A Pivotal Senate Race Could Make or Break Maryland’s Quest for Clean Energy Future

Maryland’s climate challenges—among them worsening heatwaves, intense storms and flooding, sea level rise and coastal erosion—are adding new risks to residents’ health, property and lives. The way out of these worrying trends, advocates and experts say, is to keep the state on a clean energy and emissions-free track.    

Maryland’s upcoming U.S. Senate race will be critical in deciding its climate future.  

On the one end is Prince George’s County Executive Angela Alsobrooks, who clinched the Democratic nomination after defeating three-term U.S. Rep. David Trone in a contentious primary. Born and raised in Prince George’s County, Alsobrooks, 53, will be the state’s first Black senator if Marylanders elect her on Nov. 5. 

She faces Republican Larry Hogan in the general election. Hogan, a moderate two-term governor and business owner, led the state from 2015 to 2023. He has politically distanced himself from Donald Trump, the Republican presidential nominee, since 2016; Trump nevertheless endorsed Hogan earlier this year, citing his party’s need to take control of the Senate. In March, Hogan told Axios he will caucus with Republicans if elected, but it remains unclear whether he will vote against the party line, particularly under a Trump presidency.  

Democrats would lose their thin majority in the Senate if a single seat flips to the GOP. That means a Republican win in this race could tip the balance in favor of conservative politicians vowing to supercharge oil and gas drilling rather than continue with the Biden administration’s historic investments in the clean energy economy. No Republicans voted for the climate-focused Inflation Reduction Act of 2022, and some have called for its repeal.

Under its current governor, Democrat Wes Moore, Maryland has already placed its bets on a clean economy, with commitments to cut emissions 60 percent by 2031, achieve 100 percent clean energy by 2035 and reach net-zero emissions by 2045. But that will take sustained access to federal funding.  

In an interview with Inside Climate News about her climate plans, Alsobrooks said the clean energy transition is personal.

“My daughter has asthma. And I know that climate change is expected to increase asthma cases by 4 to 11 percent due to the changes in air quality,” she said. “These issues are very near and dear to me and to so many others who recognize the true impact of climate change on peoples’ lives everyday.” 

Climate change and environmental issues are central to this election, Alsobrooks said. She thinks they especially resonate with younger voters, who smelled wildfire smoke when they stepped outside their homes last summer and understand how it connects to a worsening crisis. 

“Young voters have noticed the flooding that is happening, the extreme temperatures we are experiencing, the hottest June that we’ve just witnessed in recorded history this year. The planet is warming up,” she said. “They recognize that climate change is a threat and that it is here today. And it is centered around this election.”

Alsobrooks said her climate policy initiatives as county executive included investments in electric vehicles and sustainable building design and an executive order for Prince George’s County to halve greenhouse gas emissions by 2030, compared with 2005, and to reach net zero by 2045. 

“I believe that the United States should adopt a similar timeline, and I will advocate for that in the Senate,” she said, adding that she invested $1.3 billion in stormwater management to prevent excess nutrient pollution from entering the rivers and streams that flow into the Chesapeake Bay. She said she would also ensure that tax credits for clean energy reach places that need them the most, especially disadvantaged and minority communities that don’t have lawyers on tap to help them access the benefits.

Hogan’s campaign did not make him available for an interview. 

Blake Kernen, a spokesperson for the campaign, issued a statement saying that the former governor advanced numerous bipartisan climate initiatives during his time in office. She specifically cited commitments he made to cut emissions under the Greenhouse Gas Reduction Act, which he signed into law in 2016, and the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative, in place when he entered office. 

Kernen also cited stricter vehicle standards established under the Clean Cars Act of 2021. While it went into effect during Hogan’s second term, he allowed it to become law without his signature.

“He held upstream polluters accountable and improved water quality in the lower Susquehanna River, revitalized Program Open Space to preserve the state’s many natural treasures, and stood up to the Trump administration to ensure full funding for the Chesapeake Bay program,” the statement said. 

Critics worry he will vote to limit or eliminate federal climate spending if elected to the Senate. Kernen did not comment on where Hogan stands on federal climate legislation such as the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) and the Bipartisan Infrastructure law, the major sources of investments for a fossil-free clean economy and green jobs market, instead referring to an August interview Hogan did with the news site Heatmap.

