Peter Franchot
Peter Van Rensselaer Franchot is an American politician who served as the 33rd comptroller of Maryland, from 2007 to 2023. A member of the Democratic Party, Franchot served for 20 years in the Maryland House of Delegates representing Takoma Park and Silver Spring.
Franchot was elected comptroller in 2006, defeating incumbent William Donald Schaefer in the Democratic primary, and was subsequently re-elected three times. During his tenure, Franchot supported efforts to expand Interstate 270 and the Capital Beltway, deregulate the state's craft beer economy, and pressure Baltimore County officials to replace aging air condition equipment in public schools. He opposed initiatives to legalize and later expand gambling in Maryland. After Republican Larry Hogan defeated Democrat Anthony Brown in the 2014 Maryland gubernatorial election, Franchot pledged a bipartisan alliance with Hogan, whom he worked with to support various causes on the Maryland Board of Public Works.
Franchot unsuccessfully ran for governor of Maryland in 2022, placing third in the Democratic primary behind Tom Perez and Wes Moore.
Early life and education
Franchot was born in New Haven, Connecticut, and attended Phillips Academy in Andover, Massachusetts. He attended Amherst College, but later left to join the presidential campaign of Senator Eugene McCarthy. After serving in the United States Army from 1968 to 1970, Franchot again attended Amherst, earning a Bachelor of Arts degree in English in 1973. He graduated from Northeastern University School of Law with a Juris Doctor in 1978.Career
After graduating from law school, Franchot worked as legislative counsel for the Union of Concerned Scientists. He then served as staff director for then-Congressman Ed Markey from 1980 to 1986. After his election to the Maryland House of Delegates in 1986, Franchot was a self-employed business development consultant.Maryland House of Delegates
From 1987 to 2007, Franchot served in the Maryland House of Delegates, representing the 20th legislative district, which includes Takoma Park and Silver Spring. Franchot was a member of the Appropriations Committee and chaired the Public Safety and Administration Subcommittee, as well as the Transportation and the Environment Subcommittee.In 1988, while serving his first term in the House of Delegates, Franchot ran for Maryland's 8th congressional district against Republican incumbent Connie Morella. Morella defeated Franchot, 63% to 37%, in the general election.
During the years leading up to his 2006 bid for comptroller, Franchot opposed Republican governor Bob Ehrlich's efforts to expand slot machine gambling in Maryland. He considered a run for governor to challenge Ehrlich, but ultimately ran for Comptroller of Maryland.
Comptroller of Maryland
Franchot ran in the Democratic primary for Comptroller of Maryland against incumbent William Donald Schaefer and Anne Arundel County Executive Janet S. Owens. Franchot defeated Schaefer in the Democratic primary election, marking Schaefer's first loss in his 51-year career. Franchot defeated the Republican nominee, Anne McCarthy, in the general election on November 7, 2006. Franchot was sworn into office on January 22, 2007.Franchot considered running for the 2014 Democratic nomination for governor. In December 2012, he announced he would instead seek re-election as comptroller.
Tenure
Franchot took office on January 22, 2007, and was re-elected in 2010, 2014, and 2018. As comptroller, Franchot supported adding toll lanes on the beltway and I-270, requiring schools to open after Labor Day, and reducing restrictions on craft beer sales in Maryland.In an interview with WYPR in July 2018, Franchot announced that he would not endorse his party's nominee for governor, Ben Jealous, and will instead remain neutral in the gubernatorial contest. "I think I'm probably going to remain neutral in that race—simply because it's important for me to get along with whoever is elected," Franchot said. This is despite previous pledges made ahead of the primary to support the party's nominee in the gubernatorial election.
