Frank Kratovil

Early life, education and career

Frank Kratovil was born in Lanham, Maryland, spent his childhood in Prince George's County, Maryland. He is the son of Frank M. Kratovil Sr. and Lynnda Kratovil. Kratovil attended high school at Queen Anne School in Upper Marlboro and graduated in 1986. Kratovil received his bachelor's degree in 1990 from Western Maryland College. He joined Phi Delta Theta while there. Kratovil also graduated with honors from University of Baltimore School of Law in 1994. He then served from 1994 to 1995 as Law Clerk for Judge Darlene G. Perry of Prince George's County Circuit Court. From 1995 to 1997 he served as Assistant State’s Attorney for Prince George's County, Maryland.

In 1997, Kratovil moved to the Eastern Shore and was appointed Assistant State’s Attorney for Queen Anne's County, Maryland. During his tenure as Assistant State’s Attorney he served as the County's only full-time Prosecutor and Community Prosecutor. He continued to serve as Assistant State's Attorney until 2001 when he was appointed as Deputy State’s Attorney in Kent County, Maryland. He also served as the President of the Young Democrats of Maryland from 1997 to 1998. He was also a member and on the Executive Committee of the Queen Anne's County Local Management Board.

Queen Anne's County State's Attorney

In 2002, Kratovil ran for the office of State's Attorney in Queen Anne's County and was elected after defeating four term incumbent David Gregory in the primary and Republican Paul W. Comfort in the general election. Kratovil assumed office at the age of 34 making him the youngest State's Attorney in Maryland. He ran unopposed for re-election in 2006. He was elected by his fellow State's Attorneys to be President of the Maryland State's Attorneys' Association (MDSAA) for 2005. During his time as President of the MDSAA, he pushed for stronger legislation to expand prosecution of gangs and increased awareness of growing problems with drugs and gangs in Maryland's rural areas.

2008

On June 4, 2007 Kratovil announced that he would run for Congress in Maryland's 1st congressional district. During the February 12 Primary Kratovil defeated fellow Democrats Christopher Robinson, Steve Harper, and Joseph Werner.

Kratovil expected to face nine-term Republican incumbent Wayne Gilchrest, a leading Republican moderate, in the general election. However, Gilchrest was ousted in the Republican primary by a considerably more conservative Republican, State Senator Andy Harris. This significantly changed the dimensions of the race, as Kratovil was now running for an open seat rather than against a long-term incumbent such as Gilchrest.

Kratovil was initially a heavy underdog due to the district's election history. Although Democrats and Republicans are nearly tied in registration, the 1st has a strong tinge of social conservatism that favors Republicans. The district had been in Republican hands for all but 14 years since 1959. Kratovil got a significant boost when Gilchrest endorsed Kratovil over Harris. In June, the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee (DCCC) decided to back Kratovil's campaign financially through their Red to Blue program. Kratovil, who is considered a moderate, has received endorsements not only from Democrats, but from local Eastern Shore Republicans. He also received an endorsement from the Blue Dog Coalition, a group of fiscally conservative congressional Democrats. CQ Politics designated the race as "No Clear Favorite."

The November election was as close as expected. On election night, Kratovil led Harris by 915 votes. After two rounds of counting absentee ballots, Kratovil's lead grew to 2,000 votes. Forecasting that it would be nearly impossible for Harris to close the gap, most media outlets declared Kratovil the winner on the night of November 7. Harris finally conceded on November 11.

Kratovil's election dramatized the geographic split that characterizes the 1st District. An Eastern Shore resident, Kratovil won Cecil County and the shore's eight other counties, but lost the district's portions of Baltimore, Harford and Anne Arundel counties on the Western Shore, which include Harris' base in Baltimore's conservative eastern suburbs. The district's voters are split almost evenly between the two regions. Kratovil thus became only the fourth Democrat to represent the 1st since 1947. Proving just how Republican this district still was, John McCain carried the 1st with 58 percent of the vote, his best showing in the state.

2010

Harris announced in May 2009 that he would seek a rematch against Kratovil, citing Kratovil's vote for the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 in its final form.

Kratovil based his 2010 re-election bid on his independent streak in Washington. He was quoted as saying "We can send someone to Washington who is going to continue to be independent and put the interests of the people of his district first, or we can send people that are going to put their own extreme ideological views ahead of the best interests of the people of this district." He also pointed to his overall record in Congress as proof. He was ranked as being in the top ten of independent voting records in Congress by CQ Politics in 2009.

A "Super PAC" group called The Concerned Taxpayers of America paid $150,000 for ads attacking Kratovil, and $300,000 for ads attacking Peter DeFazio of Oregon. Mid-October 2010 quarterly FEC filings showed that the group was solely funded by $300,000 from Daniel G. Schuster Inc., a concrete firm in Owings Mills, Maryland, and $200,000 from New York hedge fund executive Robert Mercer, the co-head of Renaissance Technologies of Setauket, New York. According to Dan Eggen at The Washington Post, the group said "it was formed in September 'to engage citizens from every walk of life and political affiliation' in the fight against 'runaway spending.'" Its only expenditures were for these ads. Schuster was the top contributor to Harris.

Kratovil was defeated, taking 42 percent of the vote to Harris' 54 percent.

U.S. House of Representatives

Kratovil voted against the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act in March 2010, citing "the overall cost, the deficit impact, and the negative impact that the bill’s employer mandates could have on job creation." Afterward, Kratovil touted his opposition to the law in campaign ads.

District Court Judge

In late December 2011, Maryland Governor Martin O'Malley appointed Kratovil as a judge for the Queen Anne's County District Court. Kratovil had been nominated by the Trial Courts Judicial Nominating Commission to fill a vacancy due to the retirement of Judge John T. Clark III.