Vignarajah explores 2nd bid for mayor
Thiru Vignarajah, a past candidate for Baltimore mayor and city state’s attorney, is once again considering a bid for mayor.
Vignarajah, a Democrat, has formed an exploratory committee to analyze the race, he announced this week via a news release.
“Folks have never been more frustrated with ineptitude and corruption in city government, and the current top candidates embody those frustrations,” Vignarajah said in the release. “Residents need a real alternative, a true leader who, even when it’s politically inconvenient or against a powerful opponent, will fight for what’s best for the people.”
A former partner at law firm DLA Piper and a prosecutor, Vignarajah has been a near-constant presence in city political races for the past six years. He ran unsuccessfully for state’s attorney in 2018 and 2022. He also ran for mayor in 2020, coming in fourth with 11.5% of the vote in the Democratic primary.
In between races, Vignarajah has kept himself in the public eye with TV news appearances and by taking up causes of public interest.
Vignarajah, who has told The Baltimore Sun that he has not ruled out a bid for the race, said in his news release he does not yet know when he will make a decision. The candidate filing deadline is Feb. 9. The Democratic primary is May 14.
If Vignarajah enters the race, he’ll set up a rematch with several of his rivals from the 2020 mayoral matchup. Mayor Brandon Scott has announced his plans to seek reelection, and former Mayor Sheila Dixon is also running to reclaim her seat. Both are Democrats. Robert Wallace, who ran as an independent candidate in 2020 for mayor, is running this cycle as a Democrat.
Vignarajah’s last run for mayor was shadowed by questions over his judgment fueled by highly publicized videos from incidents in 2015 and 2019. The first, shared by Project Veritas, showed a woman prodding him for secrets gleaned from his role at the attorney general’s office. In the second, body-worn camera video from Baltimore police officers showed Vignarajah being pulled over in the middle of the night and asking an officer to turn off his camera.
In interviews with The Sun in 2020, several attorneys who worked under him said he was a controlling and unreasonably demanding boss.