By Adam Pagnucco.
In Part Two, we found that 66% of all contributions received by Congressional District 6 candidates were made by individuals (aside from self-funding). In Part Three, we found that itemized individual contributions from Maryland residents accounted for just 19% of all CD6 fundraising. Now let’s look at in-district fundraising.
This is not an easy cut for two reasons. First, many candidates did not itemize a substantial portion of their contributions because they were small (less than $200) and were not required to be listed by the Federal Election Commission. Second, while four Western Maryland counties are fully inside the district, Montgomery County is split with two other congressional districts.
Accordingly, I characterized itemized contributions as coming from inside the district if they came from Allegany, Frederick, Garrett or Washington counties or if they came from zip codes associated with Boyds, Clarksburg, Damascus, Gaithersburg, Germantown, Montgomery Village, Poolesville and other small hamlets in their vicinity. This is at best an approximation of in-district contributions, but given the issue of unitemized contributions, it’s the best I can do.
The chart below shows money received from in-district itemized individual contributions by candidate. Democrats appear in blue bars and Republicans appear in red ones. Note: Republican Heath Barnes and Democrats Geoffrey Grammer, Joel Rubin and Peter Choharis have dropped out. Democrats George Gluck and Kiambo White have not filed regular reports.
Note how the top four fundraisers inside the district are all Republicans. This should give the Democrats pause.
Here are the leaders in each of CD6’s counties.
Allegany
Joe Vogel (D): $3,575
Mariela Roca (R): $1,633
Tom Royals (R) and Brenda Thiam (R): $250 each
Frederick
Roca (R): $17,802
Dan Cox (R): $12,159
Neil Parrott (R): $12,150
Garrett
Royals (R): $6,600
Roca (R): $1,464
Parrott (R): $950
Montgomery (CD6 portion only)
Royals (R): $14,691
Laurie-Anne Sayles (D): $9,700
Parrott (R): $6,364
Washington
Parrott (R): $61,625
Roca (R): $10,896
Cox (R): $10,100
For the entire field, just 4% of total fundraising came from itemized individuals inside CD6. For the seven candidates who have raised at least $200,000, here are their percentages of contributions from itemized individuals inside CD6.
Neil Parrott (R): 30%
Mariela Roca (R): 13
Tom Royals (R): 6
Joe Vogel (D): 2
Tekesha Martinez (D): 1
Geoffrey Grammer (D): 1
April McClain Delaney (D): 0.4
Why do Maryland residents account for 19% of fundraising but CD6 residents account for only 4%? The reason is that CD6 does not have any of the state’s traditional fundraising centers of Downcounty MoCo, Annapolis and wealthy Baltimore suburbs. One illustration of this is Montgomery County. CD6 candidates collectively raised $61,142 from the portions of MoCo inside CD6. They raised $631,027 from the portions of MoCo outside CD6. Areas like Bethesda, Chevy Chase, Potomac and Silver Spring have contributed FAR more money to this race than Oakland, Frostburg, Boonsboro and Damascus.
Let’s conclude with cash on hand as of 4/24/24. This measure omits the candidates who dropped out (Republican Heath Barnes and Democrats Geoffrey Grammer, Joel Rubin and Peter Choharis) or did not file regular reports (Democrats George Gluck and Kiambo White).
Delaney’s money, fueled partly by a last-minute $500,000 loan to herself, is a major advantage for her in the race’s last stage. Martinez and Vogel have enough for a final push. For the Republicans, Parrott’s status as a three-term former Delegate and a two-time GOP nominee in CD6 along with his cash balance cement him as a leader in his primary. Mariela Roca has run for Congress before and Dan Cox, the GOP’s former gubernatorial nominee and probably the Trumpiest person in the race, cannot be counted out.
That’s it for pre-primary money. No matter who emerges from this race, outside groups and outside money will play hard in the general election, making CD6 one of the hottest spots in Maryland politics.