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  • DAN BONGINO

    DAN BONGINO
July 19, 2012

GOP Senate candidate Bongino running campaign the old-fashioned way

Matthew Bieniek Cumberland Times-News

CUMBERLAND — Dan Bongino plans to win a seat in the United States Senate the old-fashioned way, by going door-to-door, waving signs and talking issues. Bongino visited the Allegany County Fair and Ag Expo Thursday to meet voters and stopped in at the Times-News for an interview.

“We practice the lost art of an organic, ground-up campaign,” Bongino said. That includes going door-to-door, waving signs and talking with voters. But it doesn’t mean he doesn’t believe in using technology in his campaign, and he’s quick to point out the 3,000 plus “likes” on his Facebook page.

Bongino said he carves out four to five days a month to visit Allegany, Garrett and Washington counties, areas he says to some degree are ignored by both parties. The Democrats have written the area off, while too many Republicans take it for granted, he said.

Western Maryland’s issues are often ones that affect the state, or the nation, especially the possibility of energy production through drilling for natural gas in Marcellus shale, which Bongino supports.

“Social media isn’t going to win an election. But I can tell you how you’re going to lose an election — ignore social media,” Bongino said. Except for listing events, all the posts he makes to Facebook or Twitter are his own. “I only post on Facebook when I feel passionately about something,” Bongino said. And it doesn’t take long to realize that Bongino is indeed passionate about his politics and his country. His voice is animated and his arms, hands, fingers and facial expressions all work to drive home his points.

“When you write from the heart, they’ll share it,” Bongino said. The candidate doesn’t mince words, whether writing or speaking.

“It’s respectful but very aggressive,” he said. Despite time in Washington, he has not held public office and calls himself an “outsider” in his campaign materials. His opponent is a lifelong politician, he said.

Bongino is a Republican, a face he readily acknowledges. He’s challenging incumbent Democratic U.S. Sen. Ben Cardin in November’s general election. On the other hand, Bongino knows Maryland is a heavily Democratic state; that doesn’t worry him, though. He said recent finance reports show that Cardin has brought in more money, but has only about a 2-1 fundraising lead, despite being an incumbent.

“What does my political affiliation matter? I’m here, he’s not,” Bongino said, referring to Cardin, who he called “out of touch” and very partisan. He said although he disagrees with U.S. Sen. Barbara Mikulski, he does admire her constituent service and ability to cross the aisles to get things done.

Reaction to his campaign has been almost uniformly positive, he said, even in heavily Democratic areas of the state. “People know us, we’re out there,” he said.

Bongino got into the race because, “I was really afraid of the path the country was going down,” he said. He spent a lot of time discussing with his wife the question “how do we really change things,” he said. “To the people who had lost faith, I did, too. But there are good people out there,” he said, citing political leaders who endorsed him when “all we had were our principles.”

Bongino, 37, is a former Secret Service agent and owns a number of small businesses. He lives in Severna Park with his wife, Paula. He has two children. Bongino grew up poor in New York City and ultimately started his professional career in that city’s police department.

His Secret Service work included time as the top-ranked member of the Presidential Protective Division. He was in charge for one of President Barack Obama’s trips to Afghanistan, among many other high-level operations.

Bongino’s campaign website is www.bongino.com.

Contact Matthew Bieniek at mbieniek@times-news.com.

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