The Maryland GOP now has just one Republican in its congressional delegation. Paul aims high in blue Maryland

SILVER SPRING, Md. — The bright blue Old Line State isn’t a crucial presidential primary battleground, a perennial swing state or anything close to a bastion of the GOP.

But Kentucky GOP Sen. Rand Paul was there anyway on Tuesday night, headlining a high-dollar fundraiser for the Maryland GOP and stumping for Republican Dan Bongino’s challenge to Rep. John Delaney (D-Md.) in November.


Much of Paul’s speech was a collection of riffs on government inefficiency, Obamacare woes, expanding his party’s base beyond its traditional constituencies and preaching party unity. But what was notable was the locale: Montgomery County, a liberal center of politics in Democratic-dominated Maryland.

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“We’re only going to win as a national party when we change blue states to purple and blue states to red. I think a lot of the message I have as far as right to privacy, talking about a less aggressive foreign policy … these are things that will resonate in Maryland and help us to get bigger in Maryland,” he told reporters after the event.

The Kentucky senator is showing little fear at jumping into tough intra-primary battles and difficult November election contests, spreading his endorsements across a wide ideological swath of the party. Paul has backed moderate Maine Sen. Susan Collins’s favored reelection campaign, campaigned for ousted conservative North Carolina Senate hopeful Greg Brannon and blessed a successful contested primary win by newly-elected Rep. Curt Clawson (R-Fla.).

Bongino’s challenge to Delaney in a district that sprawls from the Western Maryland mountains into the D.C. suburbs isn’t even Paul’s toughest endorsement challenge — he’s backing House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi’s longshot GOP challenger in California.

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But Bongino, a former Secret Service agent who badly lost a Senate race in 2012, has his work cut out for him in one of the most Democratic states in the nation. Delaney has a slight cash advantage and is also a wealthy businessman who can self-fund if needed, so the Maryland GOP was happy to take as many $1,000 checks that Paul could bring in on Tuesday.

“Maryland, you need some wins,” Paul concluded of the party’s woes in the state.

Paul has been barnstorming the country in recent months, laying the groundwork for a potential presidential campaign by delivering high-profile speeches from Iowa to Maine to West Louisville and gaggling with local reporters afterward — a Paul staple for building his brand and name recognition.

But he’s also embarked on a larger tent-broadening effort, hoping to appeal to young people and minorities thought out of reach to Republicans. If he can take his message to Howard University and Detroit, why not also try to boost Republican’s flagging fortunes in Maryland, one of the most diverse states in the entire country?

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Asked how long it might take to turn Maryland red, Paul laughed and answered: “I think you can do it. But it’s not going to happen on its own.

“People have to believe that you care about them, and you have to honestly go in and show that you do. And then you have to get them to listen to your policy,” Paul said. “But if you don’t do it, the Republican Party is not going to win nationally, either, until we start changing states like Maryland. I’m an optimist, that’s why I’m here.”

Maryland Democrats shrugged off Paul’s incursion. Delaney said in a brief interview that he didn’t see how Paul’s appearance is “relevant” to the race. Sen. Ben Cardin (D-Md.), who defeated Bongino in 2012 and is working closely with Paul on criminal justice issues, predicted that Delaney will win “handily” despite the GOP star’s association with Bongino.

“Sen. Paul has a following. He’s a true libertarian from the point of view of trying to keep government as small and not involved in our lives as possible. I don’t think that represents the mainstream Republican Party,” Cardin said in an interview. Paul’s visit “just underscores the point that the Republican Party in our state today is not what it was.”

The Maryland GOP now has just one Republican in its congressional delegation after former Rep. Roscoe Bartlett (R-Md.) lost big to Delaney last cycle after redistricting. And in a state where every other incumbent is firmly entrenched and the governor’s race is not expected to be close, Paul is drawing GOP eyes to Bongino this fall.

Bongino said that he asked Rand to come up to Maryland because he believes in Paul’s “conservatarian” stances on privacy, taxes and expanding voting rights. The result: Two Paul endorsement appearances for Bongino, including Tuesday night.

“We never heard once from him: ‘Oh no, it’s in Maryland. It’s a blue state, we’re not going to come there,’” Bongino said. “It was: ‘When do you need us and how.’”