LaFerla Running For Congress In Maryland's First District

ANNAPOLIS, Md. (AP) -- A Maryland doctor on Wednesday formally filed papers to run in the Democratic primary next year in the state's 1st Congressional District.

Dr. John LaFerla said at the Maryland State Board of Elections that he wants to get a quick start. He also said he plans to end his medical practice as an obstetrician and gynecologist sometime this year to focus on the race full time.

"I'm going to be full-time campaigning starting in January of 2014," LaFerla said in an interview.

LaFerla lost the 2012 primary by 57 votes to Wendy Rosen, who dropped out abruptly in 2012 after the state Democratic Party learned she had voted in both Maryland and Florida in 2006 and 2008. Rosen withdrew about a month before the election and her name could not be taken off the ballot.

LaFerla, who lives in Chestertown on the Eastern Shore, ended up running as a write-in candidate against Republican Rep. Andy Harris in the Republican-leaning district.

The district was represented for 18 years by Wayne Gilchrest, a moderate Republican who was defeated in a GOP primary by Harris in 2008. Harris lost in the general election that year, but captured the seat two years later.

Harris, an anesthesiologist, won re-election with 63 percent of the vote.

Rosen was fined $5,000 and ordered to perform 500 hours of community service last month after she admitted to illegally voting in two states during the same general election.

Maryland's 1st District includes all of Maryland's Eastern Shore and parts of Carroll, Baltimore, Harford and Cecil counties.

(Copyright 2013 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)