R. David Harden, a Washington consultant who spent years overseas with the U.S. Agency for International Development, is the latest Democrat to announce he will run next year against U.S. Rep. Andy Harris, the sixth-term Republican from Baltimore County.
“Game on,” Harden, who is originally from Westminster, tweeted on Tuesday. “We are going to bring jobs home, create a next generation economy, and seize the future. We don’t wallow in fear and division here in Maryland’s First District.”
Harden joins Democrats Heather Mizeur, a former state delegate and 2014 gubernatorial candidate, and Mia Mason, a military veteran and transgender activist, who had previously declared their intent to try to unseat Harris. Mason lost to Harris in the 2020 general election. Democrat Jennifer Pingley, a registered nurse, is also running next year.
[ Maryland Rep. Andy Harris says he will seek a seventh term, after pledging to serve no more than six ]
Harris was among 147 GOP lawmakers who refused in January to certify Democratic President Joe Biden’s November victory after repeated baseless claims by Republican former president Donald Trump that the election was “rigged.”
Harden is managing director of the Georgetown Strategy Group, a consulting firm. He was stationed overseas for 17 years, largely in the Middle East, and served during the administration of former president Barack Obama as assistant administrator of a USAID bureau that responds to global crises.
Harford County Executive Barry Glassman has told The Baltimore Sun he is considering challenging Harris in the 2022 GOP primary. Glassman is also considering statewide campaigns for governor comptroller next year.
Harris promised in 2010 to serve no more than six terms. But he told WBAL-AM recently that he planned to seek a seventh term.
The district is made up of parts of Baltimore, Carroll and Harford counties, as well as the Eastern Shore.