Climate Voter Guide

Maryland Matters, which earlier this year launched a special series on climate change in Maryland, “Climate Calling,” is proud to be part of the conversation. We recently interviewed all nine Democratic candidates for governor about their views on climate change: How the state is doing battling the problems, what measures they intend to enact to make Maryland a leader in climate policy and green energy, how they envision protecting our most vulnerable communities from environmental degradation, and more. We also asked each of them to identify their personal climate hero.

Note that I will not be covering all of the candidates, I am publishing the information for the first two candidates and will the leave the reader to visit the series of articles at their convenience.

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Gansler Says His Experience Makes Him Best-Equipped to Tackle Climate Change in Md.


As he travels the state promoting his second campaign for governor, former Maryland attorney general Douglas F. Gansler (D) does little to hide his disdain for his Democratic primary rivals. The state is facing three major crises, he tells voters — COVID-19, criminal justice, and climate change — and he’s the only candidate with significant experience on the criminal justice and climate fronts.

“It’s going to take them a long time to learn government and how to govern,” he says in an interview.

Never mind that his opponents include the state comptroller, who has held office for 35 consecutive years, and a former Prince George’s County executive and state lawmaker, and two members of President Obama’s cabinet.

Gansler, who turned 59 last month, feels the same way when he hears his foes discussing the existential threat to the planet.

Read more: https://www.marylandmatters.org/2021/11/11/gansler-says-his-experience-makes-him-best-equipped-to-tackle-climate-change-in-md/

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Jain: Crowd-Sourcing a Solution to an Existential Crisis


It’s often said that politicians campaign in poetry but govern in prose.

Ashwani Jain sees a through-line between both.

Jain, a 32-year-old former Obama administration official, is running a low-budget, unconventional campaign for the Democratic nomination for governor, staffed exclusively by volunteers. They’re helping him develop an agenda on climate change and countless other issues.

“My campaign is 100% volunteer-run and crowd-sourced,” Jain said during a recent interview. “We have folks who have been working on a host of policies, not just climate policies — middle school students, high school students, college students, activists, older retirees. It’s figuring out, as a team, what are funding resources, the data, the studies, and bringing them all together into a way that’s digestible to voters.”

Read more: https://www.marylandmatters.org/2021/11/12/jain-crowd-sourcing-a-solution-to-an-existential-crisis/