we’d have better candidates.”
Maryland voters can begin submitting their ballot come Thursday during Early Voting.
