Peter Franchot: I’m running for governor because I want to help the vulnerable. There are hundreds of thousands of families in Maryland right now — generally low-wage earners in the hospitality sector who have no money for food, medicine, or rent. They have been disproportionately affected by the damage that has been done by COVID because they live in a congested living situation, and it annihilated repair that damage, and to address the economy generally, which has been affected tremendously.

John King Jr.: I really decided to run for governor for the same reason that I got into a role that public institutions can play in people’s lives. That was shaped by my experience growing up as a kid. When I was little, both of my parents were educators, but they both passed away when I was very young — my mom when I was eight, and my dad when I was incredibly difficult and unstable and scary, and the thing that saved me was school; school was the one place that was safe and consistent and nurturing. As a teenager, like many kids who’ve experienced trauma, I struggled a lot and actually got kicked out of high school. But it was teachers and a school counselor who gave me a second chance, and were willing to see me as more than the sum of my mistakes. Because of them, I became a teacher and a principal and tried to do for other kids what educators have done for me, and running for governor is really an extension of that same principle that government can be a powerful force for good in people’s lives.

Dan Cox: The last two years in particular, we’ve seen an unprecedented attack on our constitutional freedoms. The result has been a loss of our basic freedoms that we’ve known for 400 years, such that people were arrested for trying to go to church, and arrested for trying to open their businesses and provide for their families. They were threatened if they were to speak out under the First Amendment and were to leave their houses under the stay-at-home order. Many Republican states have shown a better way of providing governmental support to ensure that we don’t lose many lives. Article 44 under the Declaration of Rights of Maryland guarantees that our Constitution is established at all times, especially for emergencies. Otherwise, government leaders would just simply misuse their powers whenever there’s a despot in charge. That is the number one reason why I felt that this is the time and the moment that we need to run.

The B&W: How has your experience prepared you for this role?

Tom Perez: The next governor is going to be the multitasker-in-chief. It would be wonderful to only have to work on one thing, but we have multiple challenges in this state. We need a leader who will bring down the exorbitant cost of prescription drugs and healthcare, and who has a proven track record of working in this area; I’ve done that. We need a leader who understands how we can insure Marylanders, and I’ve already put out a proposal to make sure that every Maryland resident, regardless of immigration status, has access to quality, affordable health insurance. I think it’s an economic imperative, and a moral imperative.

The next governor needs to have a proven track record in creating jobs. I worked as part of President Obama’s economic team, and we had the longest uninterrupted streak of private sector job growth in our nation’s history. If we have another recession, we need a governor who’s going to make sure you get your unemployment insurance benefits in a timely fashion. Larry Hogan dropped the ball, so people were waiting eight months, but I was the Labor Secretary in Maryland during the Great Recession, and people weren’t waiting eight months — we were making sure that people got their unemployment benefits in a timely fashion.

Peter Franchot: There’s never been a candidate like me for governor, because I have extraordinary fiscal experience: 20 years on the House Appropriations Committee — ending up as an important subcommittee chair — dealing with the budget of the state of Maryland every session, and then the last 15 years as the statewide elected Comptroller. I am also the tax administrator for the state, and am the Chairman of the Board of Trustees of the State Retirement Pension Fund. I have a unique length of experience in dealing with the economic problems and opportunities facing the state.

John King Jr.: I think there’s a lot that the perspective of an educator can bring to state government. As an educator, you see how deeply interconnected all of our systems are — how kids and families are affected by food insecurity, housing insecurity, the criminal justice system and whether or not parents are able to find a good job. And I’ve worked at every level: at the classroom level, at the school level as a principal, at the local level and at the state level before serving in the Obama administration. As Secretary of Education, I oversaw a budget that was more than $15 billion bigger than the budget of the state of Maryland, and was responsible for the oversight of K-12 Education and higher education. I have experience getting big things done in government, and I think that will be crucial.

I also founded a progressive advocacy organization called Strong Future Maryland, to work on an equitable recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic. That experience working on urgent progressive priorities in Annapolis will also help prepare me for the work ahead.

Dan Cox: I’m serving as a state delegate, but for the last 16 years, I have been a small businessman and run my own law firm. That has prepared me immensely because when I heard and saw people having their businesses shut down, I knew that if that had happened to me, my wife and our 10 children would have had a serious problem being able to eat.

