Neal Simon, chief executive officer of a Rockville-based asset management firm, has filed more than 12,000 signatures to get on the November ballot as an “unaffiliated”—independent—candidate for the U.S. Senate seat now held by Democrat Ben Cardin.
Maryland requires at least 10,000 signatures for a statewide independent candidate; Simon’s Thursday filing with the State Board of Elections came more than two weeks before the Aug. 6 deadline.
Among the names appearing on Simon’s petitions: Republican Gov. Larry Hogan and his running mate, Lt. Gov. Boyd Rutherford. They signed July 18 while Simon and his organization visited the J. Millard Tawes Crab & Clam Bake, an annual gathering on Maryland’s Eastern Shore that attracts politicians from around the state. Hogan and Rutherford signed notwithstanding the presence in the race of Republican Tony Campbell, a Towson University lecturer and political conservative who is also seeking to deny Cardin a third term.
Simon—who was registered as a Democrat for nearly a decade prior to switching his registration to unaffiliated in 2013—has been endorsed by Denver-based Unite America, an organization of political centrists that is seeking to encourage independent candidates nationwide.
“Our hope is to be able to change the dynamic in the Senate by having a few people who are independent and can move the discussion to the middle,” Simon said in an interview shortly before formally filing to run earlier this year.
In a statement Thursday, Simon, a 50-year old Potomac resident, declared: “We have been to every county and the city of Baltimore in the past two months… . It is abundantly clear that Maryland’s voters are finished with Washington’s status quo, partisan bickering and want a senator that will put Maryland and the nation’s needs over party power and special interests. Our campaign is not just a vote against the establishment, but a vote for change, finding common ground and a better future.”
Since 2015, Simon been CEO of Bronfman Rothschild, an investment firm headquartered in Rockville that was started by scions of two international family financial empires. Simon took over after selling Highline, a wealth management firm that he founded in 2002, to Bronfman Rothschild—which today manages $6.1 billion in assets from 10 offices nationwide.
Simon has pumped $525,000 of his personal assets into his candidacy, which, combined with $645,000 in outside donations, has allowed his campaign to take in a total of $1.17 million through the end of June, according to filings with the Federal Election Commission. It reported $707,500 in cash on hand as of June 30. Cardin’s latest report shows him as having raised more than $4.4 million since the beginning of the 2017-2018 election cycle, and his campaign reported just over $3 million on hand as of the end of June.
Not only has Simon gotten Hogan’s signature on his petitions—he’s also retained political operative Steve Crim, who managed Hogan’s upset victory in 2014. Simon’s latest FEC filings show $40,000 in fees paid to the Main Street Strategic Advisory Group of Annapolis, Crim’s firm.
But there has never been an independent senator or governor elected in Maryland, and, with less than four months until Election Day, Simon’s bid remains, at best, a longshot.
A release from the Simon campaign Thursday noted that the Washington-based Cook Political Report has assessed Simon as Cardin’s only credible challenger. The release did not mention that both the Cook Political Report and another Washington-based publication that tracks congressional campaigns, Inside Elections, both currently rate the seat held by Cardin as “solid Democratic” in handicapping the November general election.
Editor’s note: This story was updated to correct the spelling of Neal Simon’s first name in the subhead.
