Long-Time Incumbents Gilchrest, Wynn Trounced in Primaries
February 18 , 2008
Contact: Brad Jansen
703-470-5042
vern@mckinleyforcongress.com
ASHBURN, VA—Last week’s Potomac Primaries on February 12th in Washington, DC, Virginia and Maryland revealed some big surprises. Much of the focus for the evening was on the McCain-Huckabee-Paul and Obama-Clinton contests at the presidential level. But Maryland also held its congressional primaries. Virginia will hold its congressional primaries in June. In Maryland, long-time incumbents Wayne Gilchrest and Albert Wynn, who had both served since the early 1990s, were resoundingly defeated in their primary contests.
Politico.com put the significance of the losses in clear perspective when it noted that these were the first primary losses in nearly two decades suffered by sitting incumbents in Maryland. The fact that two such incumbents were defeated on the same evening, neither of whom was involved in a scandal, made the losses even more significant. Even more surprising, Gilchrest and Wynn could only manage to attract one third of the votes cast in their respective primaries.
Based on these results, 2008 may be a difficult year for incumbents. “We highlighted the early signs of rank-and-file discontent in the Republican Party last summer. In particular we highlighted Andy Harris’ challenge to Wayne Gilchrest,” observes Vern McKinley, who is challenging incumbent Congressman Wolf for the 2008 Republican nomination in the 10th District of Virginia.
The Andy Harris challenge in Maryland was backed by the Club for Growth, a pro growth organization that believes in the limited government economic principles of President Reagan. The Club spent $600,000 highlighting Congressman Gilchrest’s stand on key economic issues, such as pork barrel spending and anti-growth policies. The Club for Growth’s own Congressional Scorecard, which gives ratings from 0 (lowest) to 100 (highest), rated Congressman Gilchrest at 40, while Congressman Wolf was given an even lower score of 36. Another scorecard published by the Club for Growth, its Repork Card, focuses on how much wasteful pork barrel spending members support. Congressman Gilchrest was given a rating of 0%, meaning he voted for pork projects 100% of the time, while Congressman Wolf was given a rating of 4% meaning he voted for pork projects 96% of the time.
“Recent polls show that economic issues are going to be most important for voters in upcoming elections. On key economic issues, Congressmen Gilchrest and Wolf are nearly indistinguishable. Both are long-term incumbents who have drifted away from the Republican principles of limited government. We give Republican voters in the 10th District the option of a limited government candidate,” concluded McKinley.
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