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Candidate Bio
Commissioner Travis Breeding is a lifelong resident of Caroline County. First elected to the Board of County Commissioners in 2022. He graduated from North Caroline High School in 2000. Mr. Breeding and his wife Rachel reside near Preston, they have 3 children, Trenton, Trace and Rilyn. After graduation he went to work at his family’s business, Rick Breeding Excavating, Inc. The company completes civil construction projects including paving, grading, material hauling and utility installation for residents, developers and municipalities across Maryland and Delaware. Today he manages some operations of the business including estimating, scheduling and on occasion the operation of heavy equipment.
Mr. Breeding is a member of Temple Lodge No. 128 A.F&A.M. in Denton, the Sons of the American Legion Squadron of Caroline Post 29 in Denton, the Chester River Shrine Club and Shriners International. Mr. Breeding has volunteered as a baseball coach since 2001 for Denton Little League, Caroline American Legion Baseball and South Caroline Little League. He has been the treasurer for American Legion Baseball in Caroline, Kent, Queen Anne's and Talbot counties since 2010.
Some of the issues that are important to Caroline County voters are issues that require long-term strategy, such as Economic Development, Community Development, Housing, and Transportation. What can the county do to help positively influence these larger issues that affect Caroline County families?
“Well, we need to work with the municipalities to redevelop underused areas with abandoned buildings and try to develop vacant properties in town to minimize the impact on our rural heritage. I understand that development is necessary to reduce the tax burden and also provide additional amenities for residents, but it shouldn't be out of control, and the impact of large scale development is impossible to forecast. So smart development with an emphasis on attracting additional service-based businesses, is probably what we should be looking to do.”
The county has a very strong work relationship with the Board of Education and the school administration. What would you do to strengthen that relationship?
“The Commissioners and the Board of Education have worked collaboratively to improve outcomes and increase prosperity in our county. I think it's important to have a well-educated population to help create a more vibrant economy. Government involvement in education helps ensure that the needs of the community are met, and I would continue to have frequent conversations with board members and administration about community priorities.”
Caroline County is not divided into election districts, however, there is a sense of North County-South County-Denton. What will you do as a Commissioner to make sure that voters know that you’re representing them at large regardless of where they live?
“Well, I've tried to bridge any sense of regionalism that's in the county. My job takes me all over the county, building relationships with towns, businesses and residents. My family has ties to all areas of the county. Being a Commissioner requires you to attend community events and communicate with anybody in the county that may have a concern.
I don't agree with adding districts or increasing the number of Commissioners, just because competition is important, and I think elected officials should be required to campaign and provide constituent services county wide. I've advocated for representation from all areas of the county on our boards and commissions during the last four years.”
The County continues to work through the solar development issue. What is the next impactful issue on the horizon that you view as similar to solar?
“That's got to be cost shifts. The state's financial picture is horrible, and nobody wants to raise taxes. So I think with the cost shifts that have already been done to the county, I think it's pretty safe to say that those are probably going to continue. We've already seen highway user revenue, teacher pension, state department of assessment, and I think this year they are discussing shifting a small portion of the library and the community college pensions over to the counties. I believe that will continue, and [they will] probably also look at cutting the assistance that counties receive. So it's unfortunate that the state continues to recklessly spend and cause cost shifting to the counties.”
Something that we hear from a variety of people is that "there is nothing to do in Caroline County." How do you and your family entertain yourselves and spend your free time in the county?
“Well, I don't hear that too often. I do agree that we don't have a lot of traditional entertainment businesses or activity-based businesses in the county, but there are plenty of other activities to do. You know, the volunteer fire companies, the historical societies, the towns, the VFW in Federalsburg, the American Legion and Denton, all have events periodically. Curtis Andrews has a music show at least once a year in American Corner, and he has his auctions every Thursday night. Me personally, both of my sons play high school baseball, which takes up a lot of my time from March first to the end of May, and then we go right into American Legion baseball through the summer, which is less time consuming, and it does give me a little additional time to use the boat, which I keep down at Choptank Marina.
Choptank Marina is owned and ran by the county, and it's really one of the jewels, I think, of our Recreation and Parks department. It's just a great location to access the Choptank River. And then my daughter is playing volleyball so we've been spending Saturday mornings at the Wesleyan camp, watching her games. She's also in the band at the middle school, and they periodically have concerts, and we're looking forward to her getting to the high school, to attend some of those concerts when she moves on.
Other than that, I enjoy being outside through the fall. After baseball is over, I try to get some crabbing in before the crabs leave for the winter, and then I try to hunt and have some downtime. And then it all starts over again in the spring.”