A lot of people hold a misperception of government office as some lofty position to aspire to — but it’s not. It’s a position of serving the people, and since the highest office in Maryland is the governorship, it should be the most sensitive towards the people’s needs. I’ve served in government since 1994, when I was head of the College Republicans and worked for my congressman. I’ve worked for a presidential candidate, and worked for 10 years in education policy, regularly testifying in Annapolis on different education freedom bills. Without free choice to teach our kids in the American spirit and in writing, we’re going to lose the next generation. The next generation will think that Cuba is some beautiful place on Earth that is to be modeled after in government, but it’s not — socialism sucks. It is horrific, communism is worse, and Cuba has both.

As a constitutional attorney who litigates in federal and state court on constitutional issues, I also defend churches, small businesses, and individuals who’ve been discriminated against and fired wrongfully — as well as individuals who’ve had reverse discrimination committed against them.

When they shut down the legislature 24 months ago, the governor put Humvees around the state capitol. I included this in the federal court brief that I wrote because I was so shocked that we would shut down our system of government for a so-called emergency that was expanding a sincere need for health concerns to take possession over our property, and even take possession over our bodies with jabs for jobs. We have a duty to our ancestors, to the people that lay in the state in Arlington, and to our own children to never let the flag dip, and never let our Constitution be destroyed, and that’s why I have come down this path of being a candidate for governor.

The B&W: What do you hope to accomplish as governor?

Tom Perez: One of the first things we’ll do is bring in a world-class team of senior leaders to carry out our vision. On day one, we will appoint a climate and resiliency director — a person who is going to coordinate across the agencies — because addressing climate change is a whole-government enterprise. One thing I’ve learned from working in local, federal and state government is that the most vexing problems require unprecedented levels of collaboration between agencies for their sustainable resolution and solutions.

We have fallen behind a number of East Coast states on offshore wind because Larry Hogan dropped the ball, but we can catch up. We also have to address the immediate challenges in education — we are in crisis right now. So many schools need more mental health counselors, and we have so many educators who are contemplating quitting or who have already quit because teaching has been so hard during the pandemic. We have to do all of these things, because we don’t have time to do them one at a time. The way to do that is by building a solid team around you, and I’ve done this in the past.

Peter Franchot: I make fourteen pledges, and the first one is to restore the people’s trust and confidence. Most young people, and most everybody in Maryland, have lost confidence and trust in government. I hope that from day one, I can restore some trust and confidence that the government is competent. I’m going to do that in three months, by fixing every pothole on state roads, by picking up all the trash, scooping up all the dead deer off of the state highways, and I’m going to get state agencies to answer the telephone within 60 seconds with someone that can help navigate whatever question any caller might have. After that, we’re going to start doing a transformative change with jobs that are family-paying, and getting young adults to stay in Maryland  — and move to Maryland from other states — because we’re going to forgive their student loans if they live, work and pay taxes here for five years.

We’re also going to build enough solar and wind infrastructure in Maryland so that we’re no longer importing out-of-state fossil fuel electricity. We will export renewable electricity generated by Maryland into the grid, and are going to be 100% carbon free and 100% renewable by 2030.

John King Jr.: I always talk about the campaign in terms of three core pillars. The first is education, of course, because that’s at the foundation of the health of our economy and our democracy. We’ve got to make sure that the Blueprint for Maryland’s Future — which will raise teacher pay, expand college and career readiness opportunities in high school, expand Pre-K and more — is implemented well. Building on the Blueprint, we should get to universal, affordable childcare from birth through age five and we have to do more to keep public higher education affordable by investing in our community colleges and our HBCUs.

The second pillar is economic dignity — issues like paid family leave, investing in the supply of housing that folks can afford, and investing in public transportation.

The third pillar is the environment and climate action. It’s urgent that we take action on climate, and Maryland can be a national leader; we could achieve net zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2035. But it would require a really ambitious policy change, and that’s what I’ve proposed.

And as we take on all three of those pillars, I think we have to do it with a racial justice lens, because we have deep racial inequity in the state, and we’ve got to tackle that.

Dan Cox: I have a five-point contract for Maryland freedom. My intent is to restore freedom by restoring the Constitution, to make sure we end indoctrination with political ideology and anti-Americanism and Marxism and instead restore pride in our country’s education.

I also want to make sure that we restore our protection for our safe neighborhoods, so I’m going to end the flights here of illegal aliens on day one. We’re bringing in the people with fentanyl who are lacing our marijuana and killing our youth. I also want to expand our tax breaks because we’ve got to keep our citizens here. Lastly, we need to have audited and secure elections, and I have bipartisan support for that.

The B&W: What sets you apart from other gubernatorial candidates?

