Neil Parrott says he will try to sway unaffiliated voters.
Frederick, Md (KM) The General Election less than a year away, and the candidates are starting to make themselves known. Washington County Delegate Neil Parrott is running as a Republican in the 6th District Congressional District which includes Washington, Allegany and Garrett Counties, as well as parts of Frederick and Montgomery Counties.
Parrott says that district has been represented by Democrats since 2013, after long time Republican Roscoe Bartlett was defeated by Democrat John Delaney, who served three terms followed by fellow Democrat David Trone. Parrott says these two didn’t live in the 6th District. “They don’t understand western Maryland the way we are. They don’t represent our values in DC,” he says.
Montgomery County leans mostly Democratic, but Parrott thinks he can win by appealing to unaffiliated voters. “It’s all about the numbers. Who turns out the vote,” he says. “Almost a third of the registered voters are unaffiliated. Those voters are really going to the be the ones who will decide this election.”
Parrott thinks the Republicans have a good chance of taking back the US House of Representatives. “We only have 18 seats in the House to flip from Democrat to Republican. And the Republicans will have the majority. Nancy Pelosi will l no longer be Speaker of the House,” he says. “And that creates that opportunity for us to take back District 6 so that we can be one of those 18 seats to have a new Speaker of the House, a Republican.”
Incumbent Representative David Trone has said he will run for re-election in 2020. The other candidate listed so far in the 2020 race for the 6th District is Republican Kevin Caldwell who lives in Brunswick.
If he’s elected, Parrott says one of his priorities will be transportation. “And in the Frederick area, I-270 is the number-one priority. We have got to widen that road. That road should have been widened 20-years ago. Elections have consequences. Had Governor Ehrlich been elected to a second term, I believe right now everybody whose stuck in that traffic, there would have been additional lanes. He had plans to do that,” says Parrott.
Republican Bob Ehrlich was elected as Governor in 2002, but defeated by Democrat Martin O’Malley in 2006.
The Primary Election Day is Tuesday, April 28th, 2020. The General Election is Tuesday, November 3rd.
By Kevin McManus