Andy Harris

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Democrat Dan Schwartz has surprising momentum in his long-shot bid to unseat Rep. Andy Harris (R-Md.).

ABERDEEN, Md. — The bald man on his porch did not want to hear Dan Schwartz talk about how he’s challenging Rep. Andy Harris (R-Md.) in next week’s election. He listened to Schwartz for a moment and then politely refused to take a campaign flyer.

But as the Democrat walked away, the man piped up: “Boy, Andy surely messed himself up, though, on that commercial.”

It turned out he’d seen Schwartz’s TV ad highlighting his debate with Harris earlier this month in which Harris scolded members of the audience and afterward tried to sic police on a student reporter.

Normally, an embarrassing debate moment would not be enough to endanger an incumbent in a seat his party’s presidential candidate won by 17 percentage points just two years earlier. But 2026 is not a normal election. President Donald Trump’s massive unpopularity has created the best political environment for Democrats in two decades, which is giving hope even to under-the-radar Democratic candidates in deep red territory like Schwartz.

In every wave election, there are victories very few see coming — Iowa’s Dave Loebsack in 2006, Idaho’s Walt Minnick in 2008 and Oklahoma’s Kendra Horn in 2018 for Democrats, Texas’ Blake Farenthold and Minnesota’s Chip Cravaack in 2010 for Republicans — and Harris’ gaffe is giving Schwartz a live chance to join their ranks.

The debate debacle has energized Schwartz’s bid to unseat Maryland’s sole Republican House member in this district encompassing the state’s Eastern Shore. Schwartz has raised $250,000 since the debate, and last week the University of Virginia’s Sabato’s Crystal Ball moved the race from “safe Republican” to “likely Republican,” including it among races worth watching “as deep sleepers in the event of a blue tsunami.”

Schwartz was not expecting the debate to change much about his uphill race.

“My team says, ‘Well, you can’t really win a debate, but you can lose one. Say something stupid, it’s over.’ So we weren’t expecting a big bump in fundraising or earned media,” he told HuffPost.

During the debate, Harris blamed Democratic environmental regulations, rather than President Donald Trump’s war in Iran, for high diesel prices, prompting derisive laughter from the audience. He accused the crowd of not respecting the First Amendment, then told a lady she was “rude.” Afterward, while sparring with reporters, he falsely suggested a University of Maryland student journalist was recording him illegally and threatened to have law enforcement arrest her.

“Almost every day, I’ve had national media interviews, and that would not have happened for not the congressman coming out and showing his true colors to not just his constituents but the whole world,” Schwartz said.

The 37-year-old Democrat moved to the district with his wife from Washington, D.C., during the coronavirus pandemic. They have three kids, including an 8-week-old baby. Before launching the campaign last year, Schwartz worked for the Conference of State Bank Supervisors, an organization that promotes state involvement in consumer protection and oversight of the U.S. financial system.

Knocking on doors in a mostly Republican area on Thursday evening, Schwartz presented himself in as nonpartisan a fashion as possible, saying only that he’s running against Harris and listening politely to whatever neighbors wanted to say. His sweatshirt said “representation starts with listening” with the L formed from the shape of the district’s boundaries. He spent nearly 15 minutes talking to a woman on her porch who seemed to have little inclination to vote for a Democrat.

“There’s a lot of negative press about Andy Harris,” she said, “but some of the people that work for the state say he’s the only one willing to stand up for seniors behind the scenes.”

Schwartz pointed out Harris supported cuts to Social Security’s operating budget, but seemed to get more traction with the woman just by listening to her complaints about elder abuse and the high cost of living. He took down her email and promised to be in touch.

The Democratic Party nationally and in Maryland is making a strong push to redraw the district boundaries to get rid of Harris without having to beat him on his current turf. Schwartz opposes the redistricting, which will likely go through if a referendum on the subject passes this year — it’s one of a few ways he has sought to present himself as a moderate.

“I understand why we’re engaged in this redistricting war. You got to fight fire with fire,” Schwartz told HuffPost. “But I don’t think you do it in a state where you only have one seat held by the opposition party.”

Harris, by contrast, is not moderate at all. He’s the current chairman of the notorious House Freedom Caucus, a right-wing group that occasionally threatens to block legislation it deems insufficiently conservative. He’s a physician, a veteran, an ardent supporter of Trump and an apologist for the Iran war. His campaign didn’t respond to a request for comment for this story.

Harris displayed his unflinching support for Trump, as well as his personal crabbiness, during the debate. It’s what led to his viral embarrassment. “Diesel prices have gone up. There’s no question about it,” he said. “Why has it gone up? Because the Democrats have environmental regulations.” And then he took the crowd’s laughter as a violation of his free speech rights.

As for the man who’d seen Schwartz’s ad highlighting the Harris debate crashout, Schwartz didn’t ask the guy to vote for him. He only said he was glad he’d seen it.

“I just promise you, I’ll work for everybody if I get elected,” he said.