Western MD Dems make pitch for bluer congressional district
A series of Democrats from Maryland's westernmost corner sent a clear message to legislative map makers at a meeting this afternoon: Give us a chance to take this congressional seat.
"My job is to turn Frederick blue," said Myrna Whitworth, a self-described partisan who testified at the Governor's Redistricting Advisory Committee in Frederick. She said that the overwhelming number of Republicans packed into the district means state and national parties ignore the area, assuming it would be impossible to win.
Don DeArmon, a former Democratic candidate for Congress, declared: "We have a chance to create competitive districts."
The sentiment is at odds with a view pushed by U.S. Rep. Steny Hoyer, who has repeatly talked about using the redistricting process to pour Democrats into the 1st congressional district on the Eastern Shore. It is held by freshman U.S. Rep. Andy Harris.
The Western Maryland congressional seat is occupied by U.S. Rep. Roscoe G. Bartlett, Jr., a founding member of the Tea Party Caucus. He's held it since 1993 and is wildly popular, taking 61 percent of the vote last year. But at 85 years old and displaying lackluster fundraising, some Democrats in Annapolis privately wonder if he's the easier target.
But those testifying Saturday repeatedly argued that Frederick tilts toward Washington, D.C. and suggested lopping off the eastern chunk of the district. That would mean losing Carroll, Baltimore and Harford counties. Instead the new district would jut further into northern Montgomery County where they could pick up Democrats.
Several argued that transit lines and commuting patterns flow from Western Maryland to Washington, D.C. They said the population from Fredrick out the Garrett has little in common with Baltimore County, which is more oriented toward Charm City.
But a handful of Republicans, including Sens. David Brinkley and Joe Getty, asked to keep the district mostly the same. They argued that the eight rural counties have more in common than not and should stay together.
The five-member redistricting panel will meet again Monday evening in Prince George's County. The congressional map will have to be approved by the General Assembly, which is set to meet again for special session in October.
Comments
If they chop off Northern Harford and Baltimore Counties, where are they going to put them? If they add them to Harris' district he will just win by 15 next cycle and if they add them to MD-2 then that seat becomes super competitive.
Posted by: From Harford | July 24, 2011 8:05 PM
I linked Dave's Redistricting program in the URL for the reporters to toy around with, but you have to include at least the western fringes of Carroll County (Mt. Airy and Taneytown) or western Howard to avoid eating up too much space in Montgomery County. If you took all of Frederick, Washington, Alleghany, and Garrett sans Carroll County then your district well south of Gaithersburg (assuming you run an east-west axis in Montgomery). Whereas if you include Mt. Airy and Taneytown then you can run your district to around north Gaithersburg/Boyds/Germantown/Damascus/Olney/Laytonsville. You likely choose western Carroll because if you include Howard then you run the risk of bringing someone like Allan Kittleman into the fray, where if he escaped a primary would destroy a Rob Gariagola in a General. Why do you choose Western MD over the Eastern Shore? That's easy. As noted Frederick has shifted to the left (see Mooney re-election) and you have a new large swatch of DC commuters in Urbana/Mt. Airy/Woodbine ring that coupled with a solid Democrat vote from Montgomery and a decent Democrat showing in Hagerstown should be enough to push a moderate Dem from MoCo or Fred over the top. Whereas you risk a serious backlash on the Eastern Shore if you combine it with say Prince Georges or Montgomery Counties.
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