Editor’s note: This story was updated at 5:30 p.m. to include additional information on the race.
Del. Neil Parrott (R-Hagerstown) has conceded to U.S. Rep. David Trone (D-Potomac) in District 6, considered to be the state’s most competitive congressional race this year, thanks largely to redistricting
“I want to thank Del. Parrott for his phone call this afternoon conceding the race. My promise to him, and to all of the people of the 6th District, is this: I’ll continue to work across the aisle to deliver results and get things done. Thank you, Maryland! Let’s get back to work,” Trone tweeted Friday afternoon.
Following Trone’s tweet, Parrott put out a news release on Twitter announcing his concession.
“Based on the vote-by-mail ballots that are still to be counted and the trends in vote-by-mail results, Delegate Neil Parrott has conceded the election. He just called Congressman David Trone and congratulated him on his victory.
“Even so, Delegate Parrott believes that the actions over the last year are a big victory for the people of Western and Central Maryland. The ‘extreme partisan gerrymander’ has been corrected, and now like-minded communities have a real say in who they pick for US Congress in District 6 and across the state,” the release said.
As of 2:47 p.m., Trone was leading by 50.38% and 1,895 votes.
There are still mail-in ballots to be counted in Montgomery County and Frederick County. As of Friday afternoon, Maryland State Board of Elections unofficial results showed Trone leading the Montgomery County vote by 21,948 and the Frederick County vote by 1,946 votes.
Trone and Parrott had previously faced off in 2020, when Trone handily won, 59% to 39%. But this year, they were running in a district dramatically altered by a congressional redistricting plan enacted by the Maryland General Assembly — after an earlier plan had been rejected by a state judge, ruling in response to a lawsuit brought by Parrott and several other plaintiffs.
The final redistricting plan removed about 100,000 voters from Democratic-dominated Montgomery County, leaving about 150,000 6th District voters in the northern and western portions of the county. At the same time, it added about 100,000 voters from Republican areas of politically purple Frederick County to the 6th – transforming a reliably Democratic congressional district into one assessed by the political website 538.com as leaning Republican by a single percentage point.
The politically diverse district extends nearly 200 miles west from Gaithersburg to the edge of Maryland’s Panhandle, and includes three strongly Republican counties – Allegany, Garrett and Washington – in addition to all of Frederick County and a portion of Montgomery.
Trone, co-owner of a nationwide chain of retail stores selling alcohol beverages, poured $12.5 million of his personal fortune into the campaign, enabling him to outspend Parrott by a factor of 18-1.
Notwithstanding the courteous tone of the Parrott and Trone statements Friday, this year’s race was an acrimonious battle contest between two candidates with widely differing political philosophies who disagreed on virtually every major policy issue.
Each sought to paint the other as being out of the political mainstream, with each frequently accusing his opponent of lies and distortions in the course of the campaign.