Local
Heather Mizeur congressional campaign raises more than $1M
Former Md. delegate challenging Andy Harris
Heather Mizeur has raised more than $1 million in her campaign against anti-LGBTQ Republican Congressman Andy Harris in Maryland’s 1st Congressional District.
“No candidate in #MD01 of either party, incumbent or challenger, has ever hit the $1M milestone this early in the election cycle,” Mizeur tweeted on Oct. 6.
The Victory Fund in an Oct. 8 press release said 80 percent of this $1 million came from Maryland-based donors, “a sign the district is ready for new representation.” And Mizeur continues to outpace Harris, according to campaign finance reports filed with the Federal Election Commission that say she raised $717,445 for the cycle ending June 30, while Harris raised $425,288.
“Andy Harris has taken every opportunity to attack and vilify trans individuals, trying to score political points with his base at the expense of the safety of some of his constituents,” Mizeur told the Washington Blade.
In 2014 Harris made the Human Rights Campaign’s “Hall of Shame” for proactively working “to undermine existing legal protections and promote anti-LGBT discrimination.”
“In contrast, the LGBTQ community knows me for my record,” Mizeur said. “And knows I’ll always lead with compassion and stand up for civil and human rights. I think the 1st District will respond to my message of respect and understanding.”
Mizeur, who now lives on the Eastern Shore with her wife, served on the Takoma Park City Council. Mizeur was a member of the Maryland House of Delegates for eight years.
In 2014, she launched a long-shot, grassroots campaign for governor where she finished a strong third in the Democratic primary, despite being outraised by better-known opponents.
But Mizeur also said she is aware of the challenges her team faces in taking on a well-entrenched Republican in a solidly conservative district.
The Cook Partisan Voter Index in 2017 rated the district as R +14, meaning the previous two presidential election results in the district skewed 14 percentage points more Republican than the national average.
“We have over $760,000 in the bank, and we’ve outraised him during our time in the race,” Mizeur said. “We’re raising the money we need to go toe-to-toe with Andy Harris next year.”
The Baltimore Sun in February reported Harris was “flush with campaign cash” mostly due to a 2010 redistricting that “packed” the area with Republican voters to increase Democrats’ chances in other district races.
“Yes, Andy Harris has over $1 million in the bank, stockpiled over a decade in office,” Mizeur said. “But in the short time I’ve been in the race, we’ve cut significantly into his cash on hand advantage.”
Harris has represented the 1st Congressional District—which includes Maryland’s Eastern Shore and parts of Baltimore, Carroll and Harford Counties—since 2011 and easily fended off most challenges with at least 60 percent of the vote. These challengers include Mia Mason, a transgender military veteran, who ran against him in 2020.
The 2010 redistricting made Harris’ seat safe enough not only to donate nearly a third of his war chest to conservative groups and candidates, such as U.S. Reps. Lauren Boebert (R-Colo.) and Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.), but to openly court controversy himself.
Harris last year openly defended then-President Trump’s discredited efforts to overturn the 2020 election. And in December he signed onto an amicus brief supporting a failed lawsuit contesting the presidential election results.
This year he downplayed the violence of the Jan. 6 insurrection in which numerous police officers were attacked, members of Congress were threatened, and the U.S. Capitol was vandalized.
Mizeur told the Blade that while Harris’ actions regarding the Jan. 6 insurrection were the catalyst for her challenging his seat, she feels the district is changing and he no longer represents their interests.
“Our supporters know he’s been embarrassing Maryland in Congress for far too long, and that some of his actions have shown he’s completely unfit to serve in public office, regardless of ideological views,” Mizeur said. “They want someone who will bring compassionate leadership and innovative thinking back to the first district. And that’s appealing to people across party lines.”
Maryland’s primary election is June 28, 2022, and its general election follows on Nov. 8.
District of Columbia
Team Rayceen Productions goes on ‘indefinite’ hiatus
Local LGBTQ advocacy group’s co-founder resigns
Local community activist Zar, who founded the D.C. LGBTQ event and advocacy group Team Rayceen Productions in 2014 in collaboration with fellow activist Rayceen Pendarvis, announced he has resigned from his position as the group’s creative director effective Jan. 14.
His announcement says since there is currently “nobody who is willing, ready, or able to be my successor, I must also announce that the current Winter Hiatus of Team Rayceen Productions will continue indefinitely.”
The announcement says Rayceen Pendarvis will remain active in the community and remain available to be booked as a host, emcee, panelist, and wedding officiant in the role Pendarvis has played in the D.C. community for many years.
