Ed Hale Sr., a Baltimore businessman, sports team owner and longtime Democrat, ended speculation about his party affiliation and declared Wednesday that he will run for governor as a Republican.

Hale described himself as a moderate, but said his party switch was rooted in political pragmatism more than ideology.

“There’s no way I could win running against Wes Moore with that machine he’s got,” Hale said of the incumbent Democratic governor. “He takes all the money and oxygen out of the room. I can’t do it. I’m a pragmatist and I’m a moderate person. That’s just the way I am.”

Hale made the announcement — one that was expected — in an east Baltimore waterfront park that he once owned and sold to the city. It came after he hired Annapolis pollster Patrick Gonzales to look at a head-to-h

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