Garagiola Expected to Announce Congressional Bid Tuesday in Germantown

Maryland Sen. Robert Garagiola’s (D, 15th district) is expected to officially announce plans to go after the newly reconfigured 6th congressional district held by 10-term U.S. Rep. Roscoe G. Bartlett, a Republican.

Garagiola, who lives in Germantown, is expected to make the announcement 10:30 a.m. Tuesday at , a spokesman for Garagiola confirmed. Other appearances have been scheduled in Frederick, Cumberland and Hagerstown, the lawmaker announced on Facebook.

Garagiola has registered a campaign committee with the Federal Election Commission, but according to state records accessed Friday, he had not filed for 6th district candidacy with Maryland State Election Board.

Maryland’s 6th district boundaries were recently redrawn in a way that lumps a larger portion of Montgomery County with the western Maryland district, which hasn’t elected a democrat to the House of Representatives in 20 years. Some western Maryland Republicans have criticized the new map as a ploy to get a Democrat elected into a typically Republican district, the Hagerstown-based Herald-Mail has reported.

But Democrats and Republicans in western Maryland and elsewhere have said the newly redrawn district won’t necessarily give Democrats an edge. State Senate President Thomas V. Mike Miller Jr., a Democrat from Prince George’s County, Md., reportedly told The Washington Times that he expects state and national Republicans to fight for the district.

Garagiola isn’t the only one going after Bartlett’s seat.

Former Montgomery County Councilwoman Duchy Trachtenberg announced on her website her plans to run for the 6th district seat.  

According to records from the Maryland State Board of Elections, four republicans have filed as candidates the 6th district race — Robert Coblentz, of Washington County; Robin Ficker, of Montgomery County; Joseph T. Krysztoforski, of Baltimore County; and Brandon Orman Rippeon, of Frederick County.