Windy, with outbreaks of handshaking and backslapping at Tawes crab feast

Democratic congressional nominee Dan Schwartz knew exactly how much time was left in his bid to unseat Rep. Andy Harris (R-1st) — “41 days and one sleep” —  and he does not plan on spending any time away the campaign trail between now and Nov. 3.

That included Wednesday, which was dedicated to the old-fashioned retail campaigning of handshaking and posing for selfies with voters a the J. Millard Tawes Crab and Clam Bake in Crisfield, an annual pilgrimage for Maryland politicians for the last 49 years.

“I’m just trying to take advantage of every single hour, every single day that we have talking to the wonderful people across all of our 11 counties,” said Schwartz, 37. “So we’re spending a lot of time talking to everybody – Democrats, independents, Republicans. We’re knocking on all those doors, and I feel like if there’s ever a shot, ever a cycle where we can do this, it’s now. People are fed up and frustrated.”

As Schwartz was working the crowd, Harris was strolling the grounds with his wife and chatting with voters. Republican gubernatorial nominee Dan Cox had his own tent with supporters, while Gov. Wes Moore (D) traveled with his own cheering section during an hourlong tour of the grounds. Other notable pols included Comptroller Brooke Lierman and Treasurer Derick Davis.

For decades, Tawes has been a popular destination for political leaders – especially in election years such as this one – and the general public.

Once a fundraiser for J. Millard Tawes, a former governor and state comptroller who hailed from Crisfield, the event has since morphed into a fundraiser for the Crisfield Chamber of Commerce. Once a year, tents festooned with candidate signs or the names of sponsoring organizations spring up in the Somers Cove Marina. People, with a beverage of their choice, feast on steamed crabs, sweet potato fries, corn, clams and more.

The rains that threatened the festivities in the morning had stopped by noon, when the event began, and hundreds showed up Wednesday on a brisk and windy first day of fall.

“It’s a rain or shine event and everybody’s still upbeat,” said Sen. Mary Beth Carozza (R-Lower Shore), whose district includes Crisfield. She was manning her own tent for supporters, campaign workers and her 88-year-old father, Tony Carozza, who ate seafood under his daughter’s tent Wednesday.

“This is a celebration, and it not only celebrates Crisfield and Somerset County, but it’s celebrating our way of life enjoying the seafood,” she said.

To be clear, the crowds were the ones enjoying the seafood. The politicians were mostly too busy shaking hands and slapping backs to sit down and crack crabs, although some discreetly sipped a beer as they walked.

Schwartz, with an unused crab mallet in the breast pocket of his jacket, paused outside the huge tent of Annapolis lobbyist Bruce Bereano. He acknowledged the challenge of running as a Democrat on the conservative Eastern Shore — Republican campaign signs greatly outnumber Democratic ones on the roads to Tawes. But he said voters are focused on kitchen-table issues and feel neglected by Harris, the chairman of the conservative House Freedom Causus, whom he called an “extremist” due to his constant backing of Republican President Donald Trump.

But there in area where Schwartz and Harris agree: Both oppose Question 3, the proposed constitutional amendment on the November ballot that would set new, looser standards for the way congressional maps are drawn in the state. It’s hugely unpopular on the Eastern Shore, where critics see it as an attempt to gerrymander Harris, the sole Republican in the state’s congressional delegation, out of office.

“I’m going to vote against it personally because I think it’s a distraction,” Schwartz said Wednesday. “We do not need to kick the can down the road and worry about beating Andy Harris two years from now. We got to do it now.”

Harris blamed Moore for his support of Question 3, and highlighted a new poll that showed 41% of voters opposed the measure and just 28% supported it, with the rest still undecided.

“If you like gerrymandering, vote for Question 3. If you don’t like it, you’ve got to vote against Question 3,” Harris said in an interview with reporters Wednesday. “I think that the polling all shows now that Marylanders don’t like gerrymandering. I think the governor is going to lose on that.”

But Moore rejected the suggestion that Question 3 is about gerrymandering Harris out of a seat. He repeated his argument that it is a response to redistricting by GOP-led states.

“What it’s going to lead to is making sure that we control our democracy, not anybody else,” Moore said. “Because right now we are watching the greatest assault on our democracy that we have literally seen in our nation’s history.”

Moore’s choreographed visit to Tawes included throngs of sign-waving supporters who marched behind him through the marina and chanted “four more years!” It also included praise from Carl Anderton Jr., a Republican and former Lower Shore delegate who Moore named director of rural economic strategy at the Maryland Department of Commerce.

“He’s delivered. Every time we’ve asked for something, we’ve got it. I can’t even get that from my mama,” said Anderton as he stood beside Moore Wednesday. “I’ll tell anybody who wants to hear it. I’ll come to your church Sunday and get up on the pulpit as we pass the plate around. I’ll tell them what’s up.”

Moore’s Republican challenger Dan Cox welcomes a discussion about Moore’s record, which he sees in less-glowing terms than Anderton, pointing to higher taxes, higher utility bills and his focus on national politics. Cox ran against Moore in 2022 and was soundly defeated. The difference now, he said, is that “Wes Moore has a record” that he didn’t have as a newcomer four years ago.

“He’s been traveling the country campaigning for national people, and for not for Marylanders,” Cox said, outside his campaign’s tent Wednesday. “My friends in the State House are not happy for the fact that he’s hardly there. He’s the absentee governor…. And they want somebody who’s present, and I intend to be that for them.”

It’s not just politicians working public opinion at Tawes. Various interest groups and lobbyists sponsor tents, as od nearby Salisbury University and the University of Maryland, Eastern Shor.

Bowls of crabs and slices of watermelon sat on a table at the UMES tent, which sat near an entrance where Moore and other dignitaries entered. UMES President Heidi Anderson said the school’s annual attendance not only gives thanks to elected officials who support the state’s only HBCU land-grant institution, but also to promote its students.

Anderson said one piece of legislation she hopes state legislators can work on when the 2027 General Assembly session begins Jan. 13 is providing resources for student housing.

“That’s one of the areas that we lack at UMES because of where we are being so rural,” Anderson said.

Schwartz. still working the crowd, said he hopes Eastern Shore voters will choose “a regular guy.”

“I’m not trying to steal anybody’s congressman. I’m trying to beat him at the ballot box by showing people I’m not some far-left guy. I’m an American,” he said. “I want to show up and represent everyone, not just the furthest extremes of my party. If I get elected, I got to represent the Democrats, the independents, and the Republicans, too.”