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Md. Redistricting: Democrats Target Bartlett's Seat

July 25, 2011
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The seat of ten-term U.S. Rep. Roscoe Bartlett (R-Md.), shown here at a lunch in Kabul, Afghanistan, is being targeted by Maryland Democrats in a redistricting battle just getting underway in the state.
S.K. Vemmer, U.S. Department of State via Flickr (http://www.flickr.com/photos/kabulpublicdiplomacy/5499341792/)
The seat of ten-term U.S. Rep. Roscoe Bartlett (R-Md.), shown here at a lunch in Kabul, Afghanistan, is being targeted by Maryland Democrats in a redistricting battle just getting underway in the state.

Out of eight Maryland U.S. House members only two are Republicans, but local Democrats say even that's too much.

Currently, ten-term Republican Roscoe Bartlett's district touches eight counties, and seven of them are on the northern most part of the state.

Myrna Whitworth, chair of Fredrick County's Democratic Party, is pushing to have that 6th District seat extend deeper into the more liberal Montgomery County.

"It would be 50/50, so we would have a fighting chance here," she says. "Right now, the configuration of the 6th, I mean, our candidates are basically sacrificial lambs those that run. They work very hard but they don't have a chance."

Some Republicans say Democrats are trying to abuse the system instead of fairly representing voters. Even so, Maryland Republican State Senator Joe Getty says he isn't worried about Bartlett losing his seat anytime soon.

"It's still a strongly conservative district no matter how far they go into Montgomery County, and I don't see any reason for Congressman Bartlett to be concerned," Getty says.

This evening a public hearing is being held on redistricting at Prince George's Community College in Largo, Maryland.

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