Incumbent Marilyn Mosby far behind Ivan Bates, Thiru Vignarajah in fundraising for Baltimore State’s Attorney’s race

In the race to be elected Baltimore City State’s Attorney, two-term incumbent Marilyn Mosby is not raising nearly as much money as Ivan Bates or Thiru Vignarajah, her two Democratic primary challengers, according to campaign finance reports filed late Tuesday.

From Jan. 13 to June 7, Mosby raised $38,738 and spent $58,115. She has $177,827 on hand from her previous campaigns. Mosby is under federal indictment, with prosecutors charging her with two counts of perjury and two counts of mortgage fraud related to her purchase of two Florida vacation homes. Her trial is scheduled for September, after the July 19 primary election.

Challengers Bates and Vignarajah have raised money with fervor. Bates reported raising $449,328 this period and Vignarajah reported even more, claiming $600,784 in contributions.

While both men have at least twice as much cash on hand as Mosby — Bates seems to be the only candidate spending money in the run-up to the election. Since Jan. 13, Bates has spent $221,013, nearly four times as much as Mosby and five times as much as Vignarajah.

Most of Bates’ expenditures are on media buys, billboard advertising, fundraising expenses and consultants. Bates’ campaign paid three different consulting firms more than $68,000. And most of Bates’ media spending is with Mosaic Communications, an Arlington consultancy group producing radio ads for the campaign.

Of the $41,562 Vignarajah’s campaign has spent, $22,000 was on polling. He spent another $6,778 on yard signs, and $200 on video production. Vignarajah rarely struggles for local airtime, making frequent appearances on the TV station Fox45, Baltimore’s Sinclair affiliate.

A Democrat, Vignarajah has several high-profile Republican endorsements, including Gov. Larry Hogan.

Both Bates and Vignarajah lent their campaigns more than $150,000 to get off the ground, and both have raised more than enough money to cover their loans. Mosby’s campaign has no outstanding loans.

Mosby’s campaign spent money on computer equipment and on consulting, according to her finance report. Mosby’s campaign has produced one video advertisement and did not open a campaign headquarters until Saturday.

The campaign spent $15,600 with Quincy Gamble, a consultant who resigned from her 2018 campaign after it was revealed he faced assault and harassment charges related to two separate women he dated. Gamble’s charges do not appear in a search of online court records, meaning the charges were dismissed or he was found not guilty.

Mosby’s campaign and office did not immediately return a request for comment Wednesday morning on the decision to hire Gamble as a consultant again.

Although he entered the campaign late, Vignarajah proved to be a fundraising force, collecting maximum $6,000 donations from at least 55 donors. At least seven members of the Smith family, associated with Sinclair Broadcasting Group, gave maximum donations to Vignarajah, totaling $42,000.

Restaurateur Alex Smith, founder and president of Atlas Restaurant Group, and his wife Christina Ghani, were among the maximum donations to Vignarajah, but also contributed to Bates earlier in the campaign, also giving him the maximum.

Vignarajah’s donors were largely local, but several sizable contributions flowed in from supporters in California. Mark H. Fukunaga, chairman of Servco Pacific in Hawaii, contributed the maximum $6,000 as did a trust in Fukunaga’s name.