Candidates unite to "Flip the First"

An interesting turn in the runup to the General Election is the coalition being formed by Jesse Colvin, running for Congressman from the First District of Maryland. Colvin is doing something not often seen in politics these days. He's bringing in former opponents to be advisors and members of his campaign. Shortly after Colvin won the nomination as the Democrat challenging incumbent Andy Harris, he joined forces with another strong opponent, Allison Galbraith, bringing her in as an advisor on women's issues and liaison to activist groups. Now he has added another opponent, Michael Pullen to his team. It's a welcome change to see former opponents coming together and bringing all of the issues important to constituents under one umbrella. Colvin is a 4th generation Marylander, an Army Ranger, a businessman and strangely enough is married to a Republican. Could Colvin and his former opponents be a formidable team to defeat Andy Harris?

Harris' district is an odd one that encompasses western Maryland, northern Maryland & Harford County, and the eastern shore, areas that are significantly different in demographics and issues, and rapidly changing. What is needed for rural areas is different than the suburbs. Since the election of President Donald J. Trump, Harris has been a strong supporter, rarely if ever taking a stand on anything against the president. In the turbulent and emotional political times we live in, this causes great distress for democrats and middle ground voters in Harford County.

Harris has been virtually absent from Harford County with the exception of only a few photo ops. More and more he appears on the eastern shore, where he is well liked. In the few town halls in Harford he attended last year, he presented slide shows, but didn't allow much time for comments/questions and his constituents had plenty of them. Instead of being responsive to voters, he has virtually shut out Harford County from live town halls. He uses "phone-in town halls" with pre-screened questions and delays so the content can be controlled. Requests for in person town halls, or to meet personally with constituents in Harford County with concerns have been repeatedly denied. It has become so frequent that a cardboard cutout of Harris has become part of local citizen group meetings to spotlight his absence.

Andy Harris has a war chest of millions of dollars for his campaign. The democrat candidates have been mostly grass roots. Can a coalition of democrats from the entire 1st district around the state of Maryland be the force that will take down Harris?