Neal Simon
Neal Simon (independent) ran for election to the U.S. Senate to represent Maryland. He lost in the general election on November 6, 2018.
In an interview with The Independent Voter Network, Simon expressed his belief in the brokenness of America's two-party system by stating, "This country is supposed to be represented by elected officials who put the interests of their constituents ahead of the interests of a political party."[1]
Elections
2018
General election
General election for U.S. Senate Maryland
Incumbent Ben Cardin defeated Tony Campbell, Neal Simon, and Arvin Vohra in the general election for U.S. Senate Maryland on November 6, 2018.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ |  | Ben Cardin (D) | 64.9 | 1,491,614 |
 | Tony Campbell (R) | 30.3 | 697,017 | |
 | Neal Simon (Independent) | 3.7 | 85,964 | |
 | Arvin Vohra (L) | 1.0 | 22,943 | |
| Other/Write-in votes | 0.1 | 2,351 | ||
| Total votes: 2,299,889 (100.00% precincts reporting) | |||
 = candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey. | ||||
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Democratic primary election
Democratic primary for U.S. Senate Maryland
The following candidates ran in the Democratic primary for U.S. Senate Maryland on June 26, 2018.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ | | Ben Cardin | 80.3 | 477,441 |
 | Chelsea Manning | 5.8 | 34,611 | |
 | Jerry Segal | 3.4 | 20,027 | |
 | Debbie Wilson | 3.2 | 18,953 | |
| Marcia Morgan | 2.7 | 16,047 | ||
 | Lih Young | 1.7 | 9,874 | |
 | Richard Vaughn | 1.6 | 9,480 | |
 | Erik Jetmir | 1.4 | 8,259 | |
| Total votes: 594,692 | |||
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Withdrawn or disqualified candidates
- Mia Mason (D)
Republican primary election
Republican primary for U.S. Senate Maryland
The following candidates ran in the Republican primary for U.S. Senate Maryland on June 26, 2018.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ | | Tony Campbell | 29.2 | 51,426 |
 | Chris Chaffee | 24.1 | 42,328 | |
 | Christina Grigorian | 17.5 | 30,756 | |
| John Graziani | 8.8 | 15,435 | ||
 | Blaine Taylor | 5.0 | 8,848 | |
 | Gerald Smith | 4.3 | 7,564 | |
 | Brian Vaeth | 3.1 | 5,411 | |
| Evan Cronhardt | 2.5 | 4,445 | ||
 | Bill Krehnbrink | 2.0 | 3,606 | |
 | Nnabu Eze | 2.0 | 3,442 | |
| Albert Howard | 1.5 | 2,720 | ||
| Total votes: 175,981 | |||
| = candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey. | ||||
| If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey. | ||||
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Withdrawn or disqualified candidates
- Sam Faddis (R)
- David Pae (R)
Campaign themes
2018
Simon’s campaign website stated the following:
| “ |
Bring Us Together The partisan bickering we see in Washington not only gives us bad results from government, it also spills over to create societal division and conflict: men against women, poor versus rich, black versus white, young versus old, left versus right. Sadly, our country has become deeply polarized. The way to end this national culture of division and antagonism is to start at the top—with our leaders on the Hill. We must elect leaders who are unaffiliated with either party and will put the country’s interests ahead of those of any political party. We need political leadership that will bring us together, not look for ways to divide us. I believe that, despite our differences, we can work together to strengthen America. It starts with listening to all points of view, communicating respectfully and using facts to guide decision-making. During my career, I have run five professional services companies. At each of my companies, I have been surrounded by smart, energetic people with a diverse set of opinions—success and progress have never come from command-and-control. Instead, we saw success when we listened to all sides, found common ground and operated on an even and equal playing field. My role has always been to unite people and foster communication, collaboration, consensus building and well-informed decision-making. There is no reason why the U.S. Senate can’t operate the same way. Yet, rather than doing what’s best for the American people, they engage in partisan games, chase headlines and focus on their next election win. We need leaders who will cross the aisle, learn to trust each other and work toward a brighter future for the American people. Reform Our Political System Our political system is broken. Congress is not listening to us. Instead, they are only listening to party bosses, special interests and their campaign contributors. Making this situation worse, both parties created a system that protects their power, effectively allowing them to ignore the needs of their voters in favor of the demands of their party. This means the only way we will be able to enact reform is with leaders unaffiliated those parties. What follows are five ways we can permanently change the way Washington works, and ensure our voices are heard. End Gerrymandering Open Primaries Campaign Finance Reform Term Limits New Senate Rules The two political parties will fight against these reforms. They will do whatever they can to protect their duopoly. It is only with leadership from the middle, unaffiliated with either party, that we will be able to change the way Washington works. Bring High-Paying Jobs to Maryland I want to help Maryland attract the high-paying jobs that Marylanders want. Too many people are working paycheck to paycheck or working two jobs to make ends meet. For the past decade, when adjusted for inflation, most Marylanders have not seen an increase in their income. We need more good jobs and a workforce that’s ready for those jobs. We can bring 100,000 new jobs to Maryland. Here’s how to do it:
My #1 goal is to help people in Maryland get ahead. In order to do it, we need to attract high-paying jobs and make sure Marylanders are ready for them. Lower Healthcare Costs Health care is another issue which Congress has made unnecessarily partisan and divisive, and where non-partisan leadership can bring common sense solutions. Our country’s health care system should have two goals. First, we have a moral obligation to provide adequate, affordable health care coverage to its citizens. Second, we need to keep our health care system from becoming so expensive that it is at a competitive disadvantage globally. The Affordable Care Act went a long way to address the first goal by providing access and coverage for 20 million people who otherwise did not have health insurance. However, it did nothing to address the second goal and instead exacerbated our already exorbitant costs. It is time for the two parties to stop fighting over how to pay for an inefficient, costly health care system and instead find ways to reduce the crippling cost of health care for businesses and families. Marylanders pay $1,100 more per person than our neighbors in Virginia, and nationally, we spend double the average of other industrialized countries. One of the main reasons our costs are so high is that our entire health care system incentivizes quantity over quality. Compared to other