Democrat April McClain Delaney wins a US House seat in a competitive Maryland race

BALTIMORE (AP) — Democrat April McClain Delaney narrowly won a U.S. House seat in Maryland’s most competitive congressional races that came to focus on reproductive rights and the economy.

The state’s sprawling 6th Congressional District covers a wide swath of rural Maryland as well as more affluent liberal suburbs of Washington, D.C. The close race wasn’t called until Saturday, four days after Election Day.

A mother of four daughters whose husband previously represented the district, McClain Delaney campaigned heavily on issues impacting women. She pledged to protect reproductive freedoms in the wake of the U.S. Supreme Court’s 2022 decision to end the constitutional right to an abortion and leave those decisions to individual states.

McClain Delaney, 60, previously worked in the Biden administration’s Department of Commerce and has focused much of her career on protecting children’s online safety.

She labeled herself a “common sense, common ground” candidate and painted her Republican opponent as an extreme conservative. The daughter of an Idaho potato farmer, she said she can get Washington politicians to address the needs of working families.

“I think that we’ve just got to turn the page on this divisive, toxic partisanship, which is ripping across our country,” she told AP in a recent interview.

Campaigning a third time for the seat, Republican Neil Parrott often tried to steer the conversation away from abortion. He deflected questions on the issue despite having repeatedly made public his anti-abortion stance during 12 years in the Maryland State House.

Parrott, 54, emphasized instead his commitment to lowering inflation, creating a stronger economy for middle-class families and stopping illegal immigration — all Republican talking points that President-elect Donald Trump often uses.

Parrott attacked McClain Delaney for living outside the district, saying she’s out of touch with the struggles of everyday Americans, including many 6th District voters. U.S. House members are only required to live in the state they represent.

McClain Delaney used personal funds to bolster her campaign, outspending her opponent by a significant margin. She received endorsements from big-name Democrats, including former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and U.S. Rep. Jamie Raskin.

In a last-minute attempt to garner more votes before Election Day, House Majority Leader Steve Scalise visited western Maryland and voiced his support for Parrott, calling the candidate “an engineer who knows how to break the gridlock in Washington.”

Hours later, McClain Delaney appeared in a Washington suburb alongside Maryland Gov. Wes Moore and spoke about the importance of strengthening Democratic presence in Congress, especially as Republicans tried to hold onto a slim House majority.

“Every seat matters,” Raskin, of Maryland’s 8th Congressional District, said at the campaign event.

On Tuesday, many voters in western Maryland said their votes in the 6th District race reflected their major party loyalties.

Ben and Cate Witmer, who brought their 6-year-old daughter to the polls with them, said they voted for McClain Delaney because she better represents their values and the future they want for their child. They said democracy and women’s rights were top priorities.

Nate Temple, 22, a U.S. Navy veteran who voted for Parrott, said he was focused on the economy. He said the candidates lobbed harsh attacks at one another, but “I don’t think anyone is as bad as their opponent makes them out to be.”

The House seat was vacated by David Trone, who ran for Senate and lost to Angela Alsobrooks in the Democratic primary earlier this year. Alsobrooks won election to the U.S. Senate, the first Black candidate from Maryland to do so.

The 6th District hasn’t always favored Democrats. It was represented by Republican Roscoe Bartlett for 20 years before McClain Delaney’s husband, John Delaney, won the seat in 2012 following a redistricting move that helped Democrats.

Lea Skene, The Associated Press