“Speak out, you got to speak out against the madness
You got to speak your mind, if you dare.”
- Crosby, Stills, and Nash (“Long Time Gone”)
By any measure, the Democratic primary for governor in 2026 should be a contest and not a coronation. Yet some political observers have rushed to dismiss Ed Hale’s future candidacy with smug certainty. They claim he has “no shot” citing age, novelty, and conventional political wisdom.
Such elitist snobbishness ignores the fact that Maryland is heading toward a convergence of an unaffordable fiscal deficit emergency and an expensive energy crisis. Democratic voters deserve an honest debate about who is best suited to navigate it, not a stage-managed walkover for Governor Wes Moore.
Ed Hale may be new to electoral politics, but he is no stranger to leadership or Maryland. As a business executive who built 1st Mariner Bank from scratch, revitalized Baltimore’s Canton waterfront, and brought the Baltimore Blast into national prominence, Hale has created tens of thousands of jobs, stewarded capital, and invested in communities without government bailouts or tax increases. He has succeeded in the arena where results matter, where failure costs more than just lost votes.
Governor Moore, by contrast, has presided over a self-inflicted failing fiscal environment. His latest move, a hiring freeze and buyout program for State employees announced behind closed doors and away from reporters’ questions, reveals the depth of Maryland’s financial strain. According to reporting by The Baltimore Banner reporter Pamela Wood, Moore’s administration is scrambling to claw back one hundred twenty-one million dollars just to keep the next budget year in balance.
This is the same governor who once boasted about solving the state’s structural deficit. He flooded state agencies with over 5,000 new hires and increased spending, only to later shift blame and quietly trim the ranks once the fiscal pressure he had created became undeniable.
Worse yet, Moore’s green energy agenda has thrown Maryland’s electric grid into crisis. Power plants are being shuttered prematurely while new domestic power generation lags far behind. To avoid rolling blackouts, PJM Interconnection, the regional grid operator, was forced to keep the Brandon Shores power plant open until at least 2028 under an emergency reliability contract because Moore’s energy policy lacked the basic grounding in engineering and economics. The cost? Over one billion dollars… with every dollar to be borne by budget-strapped ratepayers.
These are not abstract concerns. They are real life consequences of Moore’s appalling, absentee leadership.
Moore’s tax hikes, fees, and surcharges – from digital advertising to real estate recordation to vehicle registration – are draining Maryland families and businesses. And as the structural deficit reemerges next year (and again the year after and the year after that), there are already whispers of a Special Session to address the budget’s shortfalls in the next few months.
Voters should ask: If this governor is as visionary as he claims, why is Maryland in a fiscal and energy panic under his watch?
Those quick to write off Hale’s candidacy also overlook a basic fact. Governor Moore’s supposed invincibility rests on political inertia, not popular mandate. The notion that Prince George’s County and Baltimore City alone will secure Moore’s nomination presumes that voters in those jurisdictions are satisfied with their new high energy bills, surging taxes, and shrinking government services, which were all created during Governor Moore’s watch. That is a patronizing assumption.
Maryland Democrats, whether they are Black, White, Hispanic, urban, suburban, or rural, are paying attention. They all know “BS” when they see it.
As for Hale’s age, the concern is overwrought. No one seemed bothered by Donald Trump’s or Joe Biden’s age until the political winds shifted. What voters are increasingly seeking is not youth, but competence, stability, and candor. Ed Hale offers all three.
Hale is not running to burnish a resume or test presidential waters… he is not looking for a political career. He is running because he is deeply concerned about the state he loves and believes it is being mismanaged by an administration long on slogans and short on solutions.
Finally, the idea that this election cycle is all academic unless Larry Hogan jumps in the race is more of the same Beltway punditry that always overestimates name recognition and underestimates timing and message. The Democratic primary is the only fight that matters. It will determine whether Maryland Democrats continue marching toward tax and spend progressivism without brakes or rediscover a sane path of fiscal moderation and honest, competent governance.
No, the gubernatorial contest will not be a coronation for Wes Moore. Not if voters have a say… and not if Ed Hale has anything to do with it.
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.
Gren Whitman says
Just another hit job on our Democratic governor by the Spy’s one-trick pony.
John says
Facts are a difficult concept for some such as the “one-trick pony” commenter before me. Telling when an accurate description of Moore’s history of incompetence is described as a hit job.
Gren Whitman says
Facts? What facts? Opinions aren’t facts. Calling someone an “elite snob” does not make him so.
John says
“Power plants are being shuttered prematurely while new domestic power generation lags far behind”, “flooded state agencies with over 5,000 new hires and increased spending”, ” tax hikes, fees, and surcharges – from digital advertising to real estate recordation to vehicle registration – are draining Maryland families and businesses”. Facts, not opinions.