By Adam Pagnucco.
Mail voting is underway in Maryland elections, and one of the most watched races is in Congressional District 6. Congressman David Trone is vacating the seat to run for the Senate. The district, which includes Allegany, Frederick, Garrett and Washington counties and part of Montgomery County, is regarded as the most competitive U.S. House district in the state between the two major parties. It could also be one of a handful of districts across the country that could determine control of the House. That makes this race critically important for both Republicans and Democrats.
Accordingly, I sent a questionnaire to the candidates to assist voters in making their choices in the upcoming primary. It contained these seven questions:
Tell us about your single favorite volunteer activity, past or present.
What is America’s top foreign policy challenge and how should we meet it?
What is the most pressing need your district has from the federal government and how would you obtain it?
Should Israel implement an unconditional ceasefire in Gaza right now? If not, why not?
What should be changed in Congress to make it a more effective institution?
Name one issue on which you have a different position than most politicians in your party.
Why are you the best general election candidate for your party?
I first sent these questions to the candidates, their treasurers and any other contact email addresses I had on April 2. I gave them a due date of April 19 and sent three reminders, including one on the last day. Answers were expected to have a 200 word limit, a requirement to which the candidates generally adhered.
These candidates responded.
Peter Choharis (D)
George Gluck (D)
Ashwani Jain (D)
Lesley Lopez (D)
Tekesha Martinez (D)
April McClain Delaney (D)
Laurie-Anne Sayles (D)
Joe Vogel (D)
Chris Hyser (R)
Neil Parrott (R)
Mariela Roca (R)
Brenda Thiam (R)
Jason “Mr. J” Johnson (Unaffiliated)
These candidates did not respond.
Stephen McDow (D)
Mohammed Mozumder (D)
Adrian Petrus (D)
Destiny Drake West (D)
Kiambo “Bo” White (D)
Altimont Wilks (D)
Dan Cox (R)
Todd Puglisi (R)
Tom Royals (R)
Moshe Landman (Green)
Note that I am not the proofreader for these candidates. When grammar errors and typos appear, that’s their work, not mine, and I am not going to clean it up for their benefit. After all, they had more than two weeks to work on this!
As with my series on school board questionnaires, I will not be offering any of my opinions about these candidates or their responses in this series. Each post will have one question and all answers I received. It’s up to you, the voters, to judge these answers and determine how to cast your vote.
We will get started tomorrow.