Mail-in ballots, which still must be counted, will likely decide many close races
Maryland Republicans on Tuesday picked a state lawmaker as their likely best candidate in November to gain a House seat, selecting Delegate Neil Parrott over a 25-year-old political upstart in the state’s western-most congressional district.
The Associated Press declared the race for Parrott when he had 65.5% of the vote after polls had closed for about two hours.
Voters appear to have rewarded Parrott who had fought for years in Annapolis for congressional maps with districts that look a little better for Republicans – including the state’s 6th Congressional District in which he won the GOP primary.
His efforts ultimately led to a district that President Joe Biden carried by 24 points to one he would have won by only 10 points, The Washington Post reported. And the nonpartisan Cook Political Report has the district as “Lean Democrat.”
The Maryland GOP had for years held that district and another, mostly along the Eastern Shore, until Democrats redrew the 6th District after the 2010 census to include parts of adjacent, and liberal-leaning Montgomery County.