Baltimore mayoral candidate Thiru Vignarajah could access up to $1.7M in public money for campaign
In his previous three bids for office, Baltimore mayoral candidate Thiru Vignarajah has run financially competitive campaigns, some costing upward of $1 million, fueled by donations from some of the region’s most well-funded business executives and community leaders.
The families of local real estate leader John Luetkemeyer, Baltimore Sun owner and Sinclair Chairman David D. Smith and Baltimore Orioles Chairman and CEO John Angelos are among those who have backed his past efforts, in addition to over 100 more who supported with maximum contributions or donated to a PAC backing Vignarajah.
In 2024, however, Vignarajah hopes to harness hundreds of thousands of dollars in public money — potentially up to $1.7 million — to help pay for his campaign. As the Democratic former prosecutor made his campaign for mayor public last month, he said he expects to once again make it a $1 million run, this time with the support of the taxpayers.
“I’m very confident,” he said of reaching the figure. “I think we’re going to do a lot better than that.”
Vignarajah is a recent addition to a Democratic mayoral field that already includes incumbent Mayor Brandon Scott, former Mayor Sheila Dixon and businessman Robert Wallace in addition to several lesser-known candidates. The filing deadline for the May 14 primary is Friday.
The 2024 election cycle marks the first time that Vignarajah and others are able to tap public resources for campaign purposes in Baltimore. The money, distributed by the Baltimore City Fair Election Fund, became available following the approval of a ballot question in 2018. That question, favored by 75% of voters, authorized the creation of the fund, which now has been financed primarily from the city’s budget. Grants and donations are accepted, too.
Last year, Baltimore allocated $2 million to the fund, with the intention to replenish it as the fund is drawn down, according to the city’s most recent budget documents. Candidates have been told $2.2 million is available through the end of the current fiscal year in June.
The fund operates by matching donations, so candidates must raise their own money to take money from the fund. They are limited, however, in how much they can raise. A candidate can accept no more than $150 from each donor, and donors need to be city residents for a candidate to receive matching funds. Candidates using public financing cannot take money from campaign or political action committees.
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The fund was structured with the hope of reducing the role of large private donations that have long been the lifeblood of campaigns in Baltimore and elsewhere. It also was designed to encourage candidates to seek local donations, said Emily Scarr, director of Maryland PIRG, a consumer protection group that lobbied for the creation of Baltimore’s fund and similar ones across Maryland.
“For too long races for office in Baltimore City have been dominated by large donations and special interest donations, which are just far outside what most Baltimoreans can afford to make,” Scarr said.
That perceived divide exacerbates concerns that elected officials are not listening to the concerns of everyday citizens, she said.
The amount candidates can hope to receive from the fund depends on the office they are running for. While mayoral candidates like Vignarajah can receive up to $1.7 million from the fund, candidates for council president are limited to $425,000 in public funds. Comptroller candidates max out at $250,000 while council candidates can get no more than $125,000.
Unspent money at the end of a publicly financed candidate’s campaign must be returned to the fund.
In addition to Vignarajah, Shannon Sneed, a Democrat running for council president, Democratic mayoral candidate Wendy Bozel and District 11 Democratic council candidate Zac Blanchard also hope to make use of the funds in 2024.
Sneed and Blanchard already have qualified, which candidates do by reaching an initial threshold of money raised from small donors. As they qualify, candidates using public financing earn a one-time “qualifying boost.” Mayoral candidates receive $200,000 when they raise at least 500 donations from city residents of no more than $150 each, totaling at least $40,000. Qualifying boosts for other offices are smaller. Council president candidates like Sneed get $50,000 after raising an initial $15,000. Council candidates do not receive a boost.
After the boost, funds are matched based on a ratio spelled out by the Baltimore City Fair Election Fund. The first $25 of each contribution is matched with $9 for every $1. The next $50 is matched on a $5-to-$1 ratio. Any money over $75 is matched on a $2-to-$1 ratio. For every $150 donation made after the qualification boost, mayoral candidates stand to receive $625 in public funds.
For proven fundraisers like Vignarajah, the system has high potential. Vignarajah received donations from hundreds of individual donors during his 2020 mayoral bid. So far, his participation also has presented a political opportunity. In the first interviews of his campaign, Vignarajah has tried to position himself as a candidate unbeholden to special interests and powerful wealthy donors.
“We’ve never had that, not in the history of this city, the opportunity to elect a mayor who is almost by definition not bought and paid for,” Vignarajah told The Baltimore Sun last month.
Asked how that squares against his record of high-dollar donations, Vignarajah said he has always been a believer in public financing. But it was not available until now, he said.
“When public financing is not on the table, you do what is needed to raise the resources,” he said of his past campaigns.
Evan McLaughlin, Dixon’s campaign manager, said Dixon is the “strongest fiscal steward” of the field.
“Thiru is going to waste taxpayer money on a race he can’t win, and Mayor Scott has squandered millions in federal money, some of which could have been used to house homeless people,” he said.
Scott’s campaign declined to comment.
Scarr acknowledged that the amount mayoral candidates can draw from public financing is large, but that’s what is required to be competitive in a city mayoral race, she said.
“If we’re not paying that money, who is?” she asked. “Do you want to be the one paying or do you want out-of-state corporations or wealthy Marylanders paying for elections?”
“We pay for our poll workers, we pay for our voting booths,” Scarr said. “This is just another cost of our democracy.”
Scarr encouraged all candidates, proven fundraisers and otherwise, to use public financing. The system forces candidates to seek widespread community support, she said.
“This isn’t about just giving people who can’t fundraise an opportunity to run for office,” she said. “This is about fundamentally changing how candidates run for election.”
Maryland PIRG has studied the results of public financing efforts in Howard and Montgomery counties, where public campaign financing became available in 2022 and 2018, respectively. For 2022, the group found that average donations were $124 for candidates who qualified for public financing compared with $2,137 for candidates who did not participate. Donations also appeared to come from a wider base. On average, 689 people contributed to qualifying candidates, while an average of 244 people donated to those who did not participate.
Other municipalities in addition to Baltimore have moved to create similar funds. Public financing has been approved in Anne Arundel, Baltimore and Prince George’s counties and will become available in 2026.
