In 1986, Congressman Michael Barnes of the 8th district, based in Bethesda, opted not to run for another term to run for the Democratic nomination for the Senate. The 8th has never in its history elected a conservative, but it has elected Republicans, and this time around, even though 1986 was not a good year for the GOP, Republican Constance “Connie” Morella (1931- ) won the seat by six points by winning numerous crossover Democratic votes in an upset. Voters were charmed by her outgoing and gregarious personality and furthermore she was sufficiently liberal for the district.
Morella had grown up in a Democratic working-class family and became Republican after marrying her husband, Anthony, who worked for numerous liberal Republicans, including Maryland’s Mac Mathias and New York City mayor John Lindsay. Her political career had begun when she was among the founding members of the Montgomery County Commission for Women, where she advocated for women’s rights and supported the Equal Rights Amendment. On social issues, Morella was pro-choice, anti-death penalty, pro-gun control, and pro-gay rights. She also has the distinction of being the only Republican to have voted against both the Gulf War and the Iraq War. Morella was very much a Republican in the mold of former Maryland Senator Mac Mathias, who had been a frequent Republican dissenter of both the Nixon and Reagan Administrations on both domestic and foreign policy. Speaking of, she was one of the few Republicans to vote against naming D.C.’s airport after Reagan in 1998. When asked after her career how she reconciled being a Republican in a Democratic district, she responded, “I practiced the three Cs: Country, constituency, conscience” (Fischer). She also sided with President Clinton frequently, including her support of the Family and Medical Leave Act, the Motor Voter Law, and the Brady Act as well as being one of four House Republicans to vote against all articles of impeachment of President Clinton. She was also a key figure in getting the Violence Against Women Act passed in 1994 (Fischer). However, she was not a 100% liberal; she differed with liberals in her support of NAFTA, supported a Balanced Budget Amendment, voted against the Clinton budget package in 1993 that included tax increases, and supported the Bush tax cuts. Despite her overall liberal stances, Morella had friendly relations with fellow Republicans. She recounted, “I think I had the respect of my colleagues, which is why I got away with so much (laughs), if I can put it that way! I was never nasty to them. I was always very civil. They always knew how I was going to vote” (Maddux).
Despite her district being Democratic, Morella continued to win reelection by double-digits, that is, until 2000, when she won by six points. This narrow showing encouraged the state’s Democratic leadership to target Morella’s seat for redistricting by adding territory from the Baltimore-based 4th district. Although she ran a strong campaign, she was defeated by Democrat Chris Van Hollen (who is now one of Maryland’s senators) by 4 points in 2002. Had she run in her old district, she would have narrowly won reelection. She sided with the liberal Americans for Democratic Action 68% of the time and her DW-Nominate score is -0.018. In 2003, President Bush tapped her to serve as US Permanent Representative to the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, a post she served in until 2007. Morella joked on the job change, “I went from Parris Glendening [the Governor of Maryland who had helped engineer her defeat] to Paris, France” (Fischer). In 2020, Morella was among a group of former Republican representatives to endorse Democrat Joe Biden. She cited several factors in her decision: withdrawing from the Iran deal, the World Health Organization, and the Paris Climate Accord, and Trump’s personality flaws, adding, “I just think we need a change. I just don’t hold him in the highest regard with regard to integrity” (Depuyt).
References
ADA Voting Records. Americans for Democratic Action.
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Depuyt, B. (2020, August 24). Morella, Gilchrest Join With Ex-Congressional Republicans Backing Biden for President. Maryland Matters.
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Fischer, A. (2009). Morella Let Her Conscience Be Her Guide. Library of Congress.
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https://www.loc.gov/loc/lcib/0904/morella.html
Maddux, B. (2013, October 17). A ‘Somerville gal’s’ remarkable life. The Somerville Times.
Morella, Constance A. Voteview.
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Mad Politics: The Bizarre, Fascinating, and Unknown of American Political History 