WASHINGTON — From wealthy Montgomery County, through Frederick and into the farthest reaches of Western Maryland, two very different candidates are competing to represent the 700,000 or so people of Maryland’s 6th Congressional District.
Democrat John Delaney, looking to keep the seat he won two years ago, points to his efforts to help veterans and their families, boost transportation funding and make sure people hit hard by storms get the federal help they deserve.
Delaney handily won the seat over Republican Roscoe Bartlett after the district’s boundaries were changed following the 2010 census.
Republican Dan Bongino is challenging Delaney and says taxes are his number one focus.
“I will absolutely use my last breath and 12 of the 12 hours in a good long work day to fight to cut their taxes,” Bongino says as he drives to a campaign stop in Frostburg. “That is mission 1, 2 and 3 right now in Maryland.”
Delaney says the federal tax code needs major reform, but cutting Marylanders’ taxes from the federal level is not that simple.
“I think we need very significant tax reform in this nation,” Delaney tells WTOP after a day of campaigning in Shady Grove, Frederick and Hagerstown. “And it should be tax reform that’s focused on giving the government the revenues it needs to fund the programs it needs, and only those one that it needs, and also it should have a growth orientation to it in terms of the incentive that it creates.”
“Jobs is the number one issue for everyone is this country,” he continues. “But we have to get away from simple talking points, and we have to really look at what’s going on in our economy and in the world, and we have to really think about how do we position whether it’s the state of Maryland or the whole of the United States of America, to compete in a world that is very different than it was 20 or 30 years ago.”
Delaney and Bongino agree that a Congressman’s role is to advocate for the people of the district.
“Your job in Congress is to be a voice for 700,000 people,” Bongino contends. “That’s not an insignificant role. You are their voice. You are the person they come to, to express their frustration about the business climate, about the energy climate
