Maryland Congressional Primaries: Parrott to Take on Trone in Fall

John HaugheyJuly 20, 2022

As expected, all seven incumbent Maryland congressional representatives and a U.S. senator on the state’s July 19 primary ballots easily won their parties’ nods and will defend their seats in November.

Not expected were anticipated close races in both party primaries for governor, the Republican preliminary in Congressional District 6 (CD 6), and the Democratic primary in CD 4 to never materialize.

Clear frontrunners mounted huge leads in key races projected to be competitive with winners in several declared within hours after polls closed despite hundreds of thousands of mail-in votes uncounted.

A unique-to-Maryland law prohibits elections officials from beginning to count mail-in ballots until no sooner than 10 a.m. the Thursday after an election.

With more than 505,000 of the state’s 4.1 million registered voters requesting 2022 primary mail-in ballots for the primary, those uncounted votes were expected to leave some races too close to call by election night.

Tea Party Activist

Not expected in CD 6 was Del. Neil Parrott (R-Hagerstown) cruising to an easy victory, being declared the winner about two hours after the polls closed.

Parrott had 65.1 percent of the tally in blowing past 25-year-old investigative journalist Matthew Foldi in what was projected to be a close race.

Parrott, 51, a Maryland State Highway Administration traffic engineer and former Frederick Deputy Director of Engineering, is a Tea Party activist elected to the General Assembly in 2010.

He will face two-term Rep. David Trone (R-Md.), who brushed off nominal primary opposition but will face a stiff challenge in the general election against Parrott in a post-2020 Census reconfigured district.

CD 6 had previously been “solid” Democratic before deep blue areas in Montgomery County were shifted out of the district in post-Census remapping.

The district spans much of the state’s western panhandle framed by Pennsylvania, Ohio, and West