Hogan said he had reservations about the IRA because it was passed without any Republican votes. Though it has “some really good things in it,” he said there are parts he would want to tweak, referring to the potential impact on oil and gas jobs.    

Alsobrooks said his track record on climate and environmental issues differs sharply from hers. 

“As governor, Larry Hogan repeatedly opposed legislation to address climate change and expand renewable energy in Maryland,” she said. “He opposed the Inflation Reduction Act, chronically underfunded transit, canceled [Baltimore’s] Red Line in favor of highway expansion, and refused to sign a bill requiring the state pension system to consider the potential impact of climate change. He has a record which is very different from mine. As county executive, I worked consistently to build on our efforts to protect the climate and he did the opposite.” 

The Chesapeake Accountability Project, a coalition of four environmental groups, said in a report in March 2022 that environmental enforcement took a backseat to pro-business policies during Hogan’s tenure. The Maryland Department of the Environment, or MDE, “took 67 percent fewer water quality enforcement actions during the Hogan administration compared to the previous six years,” the report said, and the department’s budget was reduced to half of what it was two decades earlier. Water-related inspections dropped by 39 percent. 

Flight by experienced staff hollowed out the agency. Even as violations mounted, the report said, the number of enforcement actions by MDE’s water administration in 2021 was the lowest in almost two decades.  

Maryland’s two largest wastewater management plants came to the brink of “catastrophic failure” and dumped untreated sewage and millions of pounds of nutrient pollution in the Chesapeake Bay watershed in 2022, upending the progress made on bay cleanup efforts. 

MDE had to step in and take control of the plants to bring them back into compliance with their discharge limits. Earlier enforcement action could have averted the problem, advocates say.

Hogan mostly received C grades, and occasionally a B, from the League of Conservation Voters, a nonprofit that issues annual scorecards ranking state legislators and governors based on their support for environmental action and legislation. The group does not rank county executives.  

Brian Frosh, Maryland’s attorney general from 2015 to 2023, told Inside Climate News that as governor, Hogan would let bills become law without his signature because he did not want to be seen as endorsing climate legislation but was fine taking the credit afterward. Frosh, a Democrat, said he served during five administrations, and only during Hogan’s terms did state environmental agencies fail to take positions on climate legislation.  

“I don’t think people are talking as much as they should about environmental issues in Maryland, which are crucially important for our health and economy.”

“Alsobrooks on the other hand is likely to be both supportive of and understanding of the importance of clean air, clean water and the fight to slow climate change,” he said. “She’s somebody who can make a difference on environmental issues and is the polar opposite of Larry Hogan.”

With Trump at the top of the Republican ticket, environmental issues are overshadowed by concerns about preserving democracy, women’s rights, healthcare and the economy, Frosh said. 

“I don’t think people are talking as much as they should about environmental issues in Maryland, which are crucially important for our health and economy,” he said.     

Rich Norling, political chair for Sierra Club’s Maryland chapter, said the bottom line for him is that Hogan has pledged to caucus with Republicans. 

“That would mean Mitch McConnell or an even more anti-environment senator would become Senate majority leader with control over what bills get voted on,” Norling said. “So it doesn’t matter what Hogan does. He’s empowering people who will not allow environmental bills to even be voted on in the Senate.” 

He pointed out that Hogan refused to sign Maryland’s holy grail of climate legislation, the Climate Solutions Now Act of 2022, which committed the state to phasing out fossil fuels and transitioning to a clean economy. The legislation became law without Hogan’s nod. 

Though Maryland voters have sent Democrats to the U.S. Senate for decades, the open seat created by Sen. Ben Cardin’s impending retirement became competitive when Hogan entered the race; he has twice won statewide elections in the blue state. The latest polling suggests the race is a dead heat.

Alsobrooks, who gave a prime-time speech on the second day of the Democratic National Convention, thinks Kamala Harris’ move to the top of the Democratic presidential ticket this summer has energized younger voters: “I suspect that you will see that will benefit Democrats on the ballot everywhere in our country.” 

Kim Coble, executive director of the Maryland League of Conservation Voters, said a strong partnership between federal representatives and state leaders is necessary for Maryland to meet its climate and environment targets. The state’s senators can help keep its clean-energy momentum going—or slow it down. 

“Ensuring that federal funding and programs are in place to support the state’s goals is critical, and we need federal representatives that are going to make that happen,” she said.