Faith Loudon of Pasadena won the 4th Congressional District Republican primary in April and will challenge Democratic incumbent Rep. Donna Edwards of Prince George's County in November.

Loudon sat down with Patch to discuss her opinions on some of the biggest issues facing our country and the impact on the people in Pasadena.

Named Republican Woman of the Year for the state in 2010 and for Anne Arundel County in 2008, Loudon is the mother of three children. Two of them graduated from Chesapeake High School. Despite all of the traveling she does, Loudon said she is always happy to come home to Pasadena.

“I have traveled a lot,” she said. “I have been to Asia and Europe and every state ... When I come home to Pasadena—this is so corny—but when I come home I think ‘thank you Lord.’ I love Pasadena. People are friendlier; and at any rate it is a great place to live.”

Loudon has served on the Children’s Council and was elected to the Republican Central Committee of Anne Arundel County in 1998.

Issues Facing Pasadena Residents

When asked about major issues for the 2012 election, Loudon first spoke of the economy.

“Even though Pasadena isn’t hard hit with unemployment, there are lots of people with that problem,” Loudon said. “I think the economy is in the tank, and it is something we really have to work on. It is probably the biggest issue.”

Loudon talked about funding at the federal level and criticized some of the governments spending priorities. She passionately spoke about the recent repaving of Mountain Road and questioned whether or not that was necessary.

“There was nothing really wrong with Mountain Road and then—with stimulus money—they scratched the surface, made it awful and then repaved it,” she said. “That’s what they do with stimulus money because they have to spend what they have. It really just annoys me.”

Government spending is an issue that Loudon said impacts everyone. What they choose to spend the money on can be felt on the local level as well as the national level.

She spoke of the country's increasing debt and said that the only way to fix the problem is to stop spending money where it doesn’t need to be spent. 

“We need to be more frugal,” Loudon said. “Repaving Mountain Road was so ridiculous. But they didn’t just do it there, they did it a lot of other places in the county where they didn’t need to do it. That was federal money handed down to the state that they used.”

Helping Small Businesses

Pasadena is comprised of many small businesses: Local restaurants and grocery stores are common sights. In a nation that is struggling with a failing economy, it can be even tougher on the small business owners, Loudon said.

“Small businesses are so important,” she said. “I’m business friendly. We need to get rid of mandates that are keeping our business from hiring.”

Loudon said the expenses small businesses have to pay out to the government are exceptionally larger than a 500-person company would have to pay. She said these costs make it harder for small businesses to be successful.

“If you’re a big business you have the ways and the lawyers for everything you need to get around things, but not the small businesses,” Loudon said. “Pasadena is made up of small business and it is really important to help them.”