Tom Perez: It’s important that we have a person who can articulate a bold, inclusive vision of opportunity for everyone, and has a proven track record across the multitude of challenges that we have of getting stuff done. I’ve worked in the healthcare space, and I used to serve on the Kaiser Commission on Medicaid and the Uninsured. Addressing these health challenges, job creation, and running complex organizations are not new things for me.

When I first got to the US Labor Department, the department was second from the bottom in worker satisfaction, and when I left, we were in the top third or top quarter. A worker feels like they’re part of something bigger than themselves when their supervisors ask them the most important question that you should ask in a workplace — which is: ‘what do you think?’ That’s what we were able to do, and that’s what we have to do in the Maryland government.

The next governor is going to inherit a lot of agencies in disarray, and what are they going to do about it? That’s something I think I can jump into in a really meaningful way.

Peter Franchot: Everybody who’s running deserves a big pat on the back — Democrat or Republican — but none of them have even a scintilla of the kind of experience I’ve had in dealing with Maryland’s budget. It’s not like other private sector or public sector budgets. Maryland’s budget is enormously complex, and I think it requires leadership from me. What also distinguishes me is that I’ve always been an outsider in politics, even though I have an insider position and insider skills. I’m fundamentally an outsider.

John King Jr.: The mix of very clear progressive policy priorities and experience in government getting big things done, and a deep personal appreciation of the difference that public institutions can make in people’s lives. It’s not just a matter of luck that the government can help ensure there’s opportunity for all, and I think a really important distinction is that I’ve been willing in this campaign to talk specifically about what it will take to accomplish our goals.

Dan Cox: I’m the only candidate that has pledged to defend the liberties of every Democrat, independent, unaffiliated and every Republican — every person of Maryland will have full protection of the State House. Every other candidate pledges that they will continue a policy of lockdowns, and that they will continue a policy of forced masking and forced jabs for jobs, taking away your medical choice.

I don’t care what side of the aisle you might be on or what position you might have about vaccination — I actually support vaccination.

Doug Gansler: I’m the only candidate in the race with a true democratic vision going forward, a record of accomplishment and a history of getting things done from a very practical approach. I have obviously more experience than anyone in the race and my lieutenant governor is the former mayor of Hyattsville and started a group called Our Black Party. She has six years of executive experience, so we’re the only ticket that has two people with executive experience. We have the experience to lead during a time of crisis because we’ve led before. We’re also the only ticket that can win the general election. If you look at the Republican General Assembly website right now, you will see that they’re attacking me — and only me — because I’m the only candidate that can win the general elections against Kelly Schultz, who is going to pass herself as a moderate Republican. I think those two things — electability and experience — distinguish us.

The B&W: How would you ensure Maryland’s schools are safe if elected governor?

Tom Perez: I want to dramatically increase our investment in building out the mental health infrastructure within schools. This pandemic has been such a challenge, it has torn people down and there are a lot of empty seats at kitchen tables. As a result of that, the incidence of physical altercations in schools and teen suicide attempts are both up.

We also have to be able to measure our progress, and ask ourselves: “How are we doing in reducing incidents of physical altercation?” In schools, we’ve got to be honest about it, because what you measure, you value, and what you value, you measure.

We also need more of what are called “Community Schools,” which are schools that address in a more holistic fashion, the needs of the community. I think that the community school element of the Blueprint is going to really help moving forward.

Peter Franchot: I will ensure that all of Maryland’s school facilities are safe environments by addressing the dramatically variable physical infrastructure, including undrinkable water, classrooms without climate control and mold. I also believe that it is imperative that all School Resource Officers are properly trained to engage in a variety of circumstances such as mental health intervention.

John King Jr.: We should do everything we can on common sense gun policy and reforms — things like banning ghost guns, and ensuring there are clear, strong penalties when children get access to guns at home. We also need to address mental health needs by making sure that we have enough school counselors, that mental health services are available to students and families, and that we’re making these available in the community — including addiction treatment and violence prevention programs. Third, we’ve got to make sure that school districts have the resources they need to have adequate campus security in place. Too often, people pit those three things against each other, and we really have to be thoughtful about each of them.

Dan Cox: I have voted to expand the SRO program, and am cosponsoring a bill to double state SRO funding to $20 million a year. I intend to require bulletproof glass in every classroom so that in a lockdown situation with an active shooter, every single classroom is immediately protected. School choice will also empower the parents and the children to have safety because they can choose a school that they trust in, and that will create competition in the public schools to have a better school system.

