Meet the third-party candidates who weren’t invited to the Maryland governor’s debate

When Maryland Gov. Wes Moore and Republican challenger Dan Cox take the debate stage Tuesday, viewers may not know that there are two other candidates for governor who won’t be there.

Neither Green Party candidate Andy Ellis nor Working Class Party candidate Cathy White met Maryland Public Television’s requirements for inclusion in the debate. MPT requires, among other things, a candidate to be polling at 10% in a general election to take the stage. The most recent poll, from the University of Maryland, Baltimore County, has both Ellis and White at 3%.

Traditionally, in presidential politics, third-party or independent candidates need to poll at 15% for inclusion. The nation, for better or worse, has a two-party system, and it is highly unlikely a third-party candidate could break through in a meaningful way, said Roger Hartley, former dean of the University of Baltimore’s College of Public Affairs.

But their ideas still hold value, Hartley said.

“All of a sudden, if the Green Party is advancing a major issue that people are concerned with and their idea looks like it is even remotely popular, then Democrats or Republicans will take it in,” Hartley said.

Both Ellis and White have objected to their exclusion. Ellis, in a phone interview, said MPT had an obligation to present all candidates’ ideas to the public, even if their campaigns aren’t viable — debates are more about the exchange of ideas than who can win in November. If polling is the determination for inclusion, then Cox shouldn’t be included either, Ellis said.

“In the 2022 election, the Green Party candidate, the third-party candidate, was closer to Dan Cox than Dan Cox was to Wes Moore,” he said.

White said she largely agrees with Ellis’ arguments. Asked how she thought a debate that included her would have gone, she said, “it might’ve been interesting.”

Here’s more on both candidates.

Who is Green Party nominee Andy Ellis?

A resident of Northeast Baltimore, Ellis keeps backyard chickens, has four cats, and believes data centers have no place in Maryland. The 50-year-old former tech worker thinks that sector of the economy should be more tightly regulated, subsidies should stop and all future data center construction should be halted.

Ellis scored one ideological victory last week when Moore outlined a more cautious approach to data center development.

Ellis, in response to a Banner questionnaire sent to candidates, said that Maryland could offset any revenue loss by raising taxes on households making more than $300,000 and individuals making more than $250,000. Additionally, nonprofits like the Johns Hopkins University, traditionally exempt from property taxes, should be made to pay those taxes as well as taxes on their endowment funds.

“A clear place to enact spending cuts is the hundreds of millions poured into the horse-racing industry,” Ellis said. “Maryland should ban commercial horse racing and reallocate these funds to public libraries. This is how we build a Maryland economy that works for all of us, not just the wealthy few.”

Aware that he has no path to victory, Ellis is hoping for 4% of the vote, or roughly 100,000 ballots, in November. If that happens, the Green Party would be recognized by the state board of elections and would not have to petition to be included on the next ballot.

The Green Party ticket of Nancy Wallace and running mate Patrick Elder earned 0.73% of the vote in 2022.

Campaign finance records show Ellis has raised $27,000 since announcing his campaign last year. His running mate is Owen Silverman Andrews, an educator and activist.

Who is Working Class Party nominee Cathy White?

White described herself as a factory worker. Campaign finance records show she lives in Montgomery County and hasn’t raised or spent more than $1,000 as of August.

At 63, White said she is experiencing what “millions of older workers” go through — a body worn down by years of overwork coupled with an inability to retire because of low wages. She said people are worse off economically than they were five or 10 years ago.

In a statement announcing her candidacy on the Working Class Party website, White said she believes the working class needs its own party, one that unites people of all backgrounds against the wealthy.

“It only makes sense that since we make everything run, we should be running things,” White wrote. “We should be in charge. NOT the billionaires. The billionaires have two political parties. The workers — none. It is past time to change that.”

She is critical of Maryland’s spending, pointing to car registration fee increases and money given to boost wealthy interests like horse racing as evidence that the government doesn’t work in everyday people’s favor.

White was the Working Class Party nominee for lieutenant governor in 2022, and the party got less than 1% of the vote. This time around, Cathy Permut is the running mate.

White hesitated to align herself with any political ideology, instead saying she sought to attract people who have voted for Democrats or Republicans.

“The two-party system is a trap,” White said. “We somehow have to get out of that. I’m not sure exactly how, but I’m going to stand up and say, hey, I think working people need to be organized and not divided.”