Maryland’s 2026 legislative session starts next week, and redistricting, energy and affordability are all top of mind for Gov. Wes Moore.

Moore spoke with WYPR’s Sarah Petrowich to dive into his policy priorities for the new year with state lawmakers just days away from starting work on closing a $1.5 billion budget shortfall.

FULL TRANSCRIPT:

PETROWICH: I have to start off with the big one, which is redistricting. So the Governor's Redistricting Advisory Commission made the decision to move forward with exploring new congressional maps before the 2026 election.

When you announced this commission, you said redistricting in Maryland would not be a response to any person or any decision, but rather just a way to explore if Maryland's current map is fair and to protect the state's residents.

But over the course of the commission, we've seen credible public polling showing redistricting is not a high priority for Marylanders, and by my count, public comment against it narrowly outweighed those in favor. And then, of course, Senate President Bill Ferguson expressed severe disappointment in that decision and felt there was a lack of transparency throughout the process.

So how do you reconcile all of this with the decision to continue exploring redistricting in Maryland?

MOORE: Well, I'm very clear that my highest priorities for the people of the state of Maryland are public safety, making sure that people can feel safe in their own neighborhoods and communities, and I'm proud of the progress that we continue to make on that front, that our highest priority is making sure we're creating more economic opportunities and we're being more competitive as a state, and we're getting people a greater pathway to work, wages and wealth.

Yet I also believe that the protection of democracy and making sure that we have fair maps is something that we should be doing. This is not about, is it the highest of priorities? But this is about, I think, as a state, we can learn how to walk and chew gum at the same time, and I'm really proud of the work that the Governor's Redistricting Advisory Commission did.

I think they worked very hard over a matter of months to be able to hear from Marylanders, hear their thoughts, hear their ideas, because we should ensure that when our people are voting come next November, if the rest of the country is going to have this conversation about, “Do they have fair maps in a mid-decade process?” then why should Maryland sit on our hands, on the virtue of “tradition?”

And so I do think the work that they've done is important. I know they have now– continuing to listen to people, and people should go to grac.maryland.gov to be able to give their insights. But I know that the work that they are doing– and then the ball is now going to be in the court of the Maryland General Assembly to make the decision about how we move forward.

PETROWICH: And the chair of that commission, Sen. Angela Alsobrooks, in her statement revealing that the commission was going to move forward, she did say directly that it's, “the responsibility of the commission to move forward so the next Congress reflects the will of the people and can serve as a real check on this President.”

I'm curious if you feel that that diverges from your views of when you say that this isn't a response to one person or response to the president. It looks like Sen. Alsobrooks is directly calling out the president and [advocating for] a map that would favor Democrats in the 2026 election.

I mean, how do you feel about the statement from Sen. Alsobrooks and how that goes with your viewpoints moving forward on this?

MOORE: I think the senator has done a fantastic job, and I think this is a — it's a bipartisan commission. We have people from a variety of political views and perspectives who are on this commission, and I think they've done a wonderful job of listening to the people of the state of Maryland. And so the recommendations that the committee pulled together is not a partisan recommendation. It is just simply the recommendation, based on my request, to ensure that we are going to have fair maps come next November.

PETROWICH: So moving on to something a little bit fresh, we also saw some veto overrides recently in the General Assembly, particularly pertaining to climate studies, energy planning and data centers.

Legislators on both sides of the aisle appear to have some concerns about welcoming more data centers into Maryland due to their environmental impact largely, maybe some concerns on how they would actually boost the economy.

So with a seemingly heavy AI incentive agenda, what's your plan for these energy-hungry entities moving forward in this state?

MOORE: Well, you know, I have always said that we have to– this is not a binary conversation, that we cannot turn into Northern Virginia, nor can we say we are stopping all conversations on economic development. That we have here in the state, you know, I've said that we have a few lighthouse industries, and they include life sciences, they include aerospace and defense, and all of those things mean that we need to have a sound and a thoughtful and a sober energy policy about ways we're going to move forward on that.

We are never going to do anything that is to the objection of the people. We're never going to do anything that is to the objection of our already stated goals, that we have an environment that we need to protect, but we're also not going to do things that we think are going to make Maryland less competitive in our larger environment.

So I think all those things have to get factored in. The reason that I did the veto before, you know, was again asking taxpayers to pay for long-term studies. I feel like this is a time when we need to be able to be thoughtful, be creative in our policies. But we have to be able to be quick and responsive to things that are continuing to move, not just in Maryland, but move around the country, and showing that Maryland can actually lead the way, and how to put together a thoughtful energy policy, right?

PETROWICH: And then just narrowing in on the energy specifically, we've got an energy crisis going in this region. There's been a lot of talk around the PJM grid, how it's handling these large load data centers, making sure that they're paying their fair share, and just in general, a lack of generation. And we've seen the Trump administration blocking some large scale renewable energy projects, like offshore wind, or at least attempting to, that could put some more generation on the map.

So there's a lot of factors at play in how this region is facing a generation crisis, but also just resources that are using a lot of energy in this region, because we do share electricity with Virginia, places that have a lot of data centers.

So do you have a specific policy platform moving forward around how to either bring more generation in, specifically perhaps around renewables, or if you feel like there needs to be a pivot, or even, there's just talks about leaving the PJM all together in some states. What are your overarching thoughts on energy going into the 2026 legislative session?

