Andrew J . Duck Andrew J . Duck was a Democratic candidate for the United States House of Representatives for Maryland ' s 6th congressional district in the 2010 general election . He was a candidate for the same seat in 2006 and 2008 , winning the Democratic nomination in 2006 but losing in the 2008 Democratic primary to Jennifer Dougherty . On June 1 , 2009 he announced his intention to run for the seat again in 2010 . Duck defeated Casey Clark in the Democratic primary but lost the general election to incumbent Roscoe Bartlett Biography . Duck is the 15th of 17 children . He is a graduate of Middletown High School , Middletown , Maryland | Middletown High School in Middletown , Maryland , in 1979 and earned a Bachelor ’ s Degree in Public Administration from Southwest Texas State University . He married Whitney Duck in 1981 , and the couple have three children . Military career . Duck became a member of the U . S . Army , beginning as a Private First Class , working as a Company Clerk . He worked his way up to Administrative Non - Commissioned Officer , was trained as a Korean linguist , and was commissioned as a Military Intelligence Officer . Duck ' s military assignments include Commander of D Company in the 103rd Military Intelligence Battalion , leading the Joint STARS Platoon and working with the 103rd Military Intelligence Battalion in Bosnia . He was also an Intelligence Liaison Officer to the 1st Marine Expeditionary Force in Iraq , and an Intelligence Staff Officer with the Coalition Forces Land Component Command in Kuwait . Private career . Duck has also worked as a stockbroker for Merrill Lynch in Frederick , Maryland . He currently works for Northrop Grumman as an advisor to The Pentagon on Army Intelligence issues . Political career . Duck was a staff member on the 1980 Carter / Mondale Presidential Committee . Most recently , he has become a member of Citizens for Responsible Growth in New Market , Maryland and co - founder of Frederick for Kerry in 2004 , which promoted the presidential campaign of John Kerry in Frederick , Maryland . 2006 campaign . In his 2006 campaign against long - serving Republican Representative Roscoe Bartlett , Duck was widely perceived as a longshot . He enjoyed some partisan support as evidenced by the endorsements by several statewide and regional Democrats , including Senator Barbara Mikulski , Congressman Chris Van Hollen , and two former mayors of Frederick , Ron Young and Jennifer Dougherty . He also received support from several organized labor groups , including the Maryland - D . C . AFL - CIO , the Maryland State Teacher ' s Association and the National Education Association . Duck claimed to support " restoring fiscal responsibility to Washington " by eliminating " the culture of corruption and fraud , ( reexamining ) current spending to match current priorities , and ( rolling ) back the tax cut for the top two percent of Americans " . His infrastructure platform called for ensuring that Maryland can " support water , sewer , transportation and education " while preserving " open spaces . . . rural heritage ( and ) affordable housing " . On education , he supports increased funding and claims that the No Child Left Behind Act has been a failure due to underfunding and a lack of flexibility . He was an advocate of gun ownership restrictions and sought to reduce gun violence by closing the so - called " gun show loophole " , providing universal health care , including mental health care , and promoting the registration of weapons and a law enforcement focus on violent criminals and anti - gang initiatives . He supported energy independence , believing it can be achieved in 10 years ; his proposals included " re - engineering federal buildings to reduce government energy consumption " , raising Corporate Average Fuel Economy standards , increasing funding for mass transit , requiring disclosure of home energy costs and offering tax " incentives for energy conservation and ( the ) use of mass transit . " He opposed partially privatizing Social Security . He also advocated federal legislation to change bankruptcy protection so that individuals ' retirement is " safe and secure " . He supported universal health care and environmental protection , which he claimed was rolled back by the George W . Bush Administration . Specifically , on the environment , he supported the Clean Air Act and Clean Water Act and opposed drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge ; he believed that the Healthy Forests Initiative and the Clear Skies Act have a negative impact on the environment . Though his website does not cover the issue , Duck has been described as opposed to gay marriage yet in favor of civil union s . His website also does not cover immigration , but he said he was opposed to securing the border and supported greater enforcement immigration - related employment law . Duck ' s website did not cover his position on abortion . However , he has been described as opposed to both " abortion - on - demand " and an outright ban on abortion ; he has called himself " pro - life " and supports the current legal status quo on abortion . He claimed that a " true pro - life position is to advocate for universal access to health care " , a living wage and affordable childcare . He credited his pro - life position to his current wife ' s pregnancy with their first child ; labor began four months early , and Duck and his wife were repeatedly told that there was little chance of the child surviving . They decided to go forward with the