Posted by Jack Sterne, jack@oceanchampions.org
I know I promised last week to talk about why we aren't planning to endorse anyone in the presidential race, but there's a Congressional primary coming up that really needs attention right now.
The Politico has a great story up about the primary race being faced by Rep. Wayne Gilchrest (R-Md.), one of the best Republican champions the oceans have in Congress ("Maryland incumbent receives right jab").
Gilchrest is one of a dying breed - the moderate Republicans - and he's frequently been out of step with his party on environmental issues (he once famously stood up in a Republican caucus meeting and asked why global warming wasn't one of their legislative priorities).
He's faced primary challenges from right-wing cranks for years, but this year is different, and it's no understatement to say he's in the fight of his life. He's got two well-funded opponents, both of whom are positioned to the right of him, and the Club for Growth is pumping a ton of money into this race for state Sen. Andy Harris, who has one of the worst LCV scores in Maryland.
And with Rep. Jim Saxton (R-NJ), the other moderate Republican on the House Natural Resources Committee, retiring this year, we could easily be faced without a Republican friend on this most important of committees. When you consider that a number of Democrats on the committee vote the wrong way on fisheries and some other environmental issues, the Natural Resources Committee could really become a scary place for us without Wayne Gilchrest.
Gilchrest's district (MD 1) is reliably Republican, so the action is really all in the primary, and even hard-core Democrats should back Gilchrest, as he is a reliable moderate vote on numerous issues. The choice is: do you want to swap Gilchrest for a government-hating global-warming skeptic like Harris?
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