MOORE: I mean, my frustrations with PJM are well documented. You know, I think that PJM, which is a multi-state operator who has a board that basically just consists of oil companies, have not served the people well, and we are working with other governors, both Democratic and Republican governors, around the country, who are all part of the PJM grid, because there are 13 states that consist of the PJM matrix, about making sure that we can have a better seat at the table and making sure the PJM can do a better job of streamlining projects.

Now I also though, think that the reason that I am so bullish on clean energy being part of the all the above energy strategy is because it is cost-effective, but also it's the fastest way of being able to generate more supply. That by saying that you're going to take solar and wind and nuclear off of the table, it just doesn't make sense if you're actually talking about creating more and more and more inventory and more supply and strengthening the grid.

And so we are going to continue pushing from our front to make sure that we have a bigger voice within the PJM framework. We're going to continue pushing to make sure that solar and wind and nuclear are part of the all the above energy strategy, and we have to ensure that in the state of Maryland, that we are creating more options for people, because more options is actually going to help the demand challenge that not just Maryland, but the entire grid is facing, which is then going to help to bring down prices.

PETROWICH: I also want to talk about crime. We've seen some incredibly promising numbers around decreases in crime in recent years, particularly homicides in the Baltimore area and across the state.

So first, let's start with what has your administration done right to help mitigate violent crime, and how do you intend to build on that this legislative session?

MOORE: Well, we came on board and said that my number one priority was going to be making sure that Marylanders are safe, and we're really proud that we've shown that partnership produces progress. You know, that we've worked in partnership with all of our local jurisdictions, our mayors, our county executives, that Maryland is one of the only states in the country that helps to fund the U.S. attorney at a balance sheet, that we made historic investments in local law enforcement and also historic investments in community groups like Roca and violence intervention groups, and We Our Us, that are helping to actually stem violence and stem the retaliatory violence that we're seeing, while we know we have a lot of work to do, because if anybody still does not feel safe in the neighborhood, you know, you have more work to do.

But we've now seen the largest drops in violent crime anywhere in the United States. They are happening in the state of Maryland. That we have now seen that in the Baltimore region, you mentioned, alone, the last time the homicide rate was this low in Baltimore, I wasn't born yet.

But we also know that what's happening right now in Maryland is not just a Baltimore phenomenon. That in Prince George's County, in Montgomery County, all across the state, we are seeing how we're watching historic drops in violent crime and also historic drops in property crime. So we know the strategy, the all of the above strategy that we put together in place, it is working, but we also know we've got more work to do.

And so it is something that was a priority when we came on board, and it will maintain a priority as long as I'm governor.

PETROWICH: One hot topic is juvenile justice. We know we'll see another push to reform the automatic charging system for juveniles in the legislature this year, but we also know state's attorneys are worried the current juvenile system is broken and can't handle an influx in cases if the state stopped charging youth as adults for a variety of crimes. So where do you stand on reforming the current automatic charging laws?

MOORE: Yeah, I'm going to let the Maryland General Assembly, you know, debate what they think are the right and appropriate solutions, and you know, and I'll have an opinion if something gets closer to actually making it to my desk.

But the guidelines that I have on this is simple. I believe we need both increased accountability, and I believe we need increased opportunity. I think we need accountability for people who are breaking the law, particularly for people who are using firearms and violent offenders, and especially when we're talking about our juveniles, I think we need to increase opportunities for them to be able to become productive citizens on a lifetime basis.

And so I'll let the Maryland General Assembly do their thing and go for their process during this during this 90-day session, yet at the same time, my guidelines on both increased accountability and increased opportunity are really the guardrails that they will navigate as they're figuring out which bills will make it to my desk.

PETROWICH: We're approaching budget season, legislation in general — we talked about a lot here, but what are some priorities that you have moving forward, and what you'd like to fund, just an overarching “these are your priorities for the session,” moving forward with anything that we didn't touch on so far in this interview.

MOORE: Well, you know, my priorities are that we're going to make sure that we're making Maryland more affordable, that we're making Maryland more economically competitive, and that we're protecting our people. And that means we are going to go after these large corporations who continue to try to jack up prices for people in supermarkets, it means we're going to make sure that people are not getting hosed by these utility prices. We're going to make sure that that our businesses and our small businesses have a chance to be able to grow and to thrive.

We're going to present, for the fourth year in a row, we are going to present a balanced and a smart budget in the state of Maryland. That we're not going to raise taxes on the people of Maryland, but we're still going to make sure we're aggressively protecting our people. Because no state in the country has been hit harder by the Trump administration than Maryland.

We've had tens of thousands of Marylanders who have been fired by Donald Trump and JD Vance, we have had billions of dollars taken from Maryland's economy from this Trump-Vance administration. And so we're going to consistently make sure we're protecting our people, making sure we're more economically competitive, but also just making Maryland is more affordable, despite this onslaught that we have seen in increased prices — energy prices up over 20 percent since Trump has become the president, poultry prices up over 30 percent, fertilizer for our farmers is up over 36 percent — that they have been assaulted by this Trump-Vance administration. But here in Maryland, we're going to make sure we're protecting our people.