Editor’s note: This story, which was originally published Sept. 21, 2023 at 5:03 p.m., was updated on Oct. 24, 2023 to clarify that Mariela Roca is a former federal employee and not a current federal employee.
Republican candidates for Maryland’s Sixth Congressional District shared broadly similar views on education, national security, economics and other topics during the first GOP forum of the race. The event was hosted Wednesday night by the Upper Montgomery County Republican Women’s Club at the BlackRock Arts Center in Germantown.
The candidates who participated were:
- Heath Barnes, current burgess (mayor) of Woodsboro and former vice-chair of the Maryland GOP
- Chris Hyser, former Maryland State Police officer, current volunteer chaplain
- Todd Puglisi, food service worker at McDonald’s and Arby’s
- Mariela Roca, Air Force veteran, former federal employee for the U.S. Army working on supply chain issues for the Department of Defense
- Tom Royals, Navy flight veteran, IT sales executive
- Brenda Thiam, former state delegate (District 2B), former special education teacher
Puglisi and Royals are Montgomery County residents.
The forum was moderated by David Bossie, president of Citizens United, a conservative nonprofit, and a former advisor to Donald Trump’s 2020 presidential campaign.
While the district doesn’t just include Montgomery County–it also encompasses parts of Alleghany, Frederick, Garrett and Washington counties–buzz surrounding Montgomery County Public Schools guided several of the discussions.
When asked how they felt about the MCPS LGBTQ+ curriculum opt-out decision, all the candidates disagreed with the judge’s ruling that the curriculum does not violate parent’s First Amendment rights.
“Parents should not co-parent with the government … [the ruling] breaks my heart,” Roca said.
She and the other candidates said parents should be able to know what is being taught in the school curriculum. Roca also said she opposes transgender students participating in athletics and using school locker rooms and bathrooms aligned with their gender identity.
Most of the candidates also advocated for school choice.
“I want to work with the school board, but we’re also going to have a parents’ choice with the school board,” Hyser said. He said less money should be going to public schools and more money should be invested in alternative options such as charter schools and vouchers to send children to private schools.
Royals said he wants to bring change to the schools, including paying teachers more.
“Why do bureaucrats make more than teachers?” he said. “We need to make sure we’re paying them the best.”
Bossie also asked candidates if they’d support a mask mandate in schools after MCPS instituted a limited mask requirement in a class at Rosemary Hills Elementary School when at least three students tested positive for COVID-19. The candidates unanimously said they’d oppose a mandate, and most were opposed to government shutdowns of businesses that occurred early in the pandemic.
“Government mandates are overreaching. Why is the government shutting down churches? And don’t force mask wearing on the American people,” Thiam said. “Shutdowns do not work.”
Barnes said he fought Frederick County on the issue as burgess of Woodsboro.
“Restaurants were facing bankruptcy because of the shutdown,” Barnes said. “Shutdowns hurt small businesses.”
While most candidates shared similar views and responses to most of the questions, Puglisi was occasionally an outlier. While he still voiced traditionally conservative opinions about many issues, he also was the only candidate to state opposition to finishing Trump’s border wall–saying that money would be better served toward creating a stronger militarized border patrol. Puglisi also said that he doesn’t necessarily think the COVID-19 shutdowns were a bad idea.
“I don’t think there’s a need to shut down businesses now that many people have been vaccinated,” Puglisi said. “But COVID was very scary in 2020. There needs to be a responsible policy for these things.”
When asked about whether they would support the United States continuing to help fund Ukraine in the war against Russia, most candidates said the country should still align with Ukraine but no longer send “blank checks” or support the war. Hyser took a stronger stance.
“We’ve sent enough money to Ukraine … if you can’t afford weapons, shame on you,” Hyser said. “It’s Darwinism if you can’t survive on your own.”
Roca said the country should focus on building a stronger military.
“Our weakness emboldened Putin to get into Ukraine,” Roca said. “Our military is being weakened by this woke agenda.”
It’s unlikely that the six candidates who spoke are the only ones to enter the Republican primary for the seat. Former Del. Neil Parrott (R-2A) launched an exploratory committee for the seat in July but hasn’t yet announced official plans.
Parrott told MoCo360 at an MCGOP breakfast club meeting last week that he will likely take until November to make a formal decision, and that he filed in order to stay on top of FEC fundraising requirements.
Other contenders that political observers think may enter the race on the Republican side are Maryland General Assembly Minority Leader Del. Jason Buckel (R-1B), former Maryland state senator David Brinkley (R-4A) and 2022 GOP gubernatorial nominee Dan Cox.
