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Gilchrest primary challenger emerges |
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By Aaron Blake
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Posted: 05/25/07 12:53 PM [ET] |
Republican state Sen. Andy Harris announced Friday that he is forming an exploratory committee for a primary challenge to Rep. Wayne Gilchrest (R-Md.).
Gilchrest is a centrist and has been one of the Republicans who has crossed party lines on the war in Iraq. He was one of two House GOPers to vote earlier this month to begin withdrawing troops this fall.
Harris, a third-term state senator, is a Johns Hopkins obstetric anesthesiologist and a commander in the Naval Reserve. He has called himself a better fit for the district, which voted 62 percent for President Bush in 2004.
“People across the country desire to return to the Reagan values that brought the Republican Party to power — fiscal responsibility, a strong national defense, traditional values and an optimistic view of this country and its role as a world leader,” Harris said.
Gilchrest survived primary challenges in 2002 and 2004, both times with around 60 percent of the vote.
His 2002 challenger was Baltimore County attorney David Fischer, an unknown who funded his own run and was supported by the conservative Club for Growth. His 2004 challenger, state Sen. Richard Colburn, was expected to run a closer race than Fischer but fell 62-38.
Colburn is on Harris’s exploratory committee, along with four other state senators and three delegates. Dick Hug, a fundraiser for former Gov. Bob Ehrlich (R), is also on the committee.
Gilchrest has won easily in the general election for the majority of his nine terms and took 68 percent of the vote in 2006.
His office didn’t return a call seeking comment.
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