Reclaim Democracy in Maryland’s 2025 Gubernatorial Race

Andy Ellis, a candidate for governor in the Maryland Green Party primary, needs your help.

Before reading any further, please review and sign this petition urging Maryland Public Television (MPT) to uphold fair editorial standards. MPT is a taxpayer-funded state agency that currently restricts debate participation with an arbitrary 10% polling threshold, ensuring only Democrats and Republicans can participate. Their own guidelines claim “the public interest is of the highest importance,” yet this policy excludes alternative voices that Maryland voters deserve to hear. As citizens, we need the chance to learn about every candidate so we can make informed decisions. By signing this petition, you can help ensure a fair, inclusive electoral process for all Marylanders.

In 1996, former Secretary of State Madeleine Albright (then serving as the UN ambassador) was asked during an interview whether the death of half a million Iraqi children due to U.S. sanctions was worth whatever the U.S. was trying to achieve at that time. Her response was that it was a hard choice, but “the price was worth it.” Some estimates indicate that, by 2003, nearly 1.5 million Iraqis, primarily children, died due to U.S.-imposed sanctions to punish Saddam Hussein.

Albright was eventually rewarded by becoming the nation’s first female Secretary of State. When she died, she was remembered by Former President Bill Clinton as “a passionate force for freedom, democracy, and human rights” and by President Joe Biden, as a “force for goodness, grace, and decency – and for freedom”.

Of course, Bill Clinton and Joe Biden are responsible for their own shares of death and destruction abroad and unimaginable human suffering at home. Joe Biden, the self-proclaimed “Zionist” is responsible for hundreds of thousands of deaths in Gaza. Over the course of half a century, he sponsored legislation that wreaked havoc on the marginalized communities at home as well.

Since October 2023, I’ve been working to deepen my understanding of our political system from the perspective of those who struggle daily for a better, more just world through a critique of imperialism, capitalism, racism, and the broader injustices perpetuated by the West.

My political journey, which started in 2016 after the election of Trump, has led me to a hard but undeniable truth. A truth that was fully unveiled over the past 15 months. The Democratic and Republican parties, as they exist today, cannot and will not bring about the fundamental changes our communities desperately need. At their core, these parties sustain themselves on the suffering of someone, somewhere, at all times. They are locked in a cycle of power that prioritizes profit and control over people and justice.

As evidenced by the words of Madeline Albright and by the deeds of Joe Biden, they are a death-cult.

That realization is why, in 2024, I made the not-so-difficult decision to leave the Democratic Party. We cannot keep expecting transformative change from a system designed to maintain the status quo.

The record of the two parties is as disastrous at the local and state level as it is at the federal level.

For years, I watched as Democrats in Howard County and the State of Maryland advance policies that led to the decline of infrastructure while helping developers profit through taxpayer subsidies. Any legislation that was meant to benefit the marginalized—such as police reform—did everything but. Housing affordability declined, school quality declined, teacher shortages skyrocketed, and so did our taxes.

Those who called for changes are told to be patient and that they have to “work the system” by others who have accepted the status quo as “normal.” Many think the only way to achieve real change is to openly advocate for policies that benefit the rich and powerful while secretly harboring goals of serving the community.

There are two flaws with this tactic. First, this is simply an exercise in self-deception. The current political system requires complete capitulation. While many enter public service with the goal of “playing the game to benefit the public,” they eventually stop pretending. Second, communities who are in desperate need for change cannot wait for “improvements” at the margins; they need a seismic shift in policies.

On January 4, 2025, Andy Ellis, a member of the Maryland Green Party, announced that he is seeking the nomination to run for governor of Maryland. I joined Andy and several other community activists for this announcement and spoke in support of his campaign.

We need more choices in our political system—but not just choices for choices’ sake. We need people who will make tangible changes that benefit those who desperately need it. We need political parties and leaders who are not beholden to the powerful but are instead committed to empowering the marginalized and uplifting the voiceless. We need a vision of community that doesn’t see people as resources to exploit but as individuals to nurture, respect, and celebrate.

Achieving this vision will not be easy. Those of us who are not beholden to the powerful elites and the political establishment face significant obstacles due to the unfortunate indifference and apathy by the electorate to powerful entities hell-bent in maintaining the status quo in order to continue profiting from death and destruction. This is the hard path.

We choose this hard path because we know it’s the only one that leads to true, lasting change—a change that isn’t shackled to the mechanisms of exploitation and violence.

This is why I support Andy Ellis for governor in 2026. Andy Ellis has chosen this hard path, and I stand firmly in support of his campaign. Andy’s vision addresses the root causes of our challenges—not just the symptoms. He is committed to divesting from the war economy, from systems of exploitation, and from cycles of destruction. He stands for investing in education as a public good, in communities as places of opportunity, and in policies that prioritize healing over harm.

Andy understands that justice isn’t just a lofty ideal—it’s a practice, a commitment, and a promise we must fight for every day. That’s the leadership Maryland needs.

Join me in supporting Andy and a better future that does not rely on the zero-sum destructive politics of the duopoly.