Last night I got to speak at a fundraiser for my friend Dan Schwartz.
Dan is running for Congress in Maryland’s First District. The Eastern Shore. Andy Harris has held that seat for eight terms and wants a ninth. Harris is a member and staunch supporter of the Freedom Caucus. Most years he wins his races comfortably and nobody thinks twice. A Republican stronghold, they say.
Not this year.
Republicans are getting less popular everywhere, and you don’t need a poll to see why. People can’t keep up with the bills. Groceries. Gas. A mortgage. No relief anywhere in sight. And the Republican answer is trust us. Trust us, trust us, trust us. There’s no plan. When there is something that looks like a plan, the rich get richer and the middle class picks up the check.
So when we take the majority back, we need more than a plan to stop Trump. We need a plan for people. Dan gets that.
The lineup last night: Governor Martin O’Malley. DNC Chair Ken Martin. Senator Chris Van Hollen. Congressman Jamie Raskin. And me. I’m still not over that, my voice amongst these great leaders in the Democratic party. Every one of them talked about how good Dan is at this, and I agree with every word.
Dan knows Social Security inside and out. He spent years in consumer affairs going after fraud. Real fraud, the kind that takes money from real people. Compare that to DOGE. Trump and Musk spent months telling the country they were hunting fraud, and what they mostly did was fire people who didn’t agree with Trump. Dan did the actual work for years.
Now Andy Harris.
He doesn’t hold town halls. On Oct. 13, after his debate with Dan, he told a student reporter from the University of Maryland that if she recorded him, he would refer her to prosecutors. Other people were recording. She was the one he went after.
Dan puts people first. Harris puts Donald Trump first. That’s the whole story. He rubber stamps whatever Trump wants.
And for me, it’s personal.
Since January 7th I’ve fought for accountability for what happened at the Capitol. For the rioters. For the organizers. For Donald Trump. Pardons took some of that away. The election took some more.
But nobody took away accountability for the people who pushed the big lie. Harris is one of them. He voted against certifying the election. He down played January 6th.
He was also one of the 21 Republicans who voted against the Congressional Gold Medal for the police who defended the Capitol. We got the medal anyway. But a man from Maryland, a few miles from that building, voted no on honoring the officers who protected him that day. I don’t forget that.
One more thing about Dan. It tells you who he is.
Question 3 is on the Maryland ballot. If it passes, Maryland can redraw its map and make the Eastern Shore far more competitive, which effectively draws Harris’s seat out from under him. Governor Moore backs it. Raskin. Van Hollen. Ken Martin. Barack Obama put out an ad for it this week.
Dan came out for it before he’d won a single vote. His reason was simple. It’s not about my agenda. It’s about what the people want.
That’s the kind of member of Congress this district has never had.
I’m proud to stand with Dan Schwartz and I always will. Andy Harris has to go.
If you want to help, become a paid subscriber to Standing Our Ground. And if you live in Maryland’s First District, vote YES on Question 3 and vote for Dan.
-Harry
Maryland Strong 💙
Thank you!