Maryland’s sixth Congressional District, which stretches from Germantown by way of Cumberland and the state’s lengthy panhandle, has turn out to be winnable for Republicans after shedding many reliably Democratic voters in Montgomery County throughout redistricting.
Maryland
Opinion | The Post endorses Trone and Parrott in the Maryland 6th District primaries
The obvious selection for conservatives is Del. Neil C. Parrott of Hagerstown, an Eagle Scout brimming with earnestness, who was elected to the Common Meeting as a tea celebration organizer in 2010 and shortly emerged as a number one crusader for direct democracy in Annapolis. We disagree on a lot, however we admire Mr. Parrott’s integrity and respect the authenticity of his convictions.
Mr. Parrott passes the litmus check for incomes our endorsement, which is that he acknowledges Joe Biden is the reliable president and condemns the violence on Jan. 6, 2021. Mr. Parrott says he declined an invite to attend Donald Trump’s rally on the Ellipse that fateful day, the place the president incited a mob to assault the Capitol, as a result of he felt the end result of the election was settled and didn’t see any level in persevering with to contest the outcomes. He has confirmed keen to face as much as leaders of his personal celebration, even when it’s unpopular. In Might 2020, he sued Gov. Larry Hogan (R) to problem his emergency pandemic orders.
That mentioned, Mr. Parrott has spent greater than a decade attempting to make it tougher to vote. He proposed a voter ID invoice throughout his first 12 months within the meeting. After the 2020 election, Mr. Parrott traveled to Philadelphia to investigate provisional ballots in an effort to assist Mr. Trump, and maintains that 1 to 2 % of ballots he reviewed had signatures that didn’t seem to match the voter’s authentic registration type. He launched laws final session, which didn’t go wherever, that will have required signatures on ballots in Maryland to precisely match registration types.
At 51, Mr. Parrott is greater than twice as outdated as his main rival. Matthew Foldi, 25, has been elevating large cash and racking up endorsements from GOP institution figures contained in the Beltway, together with Home Minority Chief Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.).Mr. Foldi has youthful vigor. He’s antsy to concern subpoenas and conduct oversight of the Biden administration. However he has but to display the maturity essential to serve in Congress.
It’s disheartening what number of different candidates within the GOP main discipline play footsie with Mr. Trump’s lies about election fraud or feign ignorance of established details. Requested whether or not Mr. Biden is the reliable president, Mr. Foldi was cagey: “There’s little doubt Joe Biden received Maryland,” he mentioned. Requested whether or not he would have voted to simply accept the electoral votes from Arizona and Pennsylvania two years in the past, Mr. Foldi refused to reply on the grounds he wasn’t there.
Sadly, it was not hypothetical, and this sort of evasiveness displays a candidate not prepared for prime time. There are different indications Mr. Foldi would focus extra on trolling than governing and be a very dependable rubber stamp for celebration management. In Mr. Parrott, Republicans within the sixth District have a better option.