This Election 2018 profile is the fourth of a six-part series on the intricate makeup and character of the 1st Congressional District of Maryland. Each month, the Spy will be interviewing different 1st District residents from the Western Shore to the Lower Shore, both Democrats and Republicans, to discuss their unique sub-region of one of the largest congressional districts in the country, and the issues and political climate of those communities.
It only takes a few minutes with Salisbury Mayor Jake Day to realize how terms like “Democrat” and “Republican” lose meaning as he discusses the political landscape of Somerset, Wicomico, and Worcester counties. While Day is clearly a Democrat with a capital “D,” his views on increasingly the military budget and his deficit hawk tendencies could easily fit in with the GOP’s conventional platform.
This becomes even more of a gray area when the mayor suggests that Congressman Andy Harris has been soft on supporting turbine wind power off of Ocean City; a form of alternative energy that finds Harris and many environmentalists on the same side of this issue. In Day’s mind, wind power could bring up to 500 jobs to Salisbury, and as the city’s mayor, his number one job is to create an economically vibrant community.
But, as Day told the Spy a few weeks ago, the 2018 midterm election will not be focused on the issues of the day as much on a referendum on the moral direction of the country. Those whose political “brand,” like the one Harris has, is now intertwined with Trumpism, and will pay a high cost in the 1st District. The question is whether that cost will defeat an incumbent in one of most reliable GOP congressional districts in the nation.
This video is approximately eight minutes in length.
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