4 compete with incumbent Moore for Maryland gubernatorial office
The article profiles four candidates competing against incumbent Gov. Wes Moore in Maryland’s gubernatorial election. Their platforms include differing proposals to regulate, pause or restrict data center development, with concerns about electricity use, farmland, environmental impacts and corporate incentives.
Maryland Gov. Wes Moore is seeking reelection against Republican Dan Cox, Green Party candidate Alex Ellis and Working Class Party candidate Cathy White. The candidates’ platforms cover the economy, education, public safety and energy policy, with data center growth emerging as a major point of disagreement.
Cox proposes regulating data centers to protect communities and farmland while expanding Maryland’s energy supply and reducing reliance on electricity from neighboring states. Ellis would issue an executive order halting data center permit approvals, restrict new construction, eliminate state tax incentives and increase oversight of developers. White supports technological innovation but opposes data-center backers and the facilities’ resource consumption. The article also notes that the Moore administration has promoted business expansion, including Hitachi’s digital manufacturing plant in Hagerstown, but does not identify a specific data center project.