The race for the open seat in the 1st Congressional District appears to be growing closer, as Democrat Frank Kratovil and his allies throw fresh attack ads at Republican Andy Harris, who is lashing back in kind.
The worsening economy, the tight presidential race and heavy spending by outside groups are coming into play in what was seen as Harris’ race to lose in the sprawling district that stretches from the Virginia line on the Eastern Shore to Timonium.
Harris, a 51-year-old Baltimore County state senator, was the giant-killer who had knocked off nine-term incumbent Wayne Gilchrest in the February primary. Millions of dollars worth of TV ads attacking his opponents had made him much better known. And he was running in a district deliberately drawn to favor the GOP.
Kratovil, the Queen Anne’s County state’s attorney, had the early support of the Democratic establishment from the governor on down, easily winning his primary without running any TV spots. Until June, his campaign had been run by volunteers and his fundraising had lagged far behind Harris’.
Harris’ apparent edge began changing with the help of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, DCCC, which targeted it as a district that could be switched from “Red to Blue.” A professional campaign manager came on board, and Kratovil’s second-quarter fundraising nearly matched Harris’.
Right after Labor Day, Gilchrest, who had never made the traditional call to Harris conceding defeat, endorsed Kratovil, embracing him as “a man after my own heart,” willing to cross party lines. He endorsed the Democrat in TV ads.
Later last month, the DCCC floated suspiciously favorable poll numbers calling the race dead even. Then it finally put real money into the race, reserving $1.4 million in air time to help Kratovil and attack Harris.
Safe seat?
“Both Democrats and Republicans have often thought of this as a safe Republican seat,” said Michael Cain, chairman of the political science department at St. Mary’s College. “Kratovil had a very serious name recognition problem, and his polling numbers early in the summer were very, very low.”
“I don’t think we can underestimate the effect of the endorsement of Gilchrest,” Cain said. “Gilchrest has gotten out there and really pounded the pavement for Kratovil. This race has tightened up. It’s going to be close.”
Sen. Nancy Jacobs, the Republican minority whip who represents part of the district, said, “I think it’s probably going to be closer than originally thought. I’m surprised by the amount of money being funneled into [Kratovil’s] campaign. I don’t know if the people on the Eastern Shore appreciate that interference.”
“We always expected that outside groups we’re going to get into this race,” Harris said. “By winning the primary, I did create an open seat, and open seats are rare commodities in Congress. I’m sure when $2 million comes in for my opponent, it’s going to tighten things up.”
Competitive underdog
Kratovil grew up in a politically active Democratic household in Prince George’s County. His father, Frank Sr., is a lawyer who organized political campaigns and eventually was appointed to the District Court, where his nickname was ‘The Hammer’ for his tough sentencing. Both parents were in the Young Democrats, where they came to know an ambitious young attorney named Steny Hoyer, now the U.S. House majority leader who has helped raise money and campaigned for the younger Kratovil.
Kratovil was the youngest state’s attorney in Maryland when he was elected six years ago, defeating a four-term incumbent in the Democratic primary.
“I always thought that there was something noble about politics,” Kratovil said. And as prosecutor for most of his career, “I liked being on the side of justice and catching folks who were committing crimes.”
Frank, so young looking that he reminds audiences he is “40 years old, not 20,” is a competitive underdog. “He was the smallest kid in his age group” in basketball, his father recalled. “[But] he was always a leader.”
Son of refugees
Harris is the son of Eastern European refugees from Communism. “They came to this country without a penny,” Harris said, and believed that if you worked hard and became successful, you should be allowed to “keep the fruits of your success.” Some of Harris’s earliest memories are of his father reading the conservative Human Events newspaper every week “from cover to cover.”
Harris came to Johns Hopkins University and never left Baltimore, establishing himself as an expert in his field of obstetrical anesthesiology, a specialist who practiced, taught and did research at one of the world’s most prestigious medical institutions.
Ten years ago, he challenged Senate Minority Leader Vernon Boozer of Towson in the Republican primary, motivated initially by Boozer’s opposition to a bill restricting partial birth abortions. Four years before, Boozer had faced no opposition in either the primary or general election.
“He was not in touch with the Republican base,” Harris said.
“I didn’t plan in doing all that,” he said. “It wasn’t part of a grand, lifelong scheme.”
Last year, after Gilchrest sided with Democrats on a vote about the Iraq war, Harris decided that the longtime congressman had also lost touch with his party and his district. Again, he was successful in bringing down an incumbent in his own party.
In those challenges, Harris painted his opponents as too liberal, a strategy he is now using against Kratovil, linking the state’s attorney to “failed liberal policies” of higher taxes, more spending and “amnesty for illegals.”
“It’s incredible,” Kratovil said. “It’s right out of the ultra-right playbook. Everyone, of course, is liberal when compared to Andy Harris. When I hear those ads, it is so ludicrous. I have spent virtually my entire career locking people up.”
Kratovil is especially upset about Harris’s depiction of his stance on illegal immigrants, based on a remark he made indicating last year’s McCain-Kennedy immigration bill might be “a good compromise.”