countries, we have many unnecessary tests, doctor visits, and emergency room visits. We need to enact reform that will incentivize wellness instead of incentivizing more procedures. We also need to use innovation, harness the private sector, and increase transparency so that people know what they are paying for and how much they are paying. We don’t need more government subsidies, rather I believe we need to lower overall costs and reform the system. I applaud the trans-partisan health care improvement plan led by Governor Bill Walker of Alaska, along with Governors Hickenlooper (D-Colorado) and Kasich (R-Ohio). They provide a shining example of how independent leaders can put their constituents’ needs ahead the demands of their political parties. Restore Fiscal Responsibility Remember the phrase 'fiscal responsibility?' Remember when candidates used to run as 'deficit hawks,' promising to cut spending and reduce America’s growing debt? What happened? Consider this: Over a four-day period this year, the U.S. Treasury issued $258 billion in NEW national debt—a new record. To put that in perspective, that is more than $1,000 per household in new debt added over just four days. Common sense tells us that this cannot go on forever. If we don't get our debt and spending problems under control, inflation will have a disastrous effect on jobs and the economy. Currently, our interest payments alone amount to $310 billion—the fourth largest budget item after Social Security, defense, Medicare and Medicaid. If nothing is done, that figure will more than double in 10 years, eating up a larger and larger share of the budget. That will make it much harder to invest in the things we really need, like infrastructure improvements, education and training, health care and elderly services. I have come to believe that our debt is one of our greatest national security threats. Debt in itself is not a problem if you are investing in your future and you have a plan to repay the debt. However, we are doing neither. Sadly, neither major party has the courage to do anything about it. Their recent “compromise” spending bill was simply giving all the politicians what they asked for and forcing the next generation to pay for it. It amounts to stealing from our kids and grandkids. Ultimately, it’s up to voters to elect leaders who will reduce the deficit and slow the growth of our national debt. And while Interest on the debt will still rise along with interest rates, it must do so at a slower rate. Otherwise, the interest on the nation's debt will consume the national budget and diminish the standard of living of future generations. The only way we will ever get our debt under control is if we have non-partisan leaders who are freed from the special interests that control party agendas and contribute to unchecked government spending. Finally Pass Legislation on Immigrants and Border Security Immigration reform is very important to me. Not only am I the grandson of four immigrants, but I have spent my career surrounded by talented people of all backgrounds. My mother and grandparents came to America because they believed in this country’s values and ideals. They believed in working hard, getting a good education for their kids and leaving more for their children than they had for themselves. They believed in contributing to and pledging their allegiance to a country that opened its arms to them. They believed in a united America powered by government that creates opportunity—a government that fosters The American Dream. Immigration might be the most divisive issue today, but it doesn’t have to be that way. The two parties have painted the issue in black-and-white terms, with the Democrats opposing border security additions and Republicans opposing efforts to provide a path to citizenship for Dreamers. It’s a situation where a compromise is obvious to everyone except the partisans on Capitol Hill. We can protect Dreamers, provide a swift path to citizenship AND beef up border security. Congress’s recent rejection of the immigration proposal by bipartisan, moderate senators is another example of extremists crippling our Congress just to appeal to their political bases. It also shows that the U.S. Senate needs more moderate, independent voices to ensure important work won’t be stopped. Reducing Gun Violence The recent senseless killings at a Florida high school hit close to home for me. My brother and his family live only a few miles from Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School and they knew of some of the victims. Equally tragic was the recent murder of Jaelynn Willey, the victim of a school shooting here in Maryland. As the parent of two high school children and a college one, I feel great pain for her family and for the terror felt by the students of that school. I recently spent a day with gun rights advocates and listened to their concerns. I also spent March 24th in Annapolis with activists at March for Our Lives. I came away from those discussions believing that the only way we will ever make progress on this issue is if we try to understand both sides and find common ground, and I believe there is common ground. An overwhelming majority of Americans support specific proposals to protect us from gun violence. Support for universal background checks is at 97% - even among gun owners. Yet this issue provides another example of both parties taking inflexible positions and ignoring the will of the people. Democrats blame special interests and claim the other party doesn’t care about people being shot, while Republicans accuse Democrats of wanting to take away all guns and repeal the Second Amendment. Neither position is true. While the talking points get louder and more divisive, nothing gets accomplished. As Americans, we have a right to own a gun and protect ourselves against tyranny, which is what the framers intended with the Second Amendment. But common-sense solutions are required to preserve and protect our common good—and we need them now more than ever. With leaders in the Senate who are unaffiliated with either party, we could finally bring the two sides together and reach consensus on effective, common-sense gun safety laws. We can protect both our constitution and our children at the same time. The causes of gun violence are more complicated than just the issue of guns. We need a comprehensive approach to fully address this important issue:
These sensible reforms are supported by the overwhelming majority, respect the Second Amendment and would add protection for our children. We need leadership from the middle, without the shackles of party labels, to break the gridlock and enact rational, responsible gun safety laws.[2] |
” |
| —Neal Simon’s campaign website (2018)[3] | ||
See also
External links
Footnotes
- ↑ Independent Voter Network, "Profile: Why Independent Senate Candidate Neal Simon Can’t Stand Partisanship," accessed July 5, 2018
- ↑ Note: This text is quoted verbatim from the original source. Any inconsistencies are attributable to the original source.
- ↑ Neal Simon for U.S. Senate, "Priorities," accessed October 19, 2018
