Pedaling For A Cause, Feuding Polls, Ralph Tyler Services Set, More In Political Notes

By Christine Condon, Maryland Matters

April 22, 2026

Which is the greater sign of dedication to a cause: Biking 180 miles from the northern edge of the state to its southern tip to bring attention to prospective legislation, or doing so 268 days before that legislation can even be introduced?

Whichever, a group of about a dozen advocates-turned-cyclists left the Pennsylvania line on the NCR Trail Saturday morning ended Monday afternoon at Point Lookout State Park in St. Mary’s County to raise awareness about legislation that would make fossil fuel companies pay for the effects of climate change in the state.

The idea behind the ride was to symbolize the pervasive effects of climate change in Maryland, said Jamie DeMarco, a lobbyist for the Chesapeake Climate Action Network, who took part in the ride alongside his father, Vinny DeMarco, president of Maryland Health Care for All.

“You can throw a dart at a map of Maryland, and wherever that dart lands, there are climate impacts and climate costs being felt,” Jamie DeMarco said.

“Ride for RENEW” ran into Gov. Wes Moore (D) during their three-day cross-state trek, which called for legislation holding fossil fuel companies financially accountable for the effects of climate change. (Photo Courtesy of Jamie DeMarco)

The cyclists wore custom bibs advertising the RENEW Act, for Responding to Emergency Needs From Extreme Weather, which they hope to advance in the 2027 legislative session.

In 2025, lawmakers passed a bill by the same name, requiring the comptroller to evaluate how much climate change will cost the state, due to rising tides, more severe storms and other anticipated impacts. But for climate groups in Maryland and around the nation, the end goal is for fossil fuel companies, whose greenhouse gas emissions fuel climate change, to pick up the tab.

The ride included stops at Baltimore’s Inner Harbor and in La Plata, and a stop for lunch at St. Mary’s College of Maryland where the riders had a coincidental meeting with Gov. Wes Moore (D). The riders were unaware that Moore was visiting the campus at the exact same time, DeMarco said. A few cyclists were standing beside their bikes when Moore walked past.

“I shook his hand and said ‘Ride for RENEW!'” DeMarco said. “And he said: ‘Ride for RENEW!'”

Moore vetoed the RENEW study in 2025, along with a host of other studies that he deemed too costly for the state amid a budget crunch. Climate advocates were irate. But just a few days before lawmakers were expected to overturn the veto, Moore announced he’d found a new funding source for the study. Lawmakers ended up overturning the veto anyway, setting a deadline of Dec. 1 for the comptroller’s study.

“Gov. Moore was really enthusiastic about it,” DeMarco said. “We were really glad that he’s come around and supported the study.”

Poll dancing

The emails and press releases are coming fast and furious in the hotly contested Democratic primary for the 6th Congressional District seat in Western Maryland between Rep. April McClain Delaney and former 6th District Rep. David Trone.

So when a poll came in showing Trone with a hefty advantage, his campaign was quick to pounce. An email from the campaign touted the poll from the independent Public Sentiment Institute, which showed Trone with a 51-30 advantage over McClain Delaney among Democratic voters, proof that “the momentum is real,” said the email.

Millions already raised, spent on a handful of Maryland congressional primaries

McClain Delaney’s campaign had a reply within two hours, touting its own poll and questioning the validity of the Public Sentiment Institute numbers. The campaign called the PSI poll a “highly questionable poll of just 154 respondents with a dubious methodology.”

To be sure, there were some red flags in the poll. Poll respondents were 50% Democratic and 31% Republican, when the current registration in the district is 39.4% to 33.7%, Democrat to Republican. And while recent polls put Gov. Wes Moore’s favorability rating at just under 50%, the PSI poll said 65% of those it surveyed said they approved or strongly approved of Moore, an unlikely about-face in the conservative Western Maryland district.

McClain Delaney said her own poll from March, by Hart Research Associates, showed her with a 49-37 lead over Trone, with that margin holding across geographic and demographic groups. She followed up three days later with an April poll showing her maintaining a 48-37 lead.

Trone’s campaign is not embracing the PSI poll and says it thought it was worthy to highlight as the first independent poll in the race. They have their own polls that show Trone in good shape, they said.

Visitation set for Ralph Tyler

Visitation will be held Sunday from 4-7 p.m. for Ralph Tyler, whose long career as an attorney included time as deputy attorney general and Baltimore City solicitor. He died April 13 of cardiac amyloidosis and complications form Parkinson’s disease.

A native of Cleveland, Tyler earned his law degree in 1972 from Case Western Reserve University. He was an assistant attorney general from 1982 to 1986, then served the next 10 years as chief of litigation in the office.

Ralph Tyler when he served as deputy attorney general.

He was a member of the Baltimore City Board of School Commissioners from 2003-04 and then served as city solicitor from 2003 to 2007, when he followed Mayor Martin O’Malley to Annapolis after O’Malley was elected governor. He served on the transition team in 2007, when he became chief legal counsel to the governor. From 2007 to 2010 he served as Maryland Insurance commissioner, and he was chief counsel to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration from 2010 to 2011.

In a statement on his death, current Insurance Commissioner Marie Grant said Tyler “served his country, Maryland and Baltimore with dedication, honor and integrity. Throughout his tenure at the Insurance Administration from 2007 to 2010, he guided our agency and its mission of strong consumer protection with a steady hand.”

O’Malley told the Baltimore Sun that Tyler “was one of the most brilliant attorneys and legal minds that I had the honor of knowing…. He reminded all of us that the people of Maryland are also entitled to due process and their day in court. He believed passionately that the law is supposed to serve people.”

Visitation will be held Sunday at Ruck Funeral Home in Towson. Tyler was a longtime board member of the CollegeBound Foundation, and the family says donations may be made to the foundation in his memory. A celebration of life will be held at a later date.

Pounds hangs solo lobbying shingle

A prominent Annapolis lobbyist is out on his own.

Eddie Pounds has left Perry Jacobson and formed The Pounds Group with an office based in College Park.
Pounds, reached Monday, declined to comment on the move.

Pounds joined Perry Jacobson — then known as Perry, White, Ross & Jacobson — as a partner in October 2021 after leaving Funk & Bolton, where he was also a partner. Prior to that, he worked for more than six years as a lawyer and lobbyist at O’Malley, Miles, Nylen & Gilmore, P.A.

Pounds already lists three clients with the Maryland State Ethics Commission — the Prince George’s County Maryland State Licensed Beverage Association, the Prince George’s County Chamber of Commerce, and Amran Pasha, managing member of The Dispensary, a Westminster-based medical cannabis facility.

Pounds reported billings of $161,000 in the most recent state ethics report.

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