Board of Public Works
Franchot, along with the governor and the state treasurer, compose the Board of Public Works — a constitutionally appointed body that oversees many aspects of the state's finances. During his tenure on the Board, Franchot worked to advance initiatives that reform the state's procurement process and practices, including the reduction of single-bid contracts and increased participation among minority and women-owned enterprises.Air-conditioning in Baltimore-area schools
Franchot used his seat on the Board of Public Works and his high-profile political position to publicly pressure officials in Baltimore City and Baltimore County to immediately install air conditioning units in aging school facilities that lack HVAC systems. He frequently sparred with school system leaders and elected officials from Baltimore County, a jurisdiction that in 2011, had 65 school buildings without air-conditioning. His public spats with County Executive Kevin Kamenetz, a fellow Democrat, over this issue has alienated Franchot from members of his own party.In January 2016, the Board of Public Works approved the use of state funding for portable air conditioners in Baltimore-area schools and lifted a ban on using state funding to purchase window air-conditioning units for public school classrooms. During the meeting, Franchot faced criticism for comparing the lack of air conditioning in schools to the Flint water crisis, saying "We were all dismissed as a bunch of malcontents. This is our Flint".
Towards the end of the 2016 legislative session, top legislative leaders, who objected to Franchot's frequent criticism, inserted language in budget bills to prevent the use of state funds for portable air-conditioning units in schools, which aligned with Kamenetz's view. In the same legislative session, lawmakers sought to end a practice — known as "beg-a-thon" — where school system leaders appear before the Board of Public Works to request additional school construction funding. Later that year in May, the Board of Public Works voted 2–1 to withhold state funding for school construction in Baltimore and Baltimore County unless local officials installed air conditioning in all classrooms by the start of the next school year. In response, Kamenetz released a plan that accelerated the county's installation timeline by one year. In January 2017, the Board of Public Works voted to restore funding to the jurisdictions.
In September 2016, Franchot and the president of the Maryland State NAACP chapter, Gerald Stansbury, wrote a letter to the U.S. Department of Justice to investigate the lack of air-conditioning in public schools in Baltimore City and Baltimore County. They wrote that the sweltering conditions in these schools, predominantly in financially depressed communities, amounted to a "blatant neglect of students' civil rights".
During the 2017 legislative session, the Maryland General Assembly adopted a budget that removed Governor Hogan from the process of approving the state's school construction plans and allocate $5 million in funding for air-conditioning projects in city schools. During the 2018 legislative session, top Democratic leaders voted to strip the Board of Public Works of its oversight and management of the state's public school construction program. Despite a veto from Hogan, the legislature overrode the governor along party lines. Delegate Maggie McIntosh, chairwoman of the House Appropriations Committee and floor leader for the legislation, directly cited Franchot's outspokenness about the air-conditioning issue as a reason contributing to this decision. The legislation established a task force whose membership is appointed by the governor and the legislative presiding officers to oversee and disburse taxpayer dollars for school construction investments.
Opposition to slots and expanded gambling in Maryland
Franchot campaigned against bringing slot machine gambling to Maryland. As a member of the House of Delegates, he led a successful coalition of lawmakers to oppose the Constitutional amendment to legalize slots. In 2008, Franchot, along with hundreds of others, launched Marylanders United to Stop Slots to encourage a 'no' vote on the referendum. Franchot argued that the high social costs of increased crime, broken families and bankruptcies would outweigh any revenue gains. Franchot's opposition to the slots referendum put him at odds with fellow members of his own party, including Governor Martin O'Malley and Senate President Thomas V. Mike Miller, both of whom were prominent proponents of the slots referendum. The 2008 slots referendum passed by a margin of 59 percent to 41 percent.In June 2012, Franchot criticized the General Assembly for holding a special session for a proposal for a new casino at the National Harbor, which would be the sixth casino in Prince George's County. In a letter to members of the legislature, he encouraged lawmakers to disclose "all contributions from national gambling interests" and warned against approving the casino, saying it would "cannibalize" the venues and "jeopardize the viability of state's casino program". In an interview with the Washington Examiner on gambling expansion in Maryland, Franchot expressed heavy skepticism about the promise of casino revenue being used for educational purposes. "Any education funding that goes into the Education Trust Fund is subject to being raided by the legislature," Franchot said. "That is what's happened historically; that inevitably is what will happen again." He opposed a referendum to legalize table games at the state's casinos. The 2012 referendum passed by a narrow margin, 52 percent to 48 percent.
Franchot opposed a 2020 referendum to legalize sports betting in Maryland. The 2020 referendum passed by a wide margin, 67 percent to 33 percent.