Doug Gansler: I’d make sure all our neighborhoods and communities are safe, and that’s what I did. When I was State’s Attorney in Montgomery County, we had over a million people and we counted our murders in the teens each year — and at least half of those were domestic. Keeping people safe is what I’ve been involved with in government for 23 years. In terms of the schools themselves, I started the first gang unit in Maryland’s history, we had teen court in Montgomery County, we had drug courts, we had domestic violence courts and we put violent offenders in jail. If you speak to any of the people running for governor, you’re gonna hear a lot of rhetoric, but rhetoric does not make a record. 

I also believe in SROs. If you’re going to shoot up a school or if you’re going to commit crimes in a school, I think you’re going to go to the school that doesn’t have a School Resource Officer. SROs keeps people out of jail and away from the criminal justice system, and resolve petty issues at the school level — working with the administration, teachers, the students and their families rather than pipelining those people into the juvenile justice system. So I think SROs are a part of that equation — but just a part.

The B&W: Why should students care about this gubernatorial race?

Tom Perez: The next governor is going to implement the Blueprint for educational reform, and I’m hard-pressed to think of an area that’s more important for a governor than education. One of the things that I love about the blueprint — and what the next governor has to understand — is that education is from cradle through career. So if I’m a student at Whitman, whether I can vote or not, I got skin in this game.

If you care about climate change, look at what Larry Hogan hasn’t done. He hasn’t invested in offshore wind, and he’s not investing sufficiently in solar, so if you care about our planet, you should care about this election. Your generation, Gen Z, has elevated the issue of climate change in importance — and appropriately so. The Supreme Court is about to overrule Roe v. Wade, and after that, states become more important. In light of the assault on voting rights across the nation, states also need to step up. Maryland does okay on access to voting, but I’ve never aspired to do “okay” — I’ve aspired to be excellent.

If you have a classmate whose family is experiencing the opioid crisis, the next governor is going to matter because that governor is going to be neck deep in implementing mental and behavioral health infrastructure across this state so that we can avoid those deaths. The opioid crisis has touched me in a very personal way, so this isn’t an issue that I think about from any sort of academic perspective; it’s about what it has done to people I know and love.

I hope young people get out there and vote. There are a lot of people that hope you don’t vote, because then they can get their way. As we say in Spanish: “su voto es su voz” — your vote is your voice.

Peter Franchot: Students should care about this gubernatorial race because the policies implemented at the state and local levels will have the most direct impact on their lives. Students should pay attention to candidates like myself that have the experience and the most comprehensive policies to address the challenges that will impact the future of young people, from solving environmental injustices to the student debt crisis. If I am elected governor, students from any college who decide to live, work and pay taxes in Maryland for at least five years will have their student debt forgiven.

John King Jr.: Students are going to either see the benefits — or the consequences — of the choices we make as a state. Young people are going to live with the consequences of climate change if we don’t elect a governor who is really ambitious about our approach to climate, and if we don’t have a governor who’s committed to keeping college affordable, students and families will bear the burden of the continued shifts in costs of college. Young people who want to stay in Maryland need to have a good supply of affordable housing and good public transportation, and we need to address quality-of-life issues like paid family leave so that when folks have kids, they can take time off to be with their new babies. Those are all things that will shape young adulthood for students today.

Dan Cox: They need to care because their very lives and their very liberties could depend on it. For instance, if you vote for the candidate who believes in jabs for jobs, you don’t have that choice anymore. Everybody else says the government should be telling you what to do, and I think that’s not American. I’m going to make sure it ends on my watch if I’m elected.

Doug Gansler: I think they should care about it. You’ll hear politicians say that this is the most important race of your lifetimes, and it’s not, but it is important in Maryland. Why they should care about this race is for the issues of, for example, legalizing cannabis — which is one of our big issues — and to pay for a lot of the programs that we’re talking about. In terms of students, climate change is a real thing. While other campaigns are going to have consultants give them pieces of paper to read about environmental issues, I’ve lived it, done it and protected the environment as Attorney General not only for Maryland, but for the country, when I led all the Attorneys General in the Environmental Committee for the National Association of Attorneys General.

I also think that growing up in communities that are safe, making sure that college is affordable, ensuring that we have literacy and that people have access to vocational training is important. Right now, there’s there’s very few vocational options. Not everyone wants to go to a four year school, and we need to make sure community colleges are also affordable and top quality. We also have to make sure we get the best and brightest teachers and we pay them the salaries that they should get, so we can learn from them.

The B&W: What did you eat for breakfast this morning?

Tom Perez: I had granola with yogurt and blueberries.