Can Matthew Foldi become America’s youngest member of Congress?

The children, Cockburn has always believed, are the future. That’s why he was so enthused to head down to Mission Navy Yard on Thursday night to prop up the bar at a happy hour fundraiser for Matthew Foldi, who is running for the House in Maryland’s 6th district.

Casting an eye around the infamous watering hole, Cockburn concluded that he might be the only attendee over thirty. Hill staffers, GOP strategists and right-of-center reporters milled around the venue, sipping on High Noon and stingy pours of draft lager.

Foldi is a unique proposition of a candidate. He is at once: a viral sensation, with a considerable contingent of online minions; a lifelong Marylander who volunteers at his local fire department; a Chicago committeeman; a gregarious dresser (he has one of Washington’s most eclectic wardrobes); part of a political dynasty (his mother is Trump deputy USAID director Bonnie Glick and his aunt stood for Israel’s Knesset in 2019); an experienced GOP rapid-response director and a former political reporter for the Washington Free Beacon. He’s also only twenty-five years old. Is he ready to take the “youngest member of Congress” mantle from Madison Cawthorn?

The signs from his campaign so far are promising. Piggy-backing off a story he co-authored at the Free Beacon — which highlighted the number of Democratic offices closed to constituents for in-person meetings — the Foldi campaign has taken a similar shoe-leather approach, visiting the districtwide closed taxpayer-funded offices of incumbent Democrat congressman David Trone.

The candidate shared with the gathered younglings his vision of “a new Republican district at the end of the red line” and pledged to “investigate the most corrupt administration of any of our lifetimes.” The enthusiasm for Foldi in the room was palpable: his natural charisma shone through as he invited the crowd to “continue getting drunk.” And Cockburn did.

Foldi will face up against Maryland House Delegate Neil Parrott, who was the GOP candidate Trone beat by nineteen points in 2020, and four other contenders, in the Republican primary on July 19.

If he can keep up his ground-game and translate the immense online enthusiasm into the right pockets of the oddly shaped 6th District, Cockburn thinks the kid might stand a chance.