Put Harford In the First District

Good afternoon, committee members and others. Thank you for sharing your Saturday afternoon so we might opine about redistricting.

I am Eugene Goll, representing myself on hoping to deal with reconfiguration of our First Congressional District.

I live in Easton in Talbot County and have been here for more than half of my life. Most of the early part was spent in Harford County, born and raised in Havre de Grace with subsequent stays in Aberdeen and Edgewood;

I recall the remark at a political rally recently from a person who had moved to the Eastern Shore several years earlier: He said, “The rest of the state sees us as being different.” The point, my sense is that Harford County is in tune more with the culture and ethos of the Maryland Eastern Shore.

.Accordingly, I argue that the county should be linked as a whole to the Shore rather than having a considerable portion placed in suburban Baltimore County as is currently the case. The same could be said for taking the northern area of Harford County away from the Sixth Congressional District.

Reports are the Sixth District might be altered with the idea of improving the chances of a Democratic candidate winning there. Doing this would be inherently bad for the First District, and I very much hope this will not occur. All or parts of the eight counties in the Sixth District have a majority of Republicans registered and would require many Democrats to alter the balance of the district.

Rather than let the distortions of a decade ago continue, please give consideration to revising the districts in a way that the citizens living in them are more in synch with each other in their outlooks and folkways. It makes little sense to have persons living in suburbia affect the balance of a Congressional election for residents of the Eastern Shore.