As a prosecutor, “one of my pet peeves has been the problem of illegal immigration,” Kratovil said. He said he was surprised a few years when he couldn’t get federal immigration officials to deport convicted criminals, partly because they had only two agents on the Eastern Shore.
Kratovil opposes giving any government benefits to illegal immigrants, including Maryland’s practice of issuing driver’s licenses without requiring proof of legal residence.
Too right
To Kratovil and his supporters, Harris is an extreme right wing conservative, unable to work well with even members of his own party and often taking lonely stances against popular measures.
“That’s what liberal Democrats have always called me,” Harris said. “We’re always extremists to them.” As far as Harris is concerned, he is “a mainstream Republican,” favoring gun rights, lower taxes, less government spending and limited regulation.
“I actually read the bills,” Harris said. “If I think we’re passing legislation only to feel good, we’re not doing the right thing.”
Sen. Jacobs said she pays attention when Harris is a lone voice opposing a proposed bill. “I respect him so much,” and then thinks there is probably something wrong with the legislation.
Jacobs, a conservative on social issues, said, “I think [Harris] makes every effort to play well with others, but he’s a man of principle. He’s not going to give up those principles simply so that he’s seen as playing well with others.”
Role of money
Harris and Kratovil have raised huge sums. Third-quarter figures will be reported next week, but Harris already has raised more than $2 million — including a $100,000 loan from himself — and Kratovil more than $800,000.
Unlike Kratovil’s aid from the DCCC, Harris may not get the kind of independent expenditures that bolstered him in the primary. The Club for Growth, which favors lower taxes and less government, spent $600,000 on the ads that attacked Gilchrest and Sen. E.J. Pipkin as liberals, and its members gave $400,000 more.
The club might come to Harris’s aid again, said its spokesperson Nachama Soloveichik. “It’s a distinct possibility. Stay tuned.”
“It’s a tough year for Republicans,” Soloveichik said, but “Andy Harris is a phenomenal candidate. He’s going to do fine.”
McCain vs. Obama
Harris believes that the presidential race is “going to have a big effect in this district. John McCain is going to win this district by a wide margin.”
Kratovil doesn’t disagree. “Probably in this district, McCain will do very well. I think there are going to be a lot of people who vote for McCain and vote for me.”
Dan Nataf, head of the Center for the Study of Local Issues at Anne Arundel Community College, said, “My impression is that it a competitive race,” based on the amount of money and advertising and the credibility of the candidates.
Gilchrest’s endorsement of Kratovil “will surely help him,” as will his residence on the Eastern Shore, Nataf said.
Professor Michael Cain agreed that voters there “want someone from the Eastern Shore to represent them,” but Kratovil will have to pile up big margins on the Shore to make up for Harris’s presumed advantage in the Baltimore suburbs.
“I’m not sure Republican voters are as conservative as Harris,” Nataf said. “This is not a good time for Republicans, and that could make it more competitive.”
Harris’ pitch that liberal policies don’t work is not “in tune with the spirit of the times,” Nataf said. Independent voters, and many others, are “very concerned with how this economy is going,” so “Andy Harris is facing some tough head winds.”
“Our polling shows that this district will elect a mainstream Republican,” Harris countered.
“The vast majority of voters are tired of the extremes on both sides,” Kratovil said. Harris is “worse than more of the same” and “more extreme than the last eight years.”
“Once people start looking at his record and compare that to mine, I have no doubt there’s going to be a tremendous change,” Kratovil said.
Andy Harris
• Age: 51, born Jan. 25, 1957, in Brooklyn, N.Y.
• Family: Lives in Cockeysville with his wife Sylvia (Cookie) and their five children, Joseph, Rebecca, Irene, Jessica and Daniel.
• Education: Bachelor’s, Johns Hopkins University, 1977; M.D., Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, 1980; master’s in health policy, Johns Hopkins University School of Hygiene and Public Health, 1995
• Professional career: Obstetric anesthesiologist at Johns Hopkins Hospital; associate professor of anesthesiology and critical care medicine, Hopkins
• Military: Commander, U.S. Naval Reserve Medical Corps (active service during Operation Desert Storm); commanding officer, Johns Hopkins Naval Reserve Medical Unit, 1989-92
• Political: Member of the Maryland Senate for 7th legislative district, which includes parts of Baltimore and Harford counties, 1999-present. Member, Senate Education, Health, and Environmental Affairs Committee (health subcommittee) and the Joint Committee on Health Care Delivery and Financing; minority whip, 2003-2006
Frank Kratovil Jr.
• Age: 40, born May 29, 1968, Lanham, Md.
• Family: Lives in Stevensville with wife Kimberly, and four sons: Frankie, Jackson, Cole and Nate.Education: Bachelor’s degree, Western Maryland College (now McDaniel), 1990; J.D. University of Baltimore School of Law, 1994.
• Career: State’s Attorney, Queen Anne’s County, 2003-present; assistant state’s attorney, Queen Anne’s and Prince George’s counties, 1996-2002; law clerk, 1994-95.
