Bongino Campaign Headquartered in Severna Park

Tucked between a license plate renewal center, insurance company and a hair salon is a business of a different sort—campaign headquarters for Dan Bongino, a Republican and Severna Park resident who is running for U.S. Senate.

Bongino will face incumbent Sen. Ben Cardin (D-MD) in November.

Upstairs, in the Cirelli Professional Building on Ritchie Highway, next to , there was a quiet hum of activity on Friday afternoon. Volunteer office manager Jim Wint of Arnold printed out fliers while Erin Green of Severna Park folded campaign T-shirts.

Meanwhile, Bongino sat at his desk lodged in a corner. He noted that the office space was once headquarters for two other Republicans now in office—state Delegate Cathy Vitale (R-District 33A) and U.S. Rep. Andy Harris.

"It's got good karma," Bongino said of the office space.

Passersby and supporters often stop in to grab a bumper sticker or ask a question, or to volunteer their time. Bongino estimates his volunteer base to be about 250 volunteers from Anne Arundel County, "tons from Severna Park," and a total of more than 2,000 across the state.

He likens running a campaign to being CEO of a large company. His approach is  hands-on by answering specific questions sent via email and and Twitter.

"[The campaign] is ultimately like running a million-dollar company that I oversee. The buck stops here. If we lose one voter, I consider it a failure," Bongino said.

A typical day for Bongino, from start to finish, is about 16 hours. From "socks on to socks off," an expression used while working as

On July 4, Bongino said he walked about 10 miles total while participating in three parades—two in Anne Arundel County and the other in Montgomery County. His wife, Paula, also walked in the .

He's logged more mileage driving to destinations throughout Maryland.

"A lot of it is drive time since it [the election] is statewide. I've put 55,000 miles on my car in the past 12 months. It is a long day."

Incorporated into his daily routine is an hour of reading morning papers like the Wall Street Journal and Washington Post—specifically the op-ed page where the hot issues of the day sit.

"You don’t have to read through the entire paper everyday. Of all the things that impact my personal state of mind, it is when I miss my reading block," he said. "It's a practice I've done almost my entire life. It grounds me."

He credits some of the knowledge he's gained from reading the opinion pieces since about age 16 to his success with potential voters who, he said, were impressed after listening to him in debates. Bongino considers his strong point economics although his background is law enforcement.

Another part of his daily routine is working out each morning, either locally at the Big Vanilla in Pasadena or in his small gym in his basement. A picture that appeared on a previous Patch story by attracted the attention of a couple of exercise magazines.

Being in good shape is important to the candidate, who says he is 6 feet 1 inches tall and 215 pounds, but it's not what he wants people to focus on.

"My priority in life is academic," he said. "My value add is a very detailed economic policy."

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