delivery , despite the risk to his wife ' s health ; the baby was born small enough to fit in one hand , but survived and is now a healthy adult . As a veteran of the Iraq War , he claimed to be proud of his service in that country and felt that the war effort has been bungled . He believed that American forces " continue to do an outstanding job " in physical battles . However , he claimed , their efforts will be in vain if new enemies replace old ones due to Iraqi opposition to and dissatisfaction with the American occupation . He referred to this struggle as a " Battle of Ideas " . His personal " roadmap to victory " in Iraq included providing adequate resources for the troops in that country , both in the number of soldiers and their equipment , training Iraqi forces , and recruiting additional allies from Europe . He was opposed to a timetable for exit from Iraq . Duck believed the United States can win the " Battle of Ideas " in Iraq by internationalizing the war effort with increasing support from European allies , investigating and prosecuting all guilty parties in detainee abuse incidents such as at Abu Ghraib , evaluating actions " to determine the impact on insurgent recruiting , " and closing Guantanamo Bay and prosecuting any terrorists held there in federal courts , and holding wartime combatants in the countries they fought . His long - term goals in the Muslim world included promoting " public engagement " between American and Muslim leaders , democracy " in whatever form is acceptable to ( Muslims ) , " Fair Trade and economic development , and literacy " throughout the Middle East . " He also considered his plan for energy independence within 10 years to be a part of his Middle East strategy . Duck pointed to one event as a major reason for his criticism of the Bush administration ' s war strategy , the canceling of elections in an - Najaf on orders from the administration , because , he noted , " they didn ' t want to accept the results of the election " . Duck ' s campaign focused on his military service , especially after he began working with the Band of Brothers , an organization of veterans and Democratic candidates . He used military metaphors to enforce this image , which he counts as a " key weapon " in his campaign against Bartlett . Independent observers claimed that his military experience would help in the election by countering the argument that Democrats are " soft on terrorism " ; however , this was not a large enough aid in the election . Bartlett won his 2004 re - election campaign , which was also against a veteran , with 68 % of the vote . However , Duck hoped that he would win the votes of Republicans and independents unhappy with the Bush Administration ' s deficient war spending and that this would be enough to bring him victory in the election . He pointed to conservative dissatisfaction with Republican leadership , which has created " the biggest government we ' ve ever had , the most intrusive government we ' ve ever had and the most fiscally irresponsible government that we ' ve ever had " . Duck and Bartlett held very similar views on many topics , including their support of energy independence and opposition to drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge . Duck , however , criticized his opponent on at least one specific issue , a vote " against providing sufficient funds for veterans ' medical care " . Duck ' s campaign funding totaled a little bit over $ 100 , 000 , of which more than $ 75 , 000 dollars has come from individuals , $ 15 , 000 from PAC s and under $ 10 , 000 from the candidate ' s own funds . His PAC funding , according to " The Washington Post " , fell entirely into the " ideology / single issue section , " while his individual contributions came primarily from the " Lawyers / Lobbyists " and " Other " categories . His top five contributors , each of which have donated more than $ 500 to his campaign , were the Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America , Retail Services & Systems , Universal Title , Glenwillow Inc . , and Global Crossing . He received most of his contributions from people in Westminster , Frederick , Potomac , Baltimore and Ijamsville . All of his contributions were from in - state sources , and the majority were from industries classified as " Lawyers / Law Firms , " " Retired , " " Misc . Issues , " and " Real Estate " . OpenSecrets . org describes Duck ' s biggest sources of funding as including " Industrial Unions " , " Lawyers / Law Firms " , " Retired " , " Misc Issues " , " Leadership PACs " and " Real Estate " , and describes more of his funding as coming from " Labor " rather than " Ideological ' sources . The " Washington Times " stated that Maryland ' s 6th district is the state ' s most reliably Republican and that Duck was not regarded as a serious threat to the incumbent . Duck lost the election to Bartlett on November 7 , 2006 . He received 39 % of the vote , while Bartlett received 59 % . 2008 campaign . Duck announced that he would challenge Congressman Bartlett again in 2008 . Duck was defeated in the Potomac Primary on February 12 , 2008 by former Frederick mayor Jennifer Dougherty with 44 % to Duck ' s 37 % , the remaining votes split between three other candidates . Dougherty went on to lose in the general election to incumbent Republican Roscoe Bartlett . 2010 campaign . Duck announced that he will again challenge Congressman Bartlett in the 2010 election . He is being challenged in the Democratic primary contest by former TV newsman Casey Clark .