Democrats… This Time, You May Have a Real Choice by Clayton Mitchell

For years, Democratic voters in Maryland have been asked to fall in line. You are told who the frontrunner is. You are handed the talking points. You are expected to get excited about style over substance, slogans over solutions. And if you question the machine’s chosen candidate, you are labeled a traitor to the cause.

But not this time.

This time, you may have a real choice.

Veteran businessman Ed Hale is not a polished career politician or a darling of the Annapolis donor circuit. He is a businessman, a job creator, and a Blue Dog Democrat who knows how the real world works. He has balanced budgets in the boardroom, not on a spreadsheet filled with gimmicks. He has met a payroll. He has had to make hard decisions when the economy turned south, not issue a press release and wait for someone else to clean up the mess.

In short, Ed Hale is the adult in the room.

While Governor Wes Moore continues to govern by press conference—rolling out sweeping mandates like the state’s 100% clean energy deadline without a viable plan to protect working families from skyrocketing utility costs—Ed Hale brings a practical, clear-eyed approach. Moore tells Marylanders what sounds good. Hale tells them what will actually work.

As sure as the sun rises in the morning, the structural deficit will rear its ugly head again in January 2026. Governor Moore has not shown the intestinal fortitude to cut the budget to levels in proportion to economic reality. On the opening day of the session in 2026, the governor will open up the cash drawer and find it empty. 

Governor Moore faces increasing mandatory Kirwan funding obligations, mounting payments for child-abuse settlements stemming from juvenile justice failures, and ballooning energy costs due to the importation of electricity from other states—a consequence of his misplaced green energy agenda. Ed Hale will not put up with this. He understands that government must live within its means, just as families and businesses do.

Moore soared into office on the wings of charisma and a compelling personal story—but he has governed like a progressive influencer rather than a practical executive. His administration has prioritized performative politics and lofty rhetoric while working families in Maryland struggle to keep up with rising costs, broken schools, and a state government increasingly out of touch with rural, suburban, and even urban voters alike.

Moore talks about “leaving no one behind,” yet he has governed with a narrow, ideological lens that leaves many Democrats… and Republicans… feeling invisible. His energy mandates and labor programs are designed for headlines, not households. And under his leadership, the gap between state priorities and ordinary people’s needs has only widened.

Ed Hale represents a different path. One grounded not in theory, but in results. He is not beholden to the activist wing of the party or the donor class. He answers to the people who wake up early, go to work, raise families, and simply want a government that functions. 

Ed Hale is a voice for ordinary Democrats who still believe in fiscal responsibility, economic opportunity, and common-sense governance.  A government that does not overpromise, underdeliver, and engage in academic frolics that end with the middle-class taxpayers paying the tab.

He will not promise you the moon. He will promise you something better: a governor who listens, works, and understands that leadership is about service, not self-promotion. I believe that Ed Hale has the capability to stabilize not only the Democratic Party, but also an out-of-control state bureaucracy.

Maryland Democrats deserve more than a coronation. They deserve a contest. They deserve a choice.  

This time, you will more than likely not just have a candidate. You will have a real choice.

Clayton A. Mitchell, Sr. is a life-long Eastern Shoreman, an attorney, and former Chairman of the Maryland Department of Labor’s Board of Appeals.  He is co-host of the Gonzales/Mitchell Show podcast that discusses politics, business, and cultural issues.