ANNAPOLIS — Voters in Senate District 29, which covers St. Mary’s County and part of Calvert County, will choose between Democratic challenger Chuck Borges and Republican incumbent Jack Bailey in the Nov. 3 general election.
Both candidates were sent the same voter guide questionnaire covering the state budget, energy costs, housing, jobs and immigration enforcement. Borges responded. Bailey did not, so this guide summarizes Borges’s answers and draws on Bailey’s official biography in the Maryland Manual. The candidates are listed on the state’s 2026 general election roster for state senator.
Chuck Borges (D)
Borges, 50, is a self-employed consultant in digital strategy and data analytics. He holds an MBA from the University of Maryland and a bachelor’s degree from MIT. His full questionnaire answers are posted online.
Why he is running: Borges said the region needs leaders with imagination and initiative to build a sustainable future. He cited 23 years in the U.S. Navy and four in the civil service, and said he lost his Senior Executive Service career after opposing DOGE, the federal cost-cutting effort.
State budget: Borges said he supports a mixed approach of cuts and revenue. Before raising personal income taxes, he said, the state should review the tax credits and exemptions it already gives away, including the tax break for data centers, which he said he would again try to repeal. He also argued that high earners pay lower effective rates on capital gains and stock options than wage earners do.
Energy costs: Borges said hyperscale data centers are an unacceptable burden and Maryland does not need them. If they are built, he said, they should run entirely on clean power. He said he backs community solar, solar arrays on farmland paired with tax credits for farmers, battery storage, and pressing the regional grid operator PJM Interconnection for refunds.
Housing: Borges listed five priorities: reviving the Starter and Silver Homes Act for counties with documented shortages; raising the $50,000 cap on state rehabilitation loans and opening them to vacant homes and small builders; funding water and sewer capacity in growth areas through bond bills; expanding the state’s accessory dwelling unit law; and keeping growth tiers and Critical Area protections in place.
Jobs: Borges called the governor’s DECADE Act job plan a good start but not enough. He said existing credits should be reviewed for results, with job targets and performance measures attached. He said Southern Maryland’s aerospace and defense base should not be duplicated elsewhere in the state, and he called for ending the 3% sales tax on IT services and expanding training and apprenticeships.
Immigration enforcement: Borges said he supports ending state and local cooperation with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement and cannot defend how the agency operates now. He said criminal warrants and transfers of violent offenders would still be possible under the ban.
Other priorities: Borges named universal free school lunches as his top additional issue, arguing that feeding students improves attention and reading and reduces family stress and crime.
A leader he admires: Borges named the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr., citing his courage and willingness to act when the outcome was uncertain.
Jack Bailey (R)
Bailey did not answer the voter guide questionnaire, so his positions on the questions above are not included here.
Bailey has represented District 29 in the Senate since Jan. 9, 2019, according to the Maryland Manual. He serves on the Budget and Taxation Committee, including its pensions subcommittee and its education, business and administration subcommittee, and on the Special Joint Committee on Pensions, the Joint Committee on Federal Relations, the Joint Committee on Ending Homelessness and the Joint Federal Action Oversight Committee. He previously served on the Education, Health and Environmental Affairs and Judicial Proceedings committees and chaired the Senate side of the Southern Maryland delegation in 2020-21.
Before the legislature, Bailey spent 1991 to 2017 with the Maryland Natural Resources Police, where his roles included adjutant and legislative liaison, executive assistant to the superintendent and supervisor of the Covert Operations Unit. He graduated from St. Mary’s Ryken High School in Leonardtown, attended Mount St. Mary’s College and earned bachelor’s and master’s degrees in management from Johns Hopkins University.
More voter guides
- District 29A: Clancy vs. Morgan
- District 29C: Watts vs. Morgan
- District 27B: Long vs. Thomas
- District 27C: Davidson vs. Fisher
- District 28: Six candidates for three House seats
Candidates who did not respond to the questionnaire: Jack Bailey (R).
Capital News Service provided the questionnaires used in this guide.
