More 2018 Candidates Announce
The 2018 primary election on June 26 is more than a year away, but candidates for federal, state and local county offices are popping up, announcing their intentions to get ahead of what they perceive will be crowded fields and tight competition for campaign dollars.
Two candidates are making it “official,” this week. As reported in March in The Frederick Extra, fast-food mogul Craig Giangrande is running in the 2018 Republican primary race for state senate in District 3. Andrew Duck, a Democrat, has filed to run for a seat in the U.S. House of Representatives in the 6th District.
Both men made public announcements this week. For Giangrande, 52, of Frederick, this is the first time he’s run for political office. As part of his appeal to voters, he describes himself as a “political outsider.” [Giangrande, left, at Winchester Hall. Photo by Katherine Heerbrandt]
Duck has run unsuccessfully for the same office several times, but not since the 6th District was reconfigured to support Democratic candidates. Congressman John Delaney (MD-6) is expected to announce his intention to run for Maryland governor on June 26.
Craig Giangrande
On the steps of Winchester Hall, Giangrande, his wife and campaign manager Linda, and his mom Leona, made a low-key announcement to two reporters and two photographers. Later the same day, he and his wife hosted a fundraiser at their home on Record Street. Former Maryland Governor Robert Ehrlich and his wife Kendall attended.
Giangrande is rumored to be a favorite of Governor Larry Hogan (R) who is actively seeking Republican victories that would give him more leverage to block legislation he doesn’t support.
Incumbent Sen. Ron Young, a Democrat, squeaked by a relative unknown Republican challenger in 2014. He said last week that the seat is one of five targeted seats, and that a political action committee was formed for the purpose of attacking his candidacy in 2018. Young has not yet filed, but said he plans to run for reelection.
Young recalled meeting Giangrande during the debate over raising the minimum wage to $15 an hour in 2014. Giangrande is vice president of the Jeffrey Giangrande Corporation, according to Dun and Bradstreet, which owns 15 Burger King restaurants in Frederick County and south-central Pennsylvania.
Giangrande said Wednesday that the debate over the minimum wage is not the main reason he got into the race, and contrary to Young's characterization, he was not “livid” over the issue, as Sen. Young had characterized him in describing the encounter. “I had a one on one with my elected representative. I am even-keeled and very respectful,” Giangrande said.
The $15 wage was an “arbitrary” number Giangrande said, and he felt the discussion should have included more stakeholders like business owners. “Business didn’t get a seat at the table,” he said.
He voiced his views in an April 27, 2014 Letter to the Editor in The Frederick News Post where he called out Del. Karen Lewis Young [D-Dist. 3] for statements published in a local magazine, along with politicians who have no business background: “ … Very few have had to sign checks at the end of the month, make a payroll at the end of the week, be responsible for an enterprise that employs entry-level personnel, personnel who gain skill sets and work ethics that enable them for promotion within or prepare them to enter a different field, or even attend a college or university.”
Still, Giangrande said Wednesday that he doesn’t believe government should be run as a business because businesses use a for-profit model and government operates more like a not-for-profit institution. But, he added that business experts can give a perspective that is missing in Annapolis, including the ability to budget and to forecast trends.
His campaign’s press release highlighting his top priorities reflect his background and experience. Among his campaign promises are creating more and better jobs in Frederick, streamlining government and tax reform. Read the full release here.
As for being Hogan’s chosen candidate, Giangrande said the Governor’s Office “is being fairly evenhanded” during the primary phase of the 2018 election. He has made his case to the Frederick County Republican Central Committee and the Maryland GOP.
The Giangrande campaign will be “an organic, grass roots” effort, he said, and that he is “heartened” by the positive response he’s received from the Frederick community so far. Sen. Young's contention that "a blue tide" in the wake of Donald Trump's November victory could help him in the race. But Giangrande called that "wishful thinking."
Giangrande plans to head to Annapolis within the week to file his candidacy. Republican and former state delegate Matt Mossburg of Urbana has yet to file, but has announced his intention to seek the District 3 seat. District 3 serves Adamstown, Frederick city and Urbana. Filing deadline for the 2018 election is February 27, 2018.
For more on Giangrande, visit his candidate Facebook page here.
Andrew Duck
Duck, 54, filed his candidacy with the Maryland Board of Elections Wednesday. He announced his candidacy in Frederick on Wednesday, June 7, and is traveling the 6th District this week to take his message to voters.
For the full schedule of his stops, read the release here.
The three-time congressional candidate from Brunswick is a veteran, who served in the U.S. Army for 20 years, according to the release. [Pictured left, Facebook photo]
According to A Miner Detail, five other Democrats are rumored to be considering a bid for the Congressional seat, including Majority Leader Del. Bill Frick [D-Dist. 16] and Del. Aruna Miller [D-Dist. 15] Miller and Frick, Miner reports, have officially filed forms with the FEC indicating a potential candidacy in Maryland’s 6th Congressional District.
Duck, according to his website, has worked as a financial consultant for Merrill Lynch in Frederick. He works in the office of the Deputy Army Chief of Staff for Intelligence as an advisor to the Pentagon on Army Intelligence issues.
The Democratic nominee in two failed runs against former Congressman Roscoe Bartlett in 2006 and 2010, Duck lost the primary election to former Frederick city Mayor Jennifer Dougherty in 2008.
