A former Maryland Deputy Attorney General with a history of running for public office, Thiru Vignarajah made his mayoral campaign official on Wednesday morning outside of City Hall.
In previous runs, he has self-financed his campaign but this time he plans to use the city’s public financing system. If candidates swear off contributions from unions, PACS, and donations greater than $150, the Fair Election Fund will multiply those smaller donations. When the bill creating the fund passed in 2019, proponents said it would equalize the field for candidates who aren’t backed by large corporate checks.
“Save your $6000 checks for people who you think you can buy, because all I’ll need you to do is buy me dinner,” said the Vignarajah, who is running as a Democrat.
He stood surrounded by supporters, many of whom he helped or represented in his capacity as an attorney, including relatives of Timothy Reynolds: a Hampden man who was fatally shot by a teenage squeegee worker in 2022 after Reynolds allegedly came towards the worker with a baseball bat. The squeegee worker was found guilty of voluntary manslaughter last summer.
Vignarajah addressed allegations that he created a hostile and abusive workplace as a prosecutor. Those allegations were reported by The Baltimore Sun when Vignarajah was running for Baltimore State’s Attorney in 2022; he lost that attempt to Ivan Bates.
“Politics is rough business. And there are things that have been said about me that are unfair, there are things that have been said about me that are fair,” he said. “I have made mistakes. I have learned from those mistakes I have grown as a person, as a manager, as a leader, as a human.”
As for his platform, Vignarajah said he wants to go beyond the typical mayoral talking points about crime. One of his main initiatives will be a secondary education program. He wants to create a program so that all high-school graduates of Baltimore City Public Schools can go to any college, public or private, in the state of Maryland for free. Between lower-cost public schools and universities that already offer free tuition for city graduates, Vignarajah estimates that the program would cost about $10 million a year.
Then, there’s Harborplace.
“We need a community led design, not a developer driven, profit-focused plan to build up luxury condos and apartments in the most precious public space in Baltimore,” he said, referring to the proposed nearly $1 billion plan by MCB Real Estate that includes two waterfront towers with residential units. “If we have to start from scratch, that is what we will do.”
For Baltimore voters the upcoming primary may be a bit of déjà vu, Vignarajah ran in 2020, as a Democrat, again but placed fourth in the primary with 11.5% of the vote. Mayor Brandon Scott won the primary that year and went on to win the 2020 general election. Former mayor Sheila Dixon, who is also running in the Democratic primary, came in second place with 27% of the vote.
Once again, in 2024 Baltimore voters will see a Democratic primary crowded by Mayor Brandon Scott, Sheila Dixon, and now, Vignarajah. Local businessman Bob Wallace has also emerged as a competitive candidate for the position.
