Republican Delegate Chris Bouchat plans run for Maryland governor in 2026

BALTIMORE — Delegate Chris Bouchat, a Republican from Carroll County who has railed against both Democrats and members of his own party in Annapolis, is gearing up to run for governor next year.
Bouchat told The Baltimore Sun on Wednesday he is launching an initial slate of television ads in the coming weeks but is not yet formally announcing his candidacy or filing with the Maryland State Board of Elections. Democratic Gov. Wes Moore has said he intends to seek a second term, and a few challengers have begun lining up to get their names on the ballot.
'I'm going to see how the strategy unfolds. I'm in no big hurry,' he said, referring to the primary still a year away.
His campaign website already reads 'Bouchat for Governor' and states that 'We the people want a governor with white hair, who has faced and overcome the hardships of life, so they have empathy for us as they execute the duties of office on our behalf.'
Bouchat, 57, has at times been open about those hardships. He has been convicted twice of assault and served jail time — once as a 16-year-old in 1984 and after another incident in 1997 involving his wife at the time. Two years before his successful run for the Carroll County Board of Commissioners in 2018, Bouchat's 26-year-old daughter died from a fentanyl overdose.
He told The Sun that he believes his experiences make him 'extremely identifiable to a broad base of voters across all demographics,' including experiencing depression and alcoholism after the death of his daughter.
After winning a seat in the House of Delegates in 2022, Bouchat has at-times challenged his colleagues on both sides of the aisle — including with a letter to his GOP colleagues within his first few months in that office that said many of them had become 'show horses' in their opposition strategy while in the minority, Maryland Matters reported.
One of Bouchat's calling cards has been reforming the redistricting system in which elected leaders draw the districts in which they run. His campaign includes a quote from him reading, 'The greatest gift I can give the citizens of Maryland as governor is sovereignty over the General Assembly by districts being drawn by the people not politicians.'
He said in an interview his platform would also focus on economic and tax policy — including changing Maryland's tax system to reflect a 3% flat tax on all income, capital gains and sales.
Bouchat said last year that he did not plan to run again for his House seat because of enduring frustrations with Democrats controlling a supermajority of the Maryland General Assembly.
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