Former Baltimore mayoral candidate Thiru Vignarajah must return unspent public funds

BALTIMORE — Baltimore mayoral candidate Thiru Vignarajah will need to return all of his campaign funds unspent at the time of his withdrawal from the race last week, the Baltimore City Fair Election Fund said in a statement Tuesday.

Vignarajah, who qualified for the funds by raising small-dollar donations from hundreds of contributors, received $668,881 in public money from the city’s fair election fund. Approved by city voters via a ballot question, the fund was available to candidates for the first time in 2024.

Questions remain however about whether the former prosecutor and four-time candidate for public office should return all of the public money he received — not just the unspent funds.

Last week, Vignarajah announced he was suspending his campaign and throwing his support behind rival candidate Sheila Dixon. Both had been vying to replace Baltimore Mayor Brandon Scott who is completing his first term in office. All are Democrats.

Vignarajah’s announcement triggered a prohibition on any further spending by his campaign effective at the date and time of his public announcement, the board said in its statement. Vignarajah is barred from putting public funds toward other candidates, entities or organizations, the statement says.

Vignarajah is also required to pay back all funds unspent by the time he exited the race. That must happen within 30 days of the election’s certification, according to city law. The fair election fund is demanding a full accounting of Vignarajah’s contributions and expenditures made after his campaign was suspended, according to its public statement.

The city’s law does not seem to address the return of funds spent by the campaign however. The omission has local leaders already beginning to ponder changes to city code.

Once the primary passes and the commission has a chance to “go deeper into the mechanics of his campaign spending,” there may be “further action that we’ll take,” Jon Weinstein, the vice chair of the Baltimore City Fair Election Fund, said Wednesday.

Last week, the leaders of several good government advocacy groups called for Vignarajah to return all of the funds he used for the campaign, spent and unspent, given his decision to endorse Dixon.

“We hope Mr. Vignarajah voluntarily returns every penny he received from the fair elections program,” said Emily Scarr, director of Maryland PIRG, a group that advocated for the creation of the city’s public financing.

“In other jurisdictions candidates who have suspended their campaigns have abstained from endorsements, and we are disappointed Mr. Vignarajah did not do the same,” said Joanne Antoine, leader of Common Cause Maryland. “He should return the money he received back to the program.”

It is unclear exactly how much money Vignarajah spent on his campaign. He had $522,226 on hand as of April 22, but as of Wednesday, had not filed his campaign finance report due May 3. He did not respond when asked when he intends to file.

The Baltimore City Fair Election Fund had $2.2 million to draw from through the end of the current fiscal year, which ends June 30. Former Councilwoman Shannon Sneed, a Democrat, received $243,000 in public financing so far for her campaign to replace City Council President Nick J. Mosby. City Council candidate Zac Blanchard drew down $125,000 from the fund, the maximum available to council candidates.

Other publicly financed candidates in Maryland have refrained from endorsing in past election cycles.

Former Prince George’s County Executive Rushern Baker opted to participate in the state’s public financing program for his gubernatorial bid in 2022. Baker, who had a little under $12,000 left on hand as of his last campaign financing deadline, dropped out of the race ahead of the primary. He did not endorse another candidate ahead of the 2022 gubernatorial primary election.

Maryland has offered public campaign financing since the 1970s, but began its current small donor-match program in 2022. State law allows local jurisdictions to establish their own laws. Administration of those rests with the jurisdiction.

According to Jared DeMarinis, Maryland’s elections administrator, if a participating state candidate suspends their campaign like Baker did, they would only have to return their unspent funds to the state. Whether they could endorse another candidate, however, would be dependent upon their individual circumstances, he said.

Other requirements of the law make it clear that public money provided through the program is intended to support only a qualified politician’s candidacy. Candidates in the program are barred from joining slates, transferring money to another campaign, soliciting donations for another campaign or making expenditures related to fundraising for other campaigns.

Other local jurisdictions beyond Baltimore have stricter measures for the return of funds. In Montgomery County, for instance, candidates must repay the full amount received from the fair election fund with interest if they withdraw from the public campaign finance program.

Weinstein, the vice chair of Baltimore’s fund, said “there’s a lot of consistency in terms of the situation where a candidate withdraws” between state law and laws among Maryland’s counties and Baltimore City.

Baltimore Councilman Kristerfer Burnett believes the city’s law may already be enough to require Vignarajah to return all of the money he received from the city’s fair election fund. Burnett, a Democrat who sponsored the legislation that enabled the creation of the fund, has asked Baltimore Solicitor Ebony Thompson to analyze the law.

“Given what I would determine very clearly articulated in the code, I am asking that the Baltimore City Law Department and/or the Maryland Board of Elections freeze any further spending of taxpayer funding and request that all of the tax dollars used by the Thiru Vignarajah campaign be returned to the Baltimore City Fair Election Fund, in addition to the required interest accrued, expeditiously,” Burnett wrote in a letter to Thompson last week.

Thompson said she could not discuss the timeline for her review because Burnett’s request is privileged. It will ultimately be up to Burnett whether the opinion issued by the law department is released publicly, she said.

Baltimore is only the third local jurisdiction in Maryland to begin offering public campaign financing, and this election cycle is its first test. Montgomery County and Howard County began offering the program previously, both regulated by local laws. Public financing will become available in Anne Arundel, Baltimore and Prince George’s counties in 2026.

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