Veteran Journalist Ken Timmerman Challenges Van Hollen

Veteran journalist Ken Timmerman is challenging the Nancy Pelosi aide who trained Vice President Joe Biden for his debate with Republican Vice Presidential candidate Paul Ryan.

Timmerman, 58, won the Republican primary in the newly gerrymandered 8th District of Maryland by 14 percent in April and says he will beat career politician Rep. Chris Van Hollen in November because the Democrat is out of touch with the new district.

“Thanks to redistricting, we now include two conservative rural counties that are heavily evangelical, a population my opponent does not understand and actively disdains,” Timmerman told Newsmax.


Veteran Journalist Ken Timmerman

Timmerman is a well-known journalist and best-selling author. He has worked as an editor and contributor for Newsmax magazine, Reader’s Digest, Washington Times, and other respected publications. He is considered an expert on national security matters.

“We also have some 20,000 new Jewish voters, many of whom are Orthodox and deeply suspicious of President Obama and my opponent because of their policies toward Israel and Iran,” Timmerman added.

Maryland’s 8th District spans from the Washington, D.C. border all the way up to Camp David and the Pennsylvania border, and counts 50.7 percent registered Democrats, 30 percent Republicans, and 19.3 percent Independents.

“That’s exactly the same voter registration breakdown we had in the 1990s when a Republican won this seat eight times in a row,” Timmerman said. “This seat is absolutely winnable.”

Timmerman was nominated along with Amb. John Bolton for the Nobel Peace prize in 2006 because of his work exposing Iran’s nuclear weapons program. Amb. Bolton and a host of national security heavyweights have endorsed Timmerman in his bid for Congress.

In a two-minute YouTube video on Timmerman’s campaign website , Maj. Gen. Chuck Swannack, the former commander of the 82nd Airborne Division, blames Timmerman’s opponent for the $1 trillion in defense “sequestration” cuts set to kick in on Jan. 1, 2013.

“Unlike my troopers, Chris Van Hollen didn’t do his duty,” Gen. Swannack says in the video, referring to Van Hollen’s stint on the Congressional Supercommittee where his refusal to cut spending led to the sequester.

“Because Van Hollen is a civilian, we can’t give him a discharge. But you can fire him in November,” he adds.

Timmerman has posted a 10-point jobs plan on his website to get government out of the way so businesses can create jobs.

His signature initiative is legislation to promote the use of U.S.-produced natural gas as a substitute automotive fuel, by allowing refiners to transfer it into Methanol.

“I would like to give Americans a choice when they fill up at the pump. Do you want to purchase gasoline made from Saudi oil at $3.80 a gallon? Or would you prefer safe, clean, U.S.-produced Methanol at, say, $2.20 a gallon?”

The latest poll in the District shows Rep. Van Hollen running at 47.5%, dangerously low for a five-term incumbent.

Timmerman said his main challenge was raising enough money to get his name and his message out to voters. His website is TimmermanForCongress.com.