Neil Parrott

Neil Conrad Parrott (born July 30, 1970) is an American politician who previously represented District 2A as a Republican member of the Maryland House of Delegates.

Born in Bethesda, Maryland, Parrott graduated from Old Mill High School in 1988.

He went on to the University of Maryland, College Park where he graduated with a Bachelor of Science degree in civil engineering in 1994.

Parrott first got involved with politics in 2002, successfully suing the American Civil Liberties Union over the removal of a monument for the Ten Commandments in a public park in Frederick, Maryland.

He later attended graduate school and in 2006 graduated from Mount Saint Mary's University with a Master of Business Administration.

Parrott began his career at the Maryland State Highway Administration where he was a traffic engineer.

He went on from there to become the Deputy Director of Engineering in the Frederick, Maryland Department of Public Works.

Parrott later moved to Western Maryland after marrying his wife, to start a consulting company, Traffic Solutions Inc.

In April 2009, he got involved with the Tea Party movement, organizing bus trips to Washington, D.C. to protest the Affordable Care Act.

In July 2009, Parrott filed to run for the Maryland House of Delegates in District 2B.

He was redrawn into District 2A during the 2010 redistricting cycle.

Parrott was sworn in as a member of the Maryland House of Delegates on January 12, 2011, representing District 2B.

In July 2012, Parrott founded an organization, MDPetitions.com, and started an accompanying website to coordinate efforts to petition laws he opposed to be placed on ballot initiatives.

In an interview with The Baltimore Sun, he said he started the website with the goal of "taming the Democratic establishment so it wouldn't pass legislation that most Marylanders oppose".

That year, Parrott successfully placed ballot initiatives for three laws–the legalization of same-sex marriage, offering in-state tuition to undocumented immigrants, and the state's congressional redistricting map.

These petitions, despite being rejected by voters, earned Parrott the Maryland Republican Party Man of the Year award.

In February 2013, Parrott was one of three House members who voted against reprimanding state delegate Tony McConkey, who failed to disclose a conflict of interest when pushing for legislation that would have allowed him to regain his suspended real estate license.

In April 2013, Parrott said he would not seek a ballot referendum against a law banning assault weapons and requiring licenses to buy handguns, which he had likened to a poll tax, instead backing a lawsuit from the National Rifle Association against the law.

In March 2013, Parrott joined a Judicial Watch lawsuit that sought to overturn the results of the 2012 redistricting referendum, asking the courts to hold a new election using different ballot language.

In 2014, Parrott again sought to place two referendums seeking to repeal legislation on the ballot–a 2013 bill abolishing the death penalty, and a 2014 bill prohibiting discrimination against transgender Marylanders in housing and employment, nicknamed the "Bathroom Bill" by its detractors.

However, both petition attempts fell short of the 55,736 signature threshold to get on the ballot.

In January 2015, Parrott said he would apply to fill a vacancy in the Maryland Senate left by the resignation of Christopher B. Shank.

State delegate Andrew A. Serafini was ultimately appointed to the seat and sworn in on February 2, 2015.

In June 2015, Parrott joined another Judicial Watch lawsuit against Maryland's congressional districts, claiming that the state's redistricting plan was unconstitutional.

In November 2021, ahead of the special legislative session to pass the newly drawn redistricting maps, Parrott said he supported the maps drawn by Governor Larry Hogan's Maryland Citizens Redistricting Commission (MCRC).

He had participated in the MCRC's public hearing process, during which he advocated for adopting single-member legislative districts.

In December 2021, Parrott and Judicial Watch filed a lawsuit that sought to repeal the state's newly redrawn congressional map, which he described as a "political gerrymander".

The new map would have likely protected incumbent Democratic U.S. Representatives and gave Democrats a realistic chance of defeating U.S. Representative Andy Harris, the lone Republican in Maryland's congressional delegation, by adding more Democratic voters to his district.

In March 2022, Circuit Court Judge Lynne A. Battaglia ruled for Parrott, striking down the congressional maps that she called a "product of extreme partisan gerrymandering".

The Maryland General Assembly passed a new redistricting plan shortly after the ruling, during which Parrott introduced an amendment to swap out the new map with the MCRC-drawn map.

The amendment was rejected by a 42-92 vote.

On November 22, 2019, Parrott announced that he would run for the U.S. House of Representatives in Maryland's 6th congressional district, challenging incumbent Democratic U.S. Representative David Trone.

He ran for the U.S. House of Representatives in Maryland's 6th congressional district in 2020 and 2022, losing both times to incumbent Democrat David Trone.

He is currently running for the 6th district for a third time.

Parrott was defeated by Trone in the general election on November 4, 2020, receiving 39 percent of the vote to Trone's 58 percent.

Immediately following his defeat in 2020, Parrott filed to run for the U.S. House of Representatives in Maryland's 6th congressional district, again challenging Trone.

He announced his candidacy on November 17, 2021.

Parrott defeated Washington Free Beacon journalist Matthew Foldi in the Republican primary election on July 19, 2022.

During the general election, Parrott was heavily outspent by Trone, who had had a 14-1 cash-on-hand advantage and spent $12 million to self-fund his campaign.

Despite this, he had received more individual contributions from Maryland.