The new congressman from Maryland’s 1st District is Andy Harris, a Republican who defeated freshman Democrat Frank Kratovil in 2010. Harris, a Johns Hopkins University anesthesiologist and professor, was born in Brooklyn, N.Y., to immigrants from Eastern Europe. His father, a Hungarian anti-communist activist, had been jailed in a Siberian gulag for a year and a half for his political views before meeting Harris’s mother, who had fled Ukraine, at a displaced persons camp in Austria. Harris credits his parents’ escape from communism and the spirited dinner-table conversations they encouraged among their four sons with fostering his fiercely held beliefs in the ills of big government and the sanctity of the private sector. After Harris completed his medical studies at Johns Hopkins, he began to practice and teach there. He and his wife, Sylvia, have five children and live in a suburb north of Baltimore. Read More

The new congressman from Maryland’s 1st District is Andy Harris, a Republican who defeated freshman Democrat Frank Kratovil in 2010. Harris, a Johns Hopkins University anesthesiologist and professor, was born in Brooklyn, N.Y., to immigrants from Eastern Europe. His father, a Hungarian anti-communist activist, had been jailed in a Siberian gulag for a year and a half for his political views before meeting Harris’s mother, who had fled Ukraine, at a displaced persons camp in Austria. Harris credits his parents’ escape from communism and the spirited dinner-table conversations they encouraged among their four sons with fostering his fiercely held beliefs in the ills of big government and the sanctity of the private sector. After Harris completed his medical studies at Johns Hopkins, he began to practice and teach there. He and his wife, Sylvia, have five children and live in a suburb north of Baltimore.

Harris was elected to the state Senate to represent Baltimore County in 1998. In Annapolis, he was one of the most conservative members, and he served as the chamber’s minority whip from 2003 to 2007. He picked up a reputation for his artful filibusters—during a fight against a stem cell research bill, he read from a biology textbook on DNA.

In 2008, Harris challenged 1st District Rep. Wayne Gilchrest, a moderate Republican, in a bloody GOP primary battle. When Harris defeated him, Gilchrest refused to concede the race to Harris and then endorsed Kratovil, the Democratic candidate, for the seat. In the general election campaign, Kratovil continued Gilchrest’s primary strategy of portraying Harris as too far right for the district and he edged Harris out by fewer than 3,000 votes. Harris did not concede until a week later.

In 2010, Harris came back for a rematch. He cast Kratovil as a puppet for President Obama in a year when anti-incumbent anger was on the rise and voters were deeply divided over the president’s overhaul of the health insurance system. Running on vows not to raise taxes and to repeal the health care overhaul, Harris connected with angry Republicans in a district that gave Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., nearly 60% of the vote in the 2008 presidential race. In September, Harris also secured the endorsement of 2012 GOP presidential hopeful and former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney.

Harris, one of 18 physicians running for a House seat that year, received more campaign contributions from medical professionals, including fellow anesthesiologists, than any other contender, according to the Center for Responsive Politics. Kratovil, meanwhile, secured donations from nurse anesthetists, who have been engaged in a long-running turf war with anesthesiologists. Ultimately, both candidates were hearty fundraisers. Harris raised $2.4 million while Kratovil brought in about $2.6 million. Since he first ran in 2008, Harris also had started to practice medicine a few days a week on the Eastern Shore, a decision some political analysts attributed to an effort to deflect criticism he received in 2008 for running in an area where he had spent little time.

Kratovil also attacked Harris for his support of a conservative proposal to replace the income tax with a national sales tax of 23% on goods and services. At the same time, Kratovil highlighted his differences with Obama over extending the Bush-era tax cuts, saying he favored an across-the-board extension while the president had said he would let them expire for the wealthiest 2 percent of Americans. But after just one term in office, Kratovil got swept away by 2010’s Republican tide, losing to Harris, 54% to 42%.

Harris made national news soon after the election, but probably not in the way he preferred. At an orientation session for incoming lawmakers, Harris complained that his government-subsidized health plan would take a whole month to kick in, remarks that were widely circulated and paired with his staunch opposition to a government-run health care plan for low-income people priced out of the private insurance market.