The primary motivation for his resignation at this time, Zar said in his announcement, is his deep concern about the problems he believes will surface during the incoming Trump administration.
“I am all but certain that the next four years and beyond will be chaotic, and possibly dystopian or apocalyptic,” he says in his announcement. “This is not the time for diplomacy, compromise, or capitulation,” he continues. “I understand that advocating for peaceful and nonviolent solutions is generally considered the only acceptable tactic; I am unwilling to abide.”
Out of deference to Pendarvis and others involved with Team Rayceen Productions, Zar said it would be unfair “to allow my personal and political views to be conflated with those of anyone else,” including those involved with Team Rayceen Productions.
“This requires my resignation,” Zar wrote in his announcement. “I am unwilling to be silent or censor myself.”
Zar said that while Team Rayceen Productions’ operations are currently on hold, its online content will remain available, “including over 900 videos created over the past five years for our YouTube channel and our Facebook live streams.”
District of Columbia
25K people attend People’s March in D.C.
President-elect Donald Trump’s inauguration is on Monday
Upwards of 25,000 people attended the People’s March that took place in D.C. on Saturday.
Participants — who protested against President-elect Donald Trump’s proposals they say would target transgender people, immigrants, women, and other groups — gathered at McPherson and Farragut Squares and Franklin Park before they joined the march that ended at the Lincoln Memorial.
The Gender Liberation Movement is among the groups that sponsored the march. Dozens of other People’s Marches took place in cities across the country on Saturday.
Trump’s inauguration will take place in the U.S. Capitol Rotunda on Monday.
(Washington Blade photos by Michael Key and Michael K. Lavers)
#PeoplesMarch participants arrive at the Lincoln Memorial pic.twitter.com/TZjFb2UtYq
— Michael K. Lavers (He/Him) (@mklavers81) January 18, 2025
At the People’s March. Covering for @WashBlade pic.twitter.com/6ri4yMDY77
— Michael Patrick Key (@MichaelKeyWB) January 18, 2025
Virginia
Arlington man arrested for arson at Freddie’s Beach Bar
Suspect charged with setting fires at two other nearby restaurants
The Arlington County Fire Department announced on Jan. 16 that an Arlington man has been arrested on three counts of arson for at least three fires set at restaurants on the same block on South 23rd Street, including Freddie’s Beach Bar and Restaurant, which is a gay establishment.
A statement released by the fire department says a warrant for the arrest of Timothy Clark Pollock was issued on Jan. 15 and that Clark was apprehended by Alexandria police on Jan. 16 at approximately 6:54 a.m. It says he was transferred into the custody of fire marshals and the Arlington Police Department.
Fire department officials have said the fires that Pollock allegedly set took place between 5 a.m. and 5:30 a.m. on Thursday, Jan. 9, on the 500 block of South 23rd Street in the Crystal City section of Arlington.
Freddie Lutz, owner of Freddie’s, said the front door of his establishment was set on fire with what appeared to be a flammable liquid such as lighter fluid. The door was partially blackened by the fire, but the restaurant itself did not catch fire, Lutz said.
Fire department officials said the other two nearby establishments hit by small fires around that same time were the Crystal City Sports Pub and McNamara’s Pub and Restaurant.
Lutz told the Washington Blade that the fire at Freddie’s took place the day before and the day after Freddie’s received a threatening phone call from what sounded like the same unidentified male caller.
“He said I’m going to fuck you up and I’m going to fuck the women up,” Lutz said the person told Freddie’s manager, who answered the two calls.
Lutz speculated that the caller could have been the same person who started the fire at Freddie’s and possibly the other two restaurants.
The short statement by the Arlington County Fire Department announcing the arrest did not say whether fire and police investigators have determined a possible motive for the fires. The statement says Pollock was being held without bond and that he is “also facing additional charges for unrelated crimes, which remain under investigation.”
The online Arlington news publication ARLNow reports that a Facebook account associated with Timothy C. Pollock includes a photo from inside Freddie’s posted on Facebook on Dec. 21.
Lutz confirmed for the Blade the photo is clearly one that was taken inside Freddie’s showing Christmas decorations, leading Lutz to believe that Pollock has been inside Freddie’s at least once if not more than once.
Photos of Timothy C. Pollock on that person’s Facebook page appear to be the same Pollock as that captured in the mug shot photo of Pollock released by the Arlington County Fire Department on Jan. 16.
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