US Congressional District 1

What’s the job: One of Maryland’s eight members in the 435-member U.S. House of Representatives. Responsible for introducing and voting on legislation, approving federal spending and providing oversight of federal government operations. Elected to a two-year term.

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Democratic

Name: Dan Schwartz

Age: 38

Personal: Married, wife Megan, children Henry, 6, and Eddie, 3.

Education: Bachelor’s degree, political science, George Washington University; Graduate School of Banking at Colorado.

Experience: More than 13 years with the Conference of State Bank Supervisors, including as lead staff for Multistate Money Service Business Examination Taskforce (MMET); senior director, Nonbank Supervision & Enforcement; senior director, Policy & Supervision; director, Policy Development.

Questionnaire

Q: What would you do to restore predictability to the federal budgeting process and avoid shutdowns and threats of shutdowns?

Q: Do you support changes to existing immigration laws? Be specific on changes you would seek and how you would forge bipartisan support for them.

Q: Should members of Congress be allowed to trade individual stocks? What policies would you support to ensure that members are acting in the public interest rather than their own financial interest?

Q: Describe a moment when you stood up to someone in authority.

Q: What will you bring to Congress that is missing?

Republican

Name: Andy Harris

Candidate did not respond to The Banner’s voter guide questionnaire.

First elected in 2010, GOP Rep. Andy Harris, is seeking his 9th term in Congress.

The 1st District representative is one of the most powerful Republicans in the country. Harris leads the far-right House Freedom Caucus, a group of conservative Republicans known to check the political positions of both parties.

Harris backs President Donald Trump’s policies, voting for the budget bill, known as the One Big Beautiful Bill Act and supporting Trump’s mass deportation agenda. He has also sought to raise the number of guest visas for temporary foreign workers, a critical labor source for his district’s crab-picking houses.

In Congress, Harris sits on the powerful appropriations committee and chairs a subcommittee responsible for overseeing the country’s agriculture and rural development spending. Harris requested more earmarks this year than any other Republican House member for community projects such as creek dredging, Ocean City beach replenishment and equipment and trucks for local firehouses.

An anesthesiologist, Harris has a medical degree from The Johns Hopkins University, and has worked in Baltimore at Johns Hopkins Hospital and Memorial Hospital of Easton. Harris is a U.S. Navy veteran, serving as a doctor in the Naval Reserve. He has five children with wife, Sylvia “Cookie” Harris, who died in 2014. Harris lives in Cambridge, Maryland, with wife, Nicole Beus Harris, leader of the state GOP and a former political consultant.

Read The Banner’s coverage of Andy Harris.

Show candidates who did not advance past June 2026 Primary