EDITORIAL: Bongino for Congress

OPINION:

Democrats in Washington work hard to stoke the flames of resentment against “the rich.” The battle cry of the envious tars Republicans as the party of the rich, even though 8 of the top 10 wealthiest members of Congress are Democrats. Rep. John Delaney is the richest Democrat, having made his money in health care, and he’s locked in a surprisingly tight race in Maryland’s 6th District against Dan Bongino, a former Secret Service agent, the Republican challenger.

Mr. Delaney’s seat was designed to be safe. Annapolis Democrats carved up the Western Maryland district represented for 20 years by the conservative Rep. Roscoe G. Bartlett, adding enough voting precincts in Montgomery County to give Democrats a 7 percent edge in voter registration. That’s small beer in a state where Democrats hold a veto-proof majority in both houses of the General Assembly.

Instead of cruising to a second term, Mr. Delaney is bedeviled by widespread disillusionment. Even the Democratic faithful have come to realize they’re not able to keep their health care plan, no matter how much they like it. There was no “middle-class” tax cut, and the trillion-dollar stimulus that was supposed to create jobs, didn’t. Are the same dyed-in-the-wool class warriors who bashed Mitt Romney simply for being rich now going to turn out on a chilly Tuesday morning to cast a vote for a Democrat who belongs to all the same country clubs?

Mr. Bongino has been campaigning in a battered Chevy, and he’s drawing the crowds and excitement — and money. Individual donors have poured more money into his campaign treasury than Mr. Delaney’s have, an important indicator of momentum. Western Marylanders are eager for someone who will represent them, and not focus on the small slice of his district within Montgomery County. Mr. Bongino’s message of “jobs, jobs, jobs” resonates everywhere.

“People who have a job — not all, but a good number, are genuinely concerned that they’re not going to get a raise,” Mr. Bongino tells The Washington Times, “[but] the promotions aren’t there. There just seems to be a stagnant labor market. The people who don’t have a job are even more terrified. These problems are all driven by a dreadful tax policy.”

There’s evidence aplenty. The Bechtel Corp. is moving 1,100 jobs from Frederick, Md., to Virginia, which has been taking jobs from overtaxed Maryland. Mr. Delaney merely shrugs at such news. “The businesses that only want to talk about taxes will move out, anyhow,” he told The Frederick News-Post.

Mr. Bongino is brimming with ideas. He wants to dump the current tax code and replace it with a simple “fair tax.” Drawing from his expertise in the Secret Service, he would work to push the national security culture away from mass data collection and into a more sensible “connect the dots” intelligence approach. He would jettison Obamacare and cut regulatory red tape to stimulate economic growth. That’s exactly what Maryland, and the nation, needs.

A third option, George Gluck, the suitably liberal Green Party candidate, threatens to be a spoiler of Democratic hopes in the close race in the 6th Congressional District. In every district “it’s the economy, Stupid,” and Dan Bongino understands that. We enthusiastically recommend a vote for him.