Green Party’s Ellis Releases MPT Records, Presses for a Seat at the Oct. 6 Debate

By MDBayNews Staff

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Green Party gubernatorial nominee Andy Ellis released a batch of internal Maryland Public Television records Wednesday, arguing the taxpayer-funded broadcaster already has what it needs to open its October debate stage to all four candidates on Maryland’s November ballot. MDBayNews reviewed the underlying records, obtained under the Maryland Public Information Act, alongside MPT’s own published materials and prior news coverage.

The records center on MPT’s handling of the May 19 Republican primary debate. Nine Republicans were on that primary ballot, but only three showed up: John Myrick, Shannon Wright and Douglas Larcomb. Dan Cox, who went on to win the nomination, was not one of them, and neither was Ed Hale Sr., the field’s biggest fundraiser at the time.

Records show MPT staff did not simply extend an invitation and wait. Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer Chuck Roberts emailed Cox directly on May 11, telling him his participation “would ensure the people of Maryland get a better picture of their electoral options.” Roberts sent identical language to Carl Brunner and Ed Hale, then followed up with repeated phone calls to all three over the following days, according to Roberts’s own email updates to colleagues. Brunner initially told Roberts by phone that he would only debate Democrats, since he considered the Republican field too ideologically similar, before agreeing to appear after Roberts told him all viable candidates were being invited.

Four tickets are certified for the Nov. 3 general election ballot:

• Gov. Wes Moore and Lt. Gov. Aruna Miller, Democrats
• Dan Cox and Rob Krop, Republicans
• Andy Ellis and Owen Silverman Andrews, Green Party
• Cathy White and Cathy Permut, Working Class Party

MPT already has an Oct. 6 general election debate on the calendar, but as things stand it is a two-person affair between Moore and Cox. Cox agreed to it in late August after Moore’s campaign challenged him to debate, and Cox has since pushed for two additional matchups of his own at Maryland universities. Ellis wants the Oct. 6 stage opened to all four, and he says MPT’s own rules already allow it.

The records back up part of that argument. MPT’s written policy says candidates must demonstrate “significant voter interest and support,” and that polls are only one measure of that, alongside media coverage, fundraising and grassroots support. In the invitation MPT sent to all nine Republicans on April 22, Managing Director of Content Troy Mosley wrote plainly that “we are making an exception to our polling criteria” because no reputable poll of the governor’s race existed yet. That is a more direct concession than anything Ellis’s campaign quoted in its release, and it undercuts any claim that MPT simply followed its normal rules in May. Ellis’s campaign separately says its fundraising and media coverage exceed the combined totals of the three Republicans who did make the May stage, though MDBayNews has not independently verified that comparison.

The records also touch on politics closer to home. In a Jan. 28 email chain, MPT President and CEO Steven Schupak told colleagues that “the Gov’s office might believe we had something to do with this proposed bill,” referring to House Bill 101, a since-stalled measure that would have cut off state funding to any public broadcaster that held a statewide debate without inviting every certified candidate. Schupak raised whether MPT should proactively clarify to state officials that it had no hand in the bill, and told colleagues MPT had stayed quiet publicly, saying only that it reviews its policies and guidelines on a regular basis. Del. Gary Simmons, an Anne Arundel County Democrat, pre-filed the bill in the fall of 2025. It got a single committee hearing in early February and did not come up for a vote before the General Assembly adjourned in April.

In the same email chain, Maryland Public Broadcasting Commission Chair Richard Bodorff said he wanted word to reach the governor’s office and legislative leaders that “we didn’t put Ellis up to this,” noting MPT’s team had first learned of Ellis’s funding proposal from press coverage, not from Ellis directly. MPT’s own editorial policy commits the network to shielding its programming decisions “from political pressure or improper influence.”

“The public interest is best served when Marylanders see all their choices,” Ellis said in Wednesday’s release.

What to Watch

• Whether MPT expands the Oct. 6 debate lineup, or issues a public response to the MPIA release
• Whether the Working Class Party’s Cathy White, who also qualified for the ballot, joins Ellis’s push
• Whether a version of House Bill 101 resurfaces when the General Assembly reconvenes in January

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Sources: This report draws on public records released under the Maryland Public Information Act by the Ellis/Andrews for Maryland campaign on Sept. 9, 2026, including MPT staff email correspondence from January and May 2026; MPT’s published debate advisories and staff biographies at mpt.org; Maryland Public Broadcasting Commission listings in the Maryland Manual; the Maryland General Assembly’s official bill-tracking page for House Bill 101 (2026 session); and prior campaign coverage from Maryland Matters/States Newsroom, WYPR, CBS News Baltimore, FOX45/WBFF Baltimore and Baltimore Fishbowl. Reporting and writing by Michael Phillips for MDBayNews, Sept. 9, 2026.

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