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Dan Bongino for Congress in Maryland’s 6th District

Dan Bongino for Congress in Maryland’s 6th District

We have the first candidate for Operation Counterweight 2014

Dan Bongino ran for the Senate in Maryland in 2012 against incumbent Ben Cardin, in what everyone recognized to be a long shot in blue Maryland in a presidential election year.

Bongino, a political unknown who formerly was a Secret Service agent in the Presidential Protection Division, made a very respectable showing but was severely weakened by a faux-independent candidate who targeted conservative voters and split the non-Cardin vote.  Bongino did very well in the 6th Congressional District, which had been Republican for 20 years until 2010 redistricting turned it blue.

In the process of the Senate campaign, however, Bongino established a statewide and national political name for himself and he has carried that charge forward with videos such as this one on the 2nd Amendment which has almost a million YouTube views (adding up various reposts of the video):

Bongino also has been a frequent commenter on television and radio since the election:

Bongino issued a press release today that he will be running for Congress in Maryland’s 6th District:

Bongino for Congress

“After a long journey, and careful consideration, my campaign team and I have made a decision regarding our plans in the 2014 election cycle. I would be honored if you would join me on this journey. Please join me at both of our campaign kick-off events on June 18th. The movement to make Maryland home again begins this Tuesday.”

Dan is the first appointee to Legal Insurrection’s Operation Counterweight for 2014.

Operation Counterweight, as you know,  is the electoral strategy for the rest of us, focusing on candidates who meet the criteria: (1) must be a conservative Republican (preferably with a Tea Party background), not third parties; (2) must be a swing district, i.e., a potentially vulnerable Republican or chance to flip a Democratic seat; and (3) must not already have national attention and fundraising.

Bongino meets those criteria, as this policy interview from 2012 demonstrates

And, Bongino has the added bonus that he’s a great guy.

You can donate to his campaign here.

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Comments

Ekkkkk-cellent…

Seriously. This guy is a wonderful candidate from all I’ve seen.

So with the Supremes stating that ID isn’t required to vote, does this mean I can drive to MA from my actual state to vote for Mr. Bongino?

I’ve forwarded this post to my group.

Thank you for showing strategic insight into how to win local elections. This is the most tactical requirement of the three.

“(3) must not already have national attention and fundraising.”

Reason why we did better in 2010 than in 2012. Because there are no lightning rods for the media to create local collateral damage.

e.g., swing voters who did not vote for a local republican candidate because of media projections and mental overlaps of high profile national republican candidate.

Mia Love will also do better in 2014.

On 9/30/12 I made my first donation to Dan Bongino based on reading about him at Legal Insurrection. A few minutes after making the donation my phone rang and a voice said, “Hi, this is Dan Bongino.” I thought it must be a robo-call, but it wasn’t. It was actually Dan Bongino himself! He sounded terrific. Later I read at Legal Insurrection that the GOP establishment wasn’t giving him money because they didn’t think he could win. I then increased by donation to Bongino to the maximum allowed by law.

Check out Richard Cash in SC. Against all odds, he is running against Lindsey Graham who desperately needs to be replaced.