Where Johnny stands
Annapolis keeps reaching. Johnny keeps fighting back.
Annapolis keeps making it more expensive to live and work on the Eastern Shore. Six fights below. No fine print.
The Fight · 01
Affordability.
It's all of it, all at once.
They keep reaching into your pocket. Johnny keeps fighting back.
A silly new fee on your tires. Higher costs to register your car. New taxes on professional services.Property assessments up double digits. A power bill that climbs every few months. None of it is an accident — it's the result of an Annapolis that spends first and asks you to pay for it later.
State Senator Johnny Mautz has one simple rule: before the government takes more of your money, it ought to prove it's not wasting what it already has. He's spent his time in Annapolis fighting tax hikes and fee increases that land hardest on Eastern Shore families, small businesses, and folks on a fixed income.
The Shore can't afford four more years of Annapolis making everything more expensive. Johnny's fighting to change that.
"It's not any one tax or fee. It's the combined weight of all of it — and it's grinding down working families and small businesses."
— State Senator Johnny Mautz
What we're up against
~$1.8B
new MD taxes & fees, 2026
+12.7%
avg property assessment, 2026
$5
new fee on every tire
~$1.6B
new taxes & fees the year before
The Fight · 02
Accountability.
Stop the wasteful spending!
Before they ask for more, they ought to account for what they've already got.
Every Eastern Shore family already does this. You don't ask the grocery store for an extra hundred dollars when there's still cash in the envelope. Annapolis hasn't learned that lesson. State audits keep turning up millions in wasteful payments, charges nobody approved, and contracts where the work was never done.
That's not a Republican idea or a Democrat idea — it's just common sense. Clean up the waste. Respect the taxpayer. Then we'll talk.
$408M
MD audit findings, last 3 yrs
5,800+
vacant state positions still budgeted
$3B
deficit, three years after a $5B surplus
"I'm not against investment. I'm against vanity spending. Show me where the last billion went, then we'll talk about the next one."
— State Senator Johnny Mautz
The Fight · 03
Energy.
Make it affordable + reliable.
Your power bill keeps climbing. You didn't cause it — but you're paying for it.
Johnny's fighting a power-bill spiral that Annapolis built and the Shore is paying for. Three policies are driving it: EmPOWER Maryland compliance costs passed through to your bill, the Renewable Portfolio Standard that pays out-of-state generators, and the Climate Solutions Act mandates that didn't come with a plan for the families who pay for them. Add in surging demand from out-of-state data centers, and working families and small businesses are stuck with the tab.
Johnny wants energy that's affordable and reliable — power Marylanders can count on without watching the bill jump every season. The Shore deserves an energy policy built for the people who live here, not one that treats your household budget like an afterthought.
+33%
avg MD residential power bill, last 5 yrs
~$200
average household impact / yr
9
out-of-state data centers funded on your bill
"The Shore deserves power its families can afford — not power priced to keep data centers in air conditioning."
— State Senator Johnny Mautz
The Fight · 04
Watermen
& farmers.
Get Govt off our backs!.
The oysters are back. Our watermen are still hurting. Johnny's fighting for them.
The Bay's oysters are as healthy as they've been in a generation — but this past season was one of the hardest our watermen have ever faced. A frozen winter kept boats tied to the dock, demand fell off, and good men and women in Hoopers Island, Tilghman, and Bivalve went without a paycheck.
Johnny Mautz grew up on this water and built his life on this Shore. He's fought to open new markets for our watermen — including a bill (SB610) to build a commercial market for invasive blue catfish — protected our oyster grounds, and made sure the people who feed the country can make a living doing it.
Our seafood heritage isn't a slogan to Johnny. It's home.
"This is Maryland — we're known for our seafood. There's no reason our watermen should be struggling to sell it."
— State Senator Johnny Mautz
The Fight · 05
Schools & local control.
Students & Teachers first
Strong schools, honest math, local control.
Every Shore kid deserves a great school. But Annapolis passed the Blueprint — a $4-billion-a-year education program — without ever figuring out how to pay for it. Most of that bill is being pushed down onto our four counties. And eventually, onto your property tax.
Johnny's been warning about this for years. He's pushed for what every Shore parent already knows works — trade schools, apprenticeships, and the schools we already have getting what they need before Annapolis writes another check it can't cash. Decisions made closer to home. Schools we can sustain. A plan that doesn't bankrupt Talbot to pay for a program written for Baltimore.
Who Johnny's fighting for
~5,300
Caroline County public-school kids
~4,400
Dorchester County public-school kids
~4,500
Talbot County public-school kids
~14,500
Wicomico County public-school kids
Nearly 29,000 Eastern Shore kids in District 37 public schools.
"The State's investment in our schools is a good thing — but keep politics out of the classroom."
— State Senator Johnny Mautz
The Fight · 06
Standing up for the Shore.
All of us. Always.
The Shore doesn't vote like a Republican district or a Democratic district. It votes like the Shore.
That's why Johnny works with anyone who shows up for our watermen, our farmers, and our families — and pushes back on anyone who doesn't, regardless of party. Doesn't matter how you vote. If you live on the Shore, you're already on our team.
Johnny Mautz isn't a politician who discovered the Eastern Shore on a campaign map. He's spent a lifetime on the Shore, built his life here, and runs the family business on Carpenter Street that's been part of St. Michaels since 1979. He knows our watermen, our farmers, and our small business owners because he is one.
The Shore has its own way of life. Johnny's job